The Dearborn Steel Tubing Mustang III appears in the show circuits again 2013

The Amelia Concours will be the place to be in 2013 for a very unique piece of Mustang History. The story is still a bit vague. Michael Lamm once wrote in his article on Vince Gardner that Andy Hotton from DST got this car as a pre-series Mustang chassis to work on styling studies – already in December 1963. This would match the story of todays owner Bill Snyder, that the car carries a very early VIN of 5S0810009 of the Allan Plant factory. One of about 150 preseries Mustang.

What is sure is that it was shown around in the Ford Custom Car Caravan – one of 12 Ford cars entered by Jaques Passino. In which year, we are currently sorting that out. A Barris Kustom book mentions it to be in one of the first, while we have other proofs that it toured in the 3rd caravan in 1965. Ben Mills, then general manager of Lincoln-Mercury commanded the car for his personal use for some time.
The story of Bill Snyder says that it got later walled up in a warehouse to protect it from being crashed and since the fees weren’t paid, later ended up in an insurance property…. to be sold in 1969 to Bill Snyder who had searched for this car since it first appeared at the show circuits. About 48 years later it was restored in 2012 by Capaldi Restorations and given its historic shine and glory again. It will be shown at the oncoming Amelia Concours.

Update March, 8th 2013: It turns out this car actually had another VIN acc. to J. Passino documentation, where we got insight via a retired Ford employee. It was asked to be scrapped, but obviously got saved. We’ll look further into this interesting history and will update you as time permits.

Vince Gardner creating the car back then in December 1963 at Dearborn Steel Tubing.
Picture first published in Collectible Automobile 2007

Picture thanks to Mark Gustavson (Scale Model builder, Ford concept Car book author and member of the Lynx Project group