Roughly 25 percent of the responses correctly guessed that the mystery photos were either related to a Mach 2 feasibility project or the 1967 Mach 2 Concept car itself. Among them were Ford fans and journalists from across the globe, including auto writer Karl Ludvigsen of the UK (who actually drove the Mach 2 Concept back for a press event back in the day), Jean-Pierre Habash of Quebec, Lóránd Tegzes of Hungary, Sergio J. Cabrera, the editor of Motor News in Spain, Marek Bednar of Novinky.cz / AutoMoto (the most-visited news website in the Czech Republic), plus Adelbert Engler from The Mustang Garage and Yeelen Möller, editor of AutoWereld/AutoGids, out of Belgium. Talk about a Ford enthusiast story with global reach!

But of all the responses we received, our favorites were the guesses that had nothing to do with the Mach II concept. Carlos Javier Marqués, a historian in Spain, believed the photos we from a stillborn Lola-Ford project, and another Ford enthusiast, Nathan Locke, guessed it was prototype for the Lotus Europa S1. A couple of fans suggested it was a prototype for the first Mercury Cougar, while a half-dozen more said it was either a DeTomaso Pantera or Mangusta prototype chassis. Almost as many more each made guesses as the Mustang 1 Concept, the mid-engine Boss 429 project, the Mach 1 Concept, the Pegasus Concept or the “Shorty” Mustang III, while still that many more said it was a secret Shelby-Ford project for either a new Cobra, Daytona or a GT-40 sports car. A couple of entries claimed they’d even seen the completed car – one in a display at the University of Wisconsin and another at a car show in Alabama. But Bill Warner, Founder and Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance Foundation, told us that he and retired Ford exec Chris Theodore “have been looking for this car for many years, to no avail. We are still trying to find it before anyone else does -- Ha!”

The two most eye-opening responses had to be these: The first came from Ford retiree Steve Hermann, who old us that, “Years back, while working in Chassis Controls under Len Brown (manager), I sat next to a gentlemen named Rodney Jordan. He claims that he found a discarded mid-engine Mustang in a junk yard and bought it. He was hoping to restore it someday. I have not had contact with Rodney, another Ford retiree, for probably 20 years . . .” The other was the author of this next email, who I’ll refrain from identifying: “Referring to the information you are looking for about that mid-engine car ... you will not find it. It’s because this car does not belong to your universe -- but to mine, I got that car in the 60's and sold it to a farmer at that time. I do not want it to be news and give explanations of parallel worlds, I just want to give you this information. I have been in your world for more than 80 years in anonymity, and thus I want to remain.” Even after reading that twice, all we could say was . . .Wow!

But now for the serious stuff: We’ve calculated that no less than four people responding to our original story correctly identified the car in our mystery photos as being the same Mach 2 feasibility project car that was spotted in a photo on page 145 of Charlie Henry’s Kar-Kraft book. Joe Ziomek, Allen Butcher and Lowell Otter (of the West Michigan Mustang Club) all deserve a Ford Performance mini-flag for their detective work. But what of that fourth person? Well, that was Michael Serebrennikov, who also included a photo of that mystery car as it appeared in the Kar-Kraft book as “proof” of his guess. For that, we’ll send Michael a Ford Performance vinyl banner. Amazingly enough, we won’t have to send it very far; it turns out that he works at Ford Performance as a Ford F-150 Raptor engineer.

For this mystery story heard ’round the world, perhaps it’s only fitting the answers were right here in Dearborn all along. Don’t forget to check back for Charley Henry’s Mach 2 retrospective coming up next . . . and then keep following FordPerformance.com for another big “Mustang Mystery” that we’ll be sending your way in the coming weeks. Who knows? Your answers could land you a Ford Performance mini-flag after all!

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY FORD ARCHIVES and READER SUBMISSIONS