Though he’s designed a slew of different styles of vehicles over his illustrious career, it’s clear that renowned concept artist Ash Thorp has a major proclivity for vintage American muscle cars. And after previously penning a mid-engined muscle car Batmobile for the forthcoming installment of the Batman film franchise, the Southern California-based designer has once again revealed an all-new vehicle rendering based on a classic Ford Mustang.
The newest addition to Thorp and Carlos “colorsponge” Pecino’s “Make Haste Corp.” project, the M.H.C. 016 — also known as “THE BELLADONNA” — has received a full touring car-meets-Le Mans-style body kit, complete with a massive front lip, custom meshed grille, and a louvered rear window feeding into a Speedtail-inspired rear-end and spoiler. This look was achieved through Thorp combining traits of the Mustang Mach 1 with the Ford Capri Zakspeed racer from the German Racing Car Championship. Under its heavily-modified hood, the M.H.C. 016 now packs a velocity stack-fed V8 engine that spits spent fumes from a boxy exhaust setup exiting via large rectangular cutouts set just behind the front wheels. Vintage BBS wheels fitted with custom front aero discs and ultra-beefy Hoosiers further merge modern and retro visual themes while the use of the Ford’s taillights and roof and door lines leave no doubt as to the model of the donor. Just like with previous M.H.C. projects, THE BELLADONNA has been rendered in multiple paint jobs, including a blacked-out color scheme and a design based on the classic Ford Racing Blue livery.
In total, Thorp and “colorsponge” aim to deliver an additional eight projects in the M.H.C. Collection before the year’s close. And, based on the undeniably stellar work exhibited in the pair’s first 16 builds, we’re extremely excited to see the remaining renders in this ongoing project.
