It may be hard to believe, but the Ford Mustang is rapidly approaching its 50^th birthday. You better believe that the Blue Oval has a lot of special events and plans in the works for the world’s best muscle car (yeah, we said it). With 50 years of Mustang almost here, it’s natural for fans and enthusiasts to start reaching into the past for a glimpse at what the future might offer.

TopSpeed came up with a couple of renderings of future special edition Mustangs that Ford might have in the works at their Detroit design studio. Wishful thinking, or could Ford bring back the Mach 1 and Bullitt Mustangs for 2013?

Both the Mach 1 and Bullitt date back to the Mustang’s heyday in the late 1960’s. The Mach 1 was an appearance package, adding black stripes, black hood, black spoiler and a whole lot of doodads that resulted in a cooler looking car, though it didn’t make it any faster (though you could get the Mach 1 with any of Ford’s small or big-block engines.) The Mach 1 was first introduced in 1969 and phased out in ’79, and revived again in 2003. The 2003 model also included a shaker hood and even a higher-output V8 engine, as well as numerous suspension improvement that made it overall a much better car.

The Bullitt also came back for the 21^st century in 2001, causing a huge stir among muscle car fans just as GM announced the end of Camaro production. 2013 will be the last year for the current generation Mustang, with a whole new Mustang due in 2014. So expect Ford to roll out plenty of special editions, as they have done with the Boss 302, between now and then. Are there any Mustangs you’re hoping to see Ford bring back?