The 1965 Ford Mustang That Combined All-Wheel Drive with Anti-Lock Brakes
- Jul 20
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 21
Beneath the familiar body of this 1965 Ford Mustang is a drivetrain unlike anything Ford offered at the time. Power reaches all four wheels, a mechanical system intervenes before the brakes lock and much of the technology traces its origins to Formula One and aviation.
When Ford introduced the Mustang in April 1964, it immediately became one of the greatest automotive success stories ever told. Sleek, affordable and powered by a V-8, the Mustang captured the imagination of a generation.
But while millions of buyers were enjoying their new pony cars, a small engineering firm in England was quietly asking a very different question.
What if the Mustang could put power to all four wheels and stop without locking its brakes?
The answer became one of the most fascinating Mustangs ever built.
Harry Ferguson's Vision
Most people know Harry Ferguson as the inventor of the modern three-point hitch for farm tractors, but fewer realize he was also deeply interested in automobile safety.
Ferguson believed that giving a driver more control was just as important as giving a car more horsepower. Rather than simply making cars faster, he wanted them to remain stable while accelerating, cornering and braking, especially in poor weather.
Before his death in 1960, Ferguson founded Harry Ferguson Research to develop a four-wheel-drive system for road cars. Working with engineers including Tony Rolt, the company created what became known as the Ferguson Formula, which divided power between the front and rear wheels through a center differential.
To demonstrate the idea, Harry Ferguson Research built the four-wheel-drive Ferguson P99 Formula One car. In 1961, one year after Ferguson’s death, Stirling Moss drove the P99 to victory in the International Gold Cup at Oulton Park. The race was held in damp conditions, allowing the car’s exceptional traction to shine.
The victory proved that Ferguson’s vision had real potential, but the P99 was never intended to be the final destination. The larger goal was to bring four-wheel drive to everyday passenger cars.
After Ferguson’s death, Tony Rolt and the engineers at Harry Ferguson Research continued that work. Their experiments would soon lead them to one of America’s newest and most popular automobiles: the Ford Mustang.
More Than Just Four-Wheel Drive
This wasn't simply a Mustang with another driveshaft added.
Engineers substantially redesigned the drivetrain to accommodate the Ferguson Formula transmission. Power was divided approximately 37 percent to the front wheels and 63 percent to the rear, preserving much of the Mustang's familiar rear-wheel-drive feel while dramatically improving traction.
The conversion required major engineering changes, including:
A Ferguson Formula four-wheel-drive transmission
A front differential and driven front wheels
Modified front suspension components
Revised engine mounting
A redesigned oil pan and lubrication system
Numerous custom drivetrain components
Although it appeared stock from the outside, this Mustang represented hundreds of hours of engineering work.
One of the First Mustangs with Anti-Lock Brakes
As impressive as the all-wheel-drive system was, it wasn't the car's only innovation.
The Mustang also received an early anti-lock braking system adapted from Dunlop Maxaret aircraft technology.
Long before electronic ABS became standard equipment, the mechanical Maxaret system monitored wheel behavior during hard braking. If a wheel began to lock, the mechanism briefly reduced brake pressure before reapplying it, allowing the tire to continue rotating instead of sliding across the road.
The driver could still steer while braking, something impossible once locked wheels began to skid.
Modern drivers experience a similar sensation today when ABS activates beneath the brake pedal.
In 1965, however, this technology was decades ahead of its time.
Putting the Mustang to the Test
The Mustang was demonstrated throughout Europe before returning to the United States for evaluation by major American automakers.
Rather than relying solely on laboratory testing, Ferguson engineers compared the AWD Mustang directly with a conventional rear-wheel-drive Mustang under identical conditions.
The results consistently showed improved stability and controllability, particularly on wet or slippery roads.
Period reports praised the car's ability to maintain steering control during emergency braking while providing greater confidence during acceleration and cornering.
The Ferguson engineers referred to the package not simply as four-wheel drive, but as an "All-Wheel-Control System." Their goal wasn't just better traction. It was making the entire automobile easier and safer to control.
Why Didn't Ford Build It?
Despite impressive demonstrations, the all-wheel-drive Mustang never entered production.
The conversion required substantial modifications to the drivetrain, suspension and braking systems, making it considerably more expensive than a standard Mustang.
At the same time, Ford simply didn't need it. The Mustang had become an enormous commercial success almost overnight. Buyers were lining up for conventional rear-wheel-drive cars, and adding an expensive, highly specialized drivetrain would have increased costs without guaranteeing additional sales.
A Legacy That Lives On
Although Ford never adopted the Ferguson Formula Mustang, the technology itself did not disappear.
The Ferguson all-wheel-drive system later found production success in the Jensen FF, one of the world's first production cars to combine all-wheel drive with anti-lock brakes.
Today, technologies that once seemed revolutionary have become almost commonplace. Performance cars, SUVs and luxury sedans routinely feature sophisticated all-wheel-drive systems and electronic anti-lock braking systems. Yet decades before those features became standard, this Mustang demonstrated exactly what was possible.
See This Remarkable Prototype
The 1965 Ford Mustang AWD Prototype remains one of the most unusual Mustangs ever built and a remarkable example of engineering that was years ahead of its time.
What appears to be an ordinary first-generation Mustang is actually a glimpse into an alternate future, one in which one of America's most iconic cars pioneered technologies that drivers now take for granted.
See this extraordinary piece of automotive history in person at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum, where it continues to tell the story of innovation, experimentation and one of the greatest automotive "what ifs" ever built.