Vehicle Description
This is the one and only, the Unicorn of automotive classics.
Until auto restorer and customizer Bob Hoshiko purchased the October 1966 copy of Car and Driver at a literature swap meet, the Mustang station wagon idea was all but forgotten.
The owner of two Shelby GR350s and specialist in Mustang restorations, the station wagon totally intrigued him. In 1983, Hoshiko pulled the old Car and Driver off the bookshelf and decided to build one of his own- a project, that unlike Clark and Cuberford's 66 prototype, would take him more then sever years to complete!
He started with a basket-case 66 coupe purchased for $200. Over the years he added new doors, had a Shelby-style fiberglass hood built, and following the basic design Cumberford had penned, made a similar cut in the body. The similarities end there, however. Rather than having new rear quarter windows made, as Reisner did in Italy, Hoshiko adapted the glass from an import wagon and brought the Mustang backlight and roof section rearward. Cumberford's design called far a traditional folding tailgate, while Hoshiko's car offers a more contemporary approach with a one-piece hatch, made from the original deckled. This design also allowed the trunk lip to remain intact, as well as the Mustang taillights.
Hoshiko found that cutting the rear section of the unibody apart required more restructuring than he had originally anticipated. The frame for the hatchback also had to be fabricated and welded into the monocoque. The man-hours for this part alone total in the hundreds, but the end result is actually better proportioned than the original Cumberford design.
Inside the car, he also found a more suitable approach for creating a flat cargo area. He adapted the folding seat from a 66 fastback and combined the rear interior quarter panels from both coupe and fastback models, along with fabricated aluminum pieces to fill in the openings.
The engine is a K black high performance 289, which Hoshiko purchased already equipped with Shelby modifications, coupled to a 68 Select Shift Cruise-O-Matic C-6 transmission.The only other under the hood change was the installation of a more efficient air conditioner compressor.
The wagon's suspension is all factory original, so it doesn't handle like a Shelby but it is more comfortable than the GT350H and thats the kind of ride he wanted for the car.
On the interior he went with the 66 Mustang front bench seat, instead of buckets. The rear interior quarter panels from both coupe and fastback models, along with fabricated aluminum pieces to fill in the openings, finished out the interior nicely.
