Mustang With A Twist: The STL-1 Concept Is A '68 Fastback That Works Off-Road

The Mustang STL-1 Concept Is Built Upon A Robust Platform

Now get this. What you’re looking at, isn’t your grandpa’s Mustang. Blending elements of old-school style with modern appointments and hardware, this pony car has been beefed up for off-road adventures and features extensive modifications. Looking at the exterior, you can tell that its overall profile does stay true to the original. This is despite the missing roof. But what you still get is a tougher build with 1005 automotive-grade steel, encapsulated in an exposed hand-built roll cage and aerospace-grade materials.

This Mustang is not an all-show and no-go, as the STL-1 packs a 5.0-liter Road Runner V8 engine from a 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302. It was originally rated at 444 horsepower and 380 pound-feet of torque. But the engine is far from stock and features forged pistons, a forged crankshaft, CNC-bored cylinder heads, a high-flow intake manifold, and a revised camshaft with a high-lift exhaust profile.

This Bespoke 1968 Fastback Will Pack Some Truly Unique Off-Road Upgrades

To fit its off-roader image, you get rally-style fog lights and the rear is complemented with a sleek tail-end. While it stays true to the form of the original, this Mustang sits considerably higher off the ground. It features underbody protection, skid plates, and heavy-duty suspension with tubular control arms and high-performance coilovers. To top it off, the turbine wheels are wrapped in Pirelli Scorpion all-terrain tires.

To ensure that it handles any rally stage that you can throw at it with poise, the STL-1 features a robust chassis. It comes with CV-jointed axle shafts with a manual rack and pinion steering box, tie-rods and bushings, and a limited-slip differential. Drilled and slotted disc rotors with aluminum calipers provide the braking force required on the dirt.

Off-Road Specific Mods

• Rally-style fog lights

• Underbody protection with skid plates

• Pirelli Scorpion all-terrain tires

• Heavy-Duty Suspension

• Redesigned upper / lower tubular heavy-duty arms

• High-Performance billet coil-over shocks

Form Follows Function With This Mustang Restomod Concept Render

Climb inside and this is a spartan no-nonsense cabin with nothing but the bare essentials. While you don’t have carpeting or even door handles, you do get a grippy suede-lined steering wheel, and sporty bucket seats to hold you in place. You won’t find any fancy infotainment touchscreen on this dash, but the STL-1 still packs an all-digital instrument cluster for the driver.

To sum it up, when you look at the Mustang STL-1 concept, it’s almost as though they took the spirit of the Wild West and infused it into one of the most iconic American muscle cars of all time. The icing on the cake is that this muscle car will be perfectly happy off the pavement as well. The STL-1 concept really is a Mustang Crossover in the truest sense, more so than Ford’s very own all-electric Mach-E even. For now, this is just a render, but a prototype is planned, and if there’s enough demand, perhaps a production run could follow.