The Ford Mustang Mustero pickup is perhaps one of the most unusual and rarest vehicles ever to hit the road. Based on the first-generation Mustang, this custom-built creation came due to an ingenious marketing campaign back in the 1960s. The original goal was to produce 50 of these machines in total.

According to Mecum Auctions, this unusual creation cost almost three times what a standard version of the muscle car did back in 1965. As a result, very few were ever produced. Additionally, there are just four surviving examples today.

Did Ford make a Mustang pickup?

When the original Ford Mustang broke cover in the mid-1960s, it was a major success. So much so that the American carmaker began spitballing ideas to convert it into all sorts of things. These included a four-door sedan and even a station wagon.

According to ThrottleExtreme, Beverly Hills Ford came up with the ingenious idea of converting the then-new Ford Mustang into a pickup truck. Not only could they sell these creations for profit, but it would also generate a decent amount of buzz around the car.

If the name “Mustero” sounds familiar, that’s because it is the combination of Mustang and Ranchero, a small truck Ford was building at the time. Since these vehicles shared many components, Beverly Hills Ford didn’t have a hard time making them.

However, it is worth noting that these vehicles were never sold as production models. Instead, they were commissioned by the dealership in Beverly Hills. As you’d expect, this conversion was far from cheap.

How much did this truck cost?

Back in 1966, a brand-new Ford Mustang carried a base price of $2,522. In today’s money, that’s around $20,472. However, if you wanted to put a Mustero on your driveway, you were going to have to pay a $4,000 premium.

This brought up the total base price to around $6,500. In today’s money, that would be a $52,765 car. This meant that the conversion alone cost more than the entire car.

The original plan was to produce 50 examples of this unusual creation. However, almost no one bought these things. In fact, Mecum Auctions estimates that only four exist today.

One of the main reasons why the Ford Mustang Mustero flopped was because you could buy a Ranchero for one-third of its price. As a result, this spinoff couldn’t compete with Ford’s own car-based truck.

How much does a Ford Mustang Mustero cost today?

Since there are believed to be just four examples of this Ford Mustang Mustero, they don’t exactly come up for sale very often. However, a quick look at Collector Car Ads shows an old ad for the car shown in the images above.

Back in 2017, its owner was asking $25,000 for this example. Given its rough condition, a clean example should sell for significantly more. For now, we’ll have to wait and see if one of the four comes up for sale again.