First Drive: This ‘Classic’ Mustang Remake Outperforms the Original in Every Way

In Kissimmee, Fla., under the long shadow of Disney’s Magic Kingdom, we experience a sleight-of-hand that Mickey’s Fantasia wizard might approve of. What appears to be a bygone-era Ford Mustang, white stripes flashing on a blue body, roars like it’s 1968 again, scouring the street for Chevy Camaros to joust with in an impromptu pony-car clash.

This barrel-chested fastback certainly looks the part. It features a slender-rimmed teak steering wheel (recalling a Chris Craft helm), and a trusty Hurst shifter rising from the floor, roughly the length of a croquet mallet and topped with a white cue-ball knob. Yet none of this is “authentic,” at least not by the carbon-dating standards of the traditional restoration world. This muscle car never saw the inside of the three factories that churned out nearly 790,000 examples of the original Mustang in 1967 and 1968 alone.

This car is built by Florida-based E.C.D. Automotive Design and comprises several thousand entirely new and customizable parts. At a starting price of $270,000, buyers can indulge their inner Steve McQueen with their own late-1960s-style Mustang tribute, available in fastback or convertible guise.

Founded over a case of beer by a trio of car-loving Brits in 2013, E.C.D. made its bones with lavishly remade Land Rover Defenders and, much more recently, Jaguar E-Types. Projects have included Landies converted to electric drive for clients such as former NFL quarterback Drew Brees. Fresh from a new listing on the NASDAQ, E.C.D. is widening that British Invasion to embrace Motown. To help do so, it has acquired Oklahoma-based Brand New Muscle Cars. The plan is to produce fantasy Mustangs, Corvettes, and other American classics at E.C.D.’s new, and sprawling, 100,000-square-foot facility.

Scott Wallace, CEO of E.C.D., says the restomod business has been characterized by relative mom-and-pop operations that lack the discipline or scalability to build six-figure customs on schedule and within budget.

“That’s been the Achilles’ Heel of this industry,” Wallace says. “Customers should be able to plunk their money down, get an exact delivery date, and expect the project to be done on time.”

We roll from E.C.D.’s garage in the Mustang—a charmingly basic, black-vinyl-interior version—and hope to put it through its paces. The 410 hp, 347 cubic-inch V-8 is a bored-and-stroked beauty from the street division of NASCAR great Jack Roush’s namesake Roush Performance. The engine is mated to a sturdy five-speed Tremec manual transmission. According to David Miller, founder of Brand New Muscle Cars, that’s just the start. “This one’s a great cruiser,” says Miller. “You can still burn the tires, but it’s not too dangerous.”

We concur, dropping the clutch in first gear to bark the tires on a two-lane Florida strip. With a bit of coaxing, the Nitto tires chirp again going into second. The 17-inch wheels and radial rubber are nearly twice as wide as the classic Mustang’s scrawny 15-inch originals, with markedly better grip. Rack-and-pinion steering replaces an archaic original unit, and includes a decisively faster ratio. That era’s Mustang only offered power steering as an option, and even today’s gym rats would quickly tire of its upper-arm workouts at parking-lot speeds.

Time-capsule charm continues inside, from lap seat belts and a rear bench to vent switches for the signature louvered fastback roof. As with E.C.D’s other models, executives expect most buyers to opt for hand-trimmed-leather interiors, comfortable sport seats, audio systems that hide Bluetooth and Apple CarPlay behind vintage-looking faces, and other custom flourishes. Wallace recalls that for one client, customization included leather from specific cows. Not a breed of cow: E.C.D. was compelled to reach out to the owner of eight cows on an Italian farm, negotiate a purchase, and use their caramel-tanned hides to cover seemingly every square inch of a Defender. Whether the client admired these particular bovines, or had something against them, Wallace cannot say.

E.C.D.’s Mustang tributes can be had with Roush’s 351 Windsor, bored-and-stroked to 427 cubic inches. That’s the nearly 7.0-liter Ford formula that powered its Le Mans–winning, Ford v. Ferrari GT40s, NASCAR and NHRA brawlers, and the cherished Shelby Cobra 427. No production Mustangs actually saw this hairy, hard-to-manufacture racing engine. Instead, they saw the lesser 428 Cobra Jet, a modified passenger-car engine whose high price and sandbagging 335 hp rating explain why only 1,299 buyers checked its option box in 1968, among more than 370,000 total customers.

In modern 427 guise, the engine makes 510 hp and 515 ft lbs of torque, and up to 560 hp with throttle-body fuel injection that hides discreetly below the chrome air cleaner to maintain a vintage carbureted look. You see where this is headed.

“Things get a bit sporty in that car,” Miller says. “You can’t relax as much, or you could hurt yourself.” Fans of forced induction can get the vehicle to as much as 700 hp with a supercharged big-block version. Miller has tried to talk buyers off the ledge, insisting there’s no point to supercar power in an old-school Mustang whose front end notoriously lifts and gets squirrely beyond 110 mph, despite a new chassis and powerful disc brakes. But people want what they want. If customers want an electric Mustang, E.C.D. can manage that as well.

What these buyers don’t want is a vintage model, whether a crusty project car or one restored to auction-star status. Miller explains that these masquerading Mustangs tend to attract a younger crowd. The Ford is often their first-ever American car, a bold counterpart to their Ferraris, Porsches, and other European models.

“They’re not the true believers, the members of the church of Ford or Chevy,” Miller says. “They just like the look of the car, but they never wanted the trouble,” he adds, referring to the constant repairs, parts-hunting, and dealing with the idiosyncrasies that restorers tend to love, but casual car fans hate.

At some point, it’s the difference between restoring a crumbling mansion or building a new one; each has its proponents. Starting from a rusty, nearly 60-year-old chassis, brings a minefield of challenges for each individual build, according to Miller. Rather than tediously integrate so many modern components, it’s easier to start from scratch, with greater consistency and quality control. That includes a steel Mustang body shell from Dynacorp, or a full chassis by The Roadster Shop. Like other E.C.D. models, these ‘Stangs undergo up to 1,000 miles of shakedown testing before delivery. Once the Mustang line is up and running at the new E.C.D. facility, the intention is to move cars through its assembly stations in precisely 48 days.

With a team of 100 employees, more than 50 of them being mechanics, E.C.D. is building out capacity to produce 180 cars per year. Each is a one-of-one build that clients name, such as Project Monarch and Project OG. Sitting with Brandon Connelly, client service director, we configure our own Mustang via real-time 3-D digital rendering, surrounded by physical leather and paint samples. Customers receive a framed poster of their car before it’s built, and a bound “journey book” with photographs documenting the entire process. Regular project updates keep clients in the loop.

In one workroom, craftspeople peel the leather off new Recaro seats, fresh from the box, and reupholster them with hides from makers such as Spinneybeck, a top producer of Italian aniline leather. In another room, workers build wiring harnesses to run modern EV power trains, audio systems, and more. On one of two current assembly lines—an American classics line will make three—Jaguar E-Types are being converted to electric drive, clamshell bonnets open to reveal battery packs below.

This kind of surgical enhancement can still be frowned upon in the restoration world, decried as fakery by the pooh-bahs of all-original-everything. And it certainly won’t deliver that true time-machine experience found with an in-period original. Yet while the perfection on display at Pebble Beach has its place, it can be argued that the rest of the world frankly stopped caring. The bottom line is that the car is an homage that outperforms its inspiration, and is livable and hassle-free. Pull up to the summer ice cream stand in this evocative Ford, and most spectators won’t ask snarky questions about what’s original and what’s not. They’ll simply admire your retro-chic ride.

Click here for more photos of E.C.D. Automotive Design’s tribute to the classic Mustang.