Actually the information published in most Mustang books has been fragmantary for the past 40-45 years. Websites are rarely set-up to give a complete picture of ones car history, otherwise these web authors would rather write a book.
It is for sure fun to research Mustang history and I've meanwhile spent 16 years and am each day surprised about tidbits you still can find today and with the help of Internet. The Internet (not necessarily forums, but rather e-mail accessability) actually lead to many new facts from hidden archives and cars appearing around the world, that have been thought being lost. But it takes usually a lot of trust to find those well preserved jewels, pics and testimonials and the info is only provided, if the auditorium is limited or remains in the insider circle for whatever reason.
Referring to the cars mentioned above:
1.The 2-seater was built by Dearborn Steel Tubing and said to be designed by Vince Gardner (see full story Collectible Automobile Oct. 2007)
2. You got pics of the surviving Shelby Zagato already from us with the owners permission
3. There were 3 Mustang I (the clay model, the running car and the fibreoptic show car).
There will be soon a few more books on the market in 2008 covering the development and details of the early Mustangs. Watch out.
4. The last trace of the Bertone Mustang was, that it was bought by a greek shipping owner and is rumoured to be in a museum. This rumour is the only trace known and. .is just that. I am still trying to find it.
5. Steven Strange has info on the mid-engined Boss429, if you refer to that one, parts of it have been found.
The Mustang II concept car was/is widely known to my knowledge.
As for the OSI Mustang any many others, there are sources like the Ford Osi club, I'll check on the stationwagon. I had a few contacts giving traces.
In general: What I appreciate in Wallys recent books, is adding fragments of the newly found web history tidbits to the known and often only rewritten (sometimes false) history of many other Mustang books. In this his newer books offer a greater perspective for those interested in the history, though none of the current books will have all the details, as there are still many things unpublished as of now.
I found in his Shelby text book that in most cases he gave proper reference to the sources, even for websites, but of course the reader nor me can't judge, where one is missing. Which other book author adds these hints to his writings?
In the end any forum and book is published to share the authors knowledge with others, the later ensures the income of the author as well. Whoever makes a job out of car history research, isn't necessarily an enemy, he can still be a car enthusiast.
Unfortunately many authors tend to forget the sources and claim the knowledge for themselves. Mr. Mustangs point is certainly the commercial background of W.Ws. questions. There might be an easy solution to that in changing the avatar.
Proper crediting is easy (so do I typically in my non-commercial website) and in my view the people responding to Wallys questions share their knowledge voluntarily, otherwise one would not post on a forum or am I wrong? The response also is not necessarily the forums property, but solely the writers, thus Wally might rather credit the author writing the response, instead of the forum. Would be interesting to discuss this? Maybe not
Anyway I've built a lot of experience with known writers over the year, some remember the sources, most not, still some move our hobby forward and thus are a part of it and in most cases they do their job longer than any forum visitor, thus preserving these tidbids for generations to come. My opinion, but I remain open to others.
Wolfgang
Ponysite.de
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