Ringbrothers reveal the newest old Ford Mustang we’ve ever seen

Nice custom Mustang, right? That’s probably what you’d think if you saw this cruising past. But you really wouldn’t know at first blush how much it leans toward custom and just how little of what you see ever came out of a Ford Factory. So go on. Guess how much of this is an OEM Mustang. Go on.

Nope, less than that.

But then that’s really Ringbrother’s raison d’être, isn’t it? Creating a gorgeous machine that could pass for a done-up Mustang, Charger or Cougar, but actually comprises so many custom parts that you could call it a replica. Then again, if that doesn’t embody the entire original idea behind restomodding – the looks of yesteryear and the features of today – what does?

So what about these features, then? Well, we begin with the 5.0-litre Ford ‘Coyote’ V8, custom Ringbrothers headers and a Flowmaster exhaust through a Ford transmission. Penske racing coilovers maximise normal force (yay, physics class!) for the Conti tyres, which wrap around 18-inch alloys styled to look like the original Mustang ‘Rally’ wheels.

From there... well. Suffice to say that much metal has been formed, resulting in a longer, wider car, while a completely redesigned front grille sits a full two inches back from the original car. Yet it all looks right, somehow, doesn’t it? And that rather sets the tone for the whole thing – after some 4,200 hours of work, the finished product maintains the proportions of the original, yet just about every single part is different. Oh, and by the way – the only bits from the original Mustang are the centre caps for the wheels. Now you know.

And we’re absolutely on board... right up until we circle back (yay, marketing class!) to the ‘Ford transmission’ part. Notice we didn’t say what kind or how many gears? That’s because it’s Ford’s new... 10-speed automatic. Hm.

That’s the strange part, isn’t it? We (as in those writing this article) are perfectly on board with a Coyote V8, with 3D-printed parts, with the fact that the even Ringbrothers says the “only factory 1964.5 Mustang parts are the centre caps for the wheels”. And yet when we get to the part about a 10-speed automatic, we immediately think, 'Oh, that’s not right; it should be a manual'.

But it’s not like the Mustang didn’t come with an automatic from the factory; this one’s just better. And it’s not like a convertible Mustang was ever the car for hard-charging runs through the rev range on a twisty road. Regardless of how many original Mustang parts might be absent and how many custom parts might be present, it’s still every bit a nice custom Mustang.