We're only a few weeks away from the online reveal of the 2015 Ford Mustang. Thankfully it'll retain the rear-wheel-drive setup the Mustang has always had, but there was a time when Ford nearly made the idiotic decision to turn the beloved pony car into a front-wheel-drive bland mobile. Here's what happened: in the mid-80s Mustang sales were on the decline and many cars were switching to FWD in an effort to improve fuel economy in the wake of the 1979 oil crisis. Even some Japanese and German sporty cars were making the big switch.

So heck, why not the Mustang too? Ford began work (in a partnership with Mazda) on an all-new platform to replace the Fox body Mustang. It would be launched as the "Mustang" but the Fox body car would continue to be sold for the time being, re-branded as the "Mustang Classic." The plan would be to phase out the latter as "Mustang" grew more popular. But word of this got leaked and the Mustang faithful went completely and rightfully nuts. Fortunately Ford paid attention and the plan was scrapped. However, that FWD model became the 1989 Ford Probe and Mazda MX-6. The pictures you see here are a full-scale clay model of what the FWD Mustang could have looked like.