In 1936, an engineer named Howard Forrest built a water-cooled four-cylinder engine, and in 1941, he designed a little motorcycle to ride to work at a company that was making products for the war effort. His boss took notice and, as they say, the rest is history. This restored 1958 Mustang Stallion motorcycle is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Edgerton, Minnesota, and they’re asking $7,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to NW Iowa Kevin for the tip!
Gladden Products out of Glendale, California, was one of many companies that made aircraft products for the war effort. Just before the war started for the U.S., Howard Forrest came up with a little motorcycle using his own engine, and John Gladden noticed how well it worked. As was often the case, things slowed down at Gladden Products after the war, and Mr. Gladden was thinking of something to turn things around. He had been interested in motorcycles and had an idea to have Howard and another engineer at Gladden design a little motorcycle using a small air-cooled engine they had been working on for the last few years.
The Mustang was born. It’s up in the air as to where the Mustang name came from, the P-51 Mustang, maybe? Was Mr. Gladden a fan of horses? Most of the Mustang’s model names are related to horses, like the Pony, Thoroughbred, and Stallion, as shown here. The original sales banner shown above comes with the sale, and it’s a fairly rare piece on its own. The Stallion is somewhat easy to pick out; it has a front brake and spoke wheels, rather than disc wheels. We’ve seen two Mustangs here on Barn Finds, an unusual pink scooter-type, and a mind-blowing top-of-the-line 1962 Thoroughbred.
You can see how incredibly nice this restored Stallion is. These bikes can sell for between $5,000 and $10,000, and some can go much higher with enough help from adult beverages at a national auction, or if they’re exceptionally well-restored. This one has the advantage of having an extra engine and transmission available, but it’s another $2,500. The engine in this bike should be a Mustang-designed 320-cc four-stroke single-cylinder with somewhere around 11 or 12 horsepower, and is backed by a 4-speed manual transmission. I have to believe that this example would be best sold at the annual Mecum Las Vegas motorcycle auction or a similar event, but maybe they’ll find a buyer on a Minnesota craigslist ad? Possibly? Have any of you heard of a Mustang motorcycle?
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