Some excepts from the article>> 

In attempt to keep the model fresh for 1966, Blue Oval top brass tasked Ben J. Smith, one of its designers who worked on the  late-’50s Ford Skyliner’s power folding roof, to create a retractable hardtop for the Mustang.

Smith delivered a manual, split-roof design based off of a chopped Mustang coupe in early 1966. Thanks to a torsion-bar system involving two fiberglass panels that fold into the trunk, the prototype did not require power operation, saving weight, complication, and cost. In fact, lifting or lowering the top required just 11 pounds of force.Still, Ford pushed for a power version, based on a survey of potential buyers that indicated it would sell better. Smith did not approve. The impasse between Ford and Smith prevented the project from moving forward, and his time at Ford was over by 1967, at the age of 48.

Smith attempted to negotiate keeping the original ‘66 retractable hardtop conversion that was built as part of his exit from Ford, but the Blue Oval would have none of it. Smith researched for many years as to the whereabouts of the original prototype but was never successful.  Smith, now 96 years old and still driving himself on road trips all over the country, never fully gave up on the hardtop Mustang concept. In 1993 he founded Retractables Unlimited, a startup company where he and his son David recreated the original retractable hardtop Mustang design and packaged it into kits. Owners could install the kits themselves, or, David’s body shop, Car Service Collision in New London, Connecticut, could handle it for them. The Smiths sold a total of 35 kits, in addition to three prototypes.

 After selling the 35 kits that had been produced, Smith contacted a vendor in Mexico to create another batch of fiberglass tops. Instead, the vendor took the roof molds, plans, a stack of Smith’s money and disappeared. Smith sold the remaining parts and molds to Mustangs Plus, a Mustang parts supplier located in California. David Smith told us that he knew a few kits that were purchased but never installed, meaning if you can get a hold of them, there is still the option to build a folding-hardtop pony car of your own.
 

Last edited by Good Look'n (4/07/2019 7:00 AM)