Ford Mustang Editorials - Page 3

Buried in the middle of Ford’s “Way Foward” plan, about a leaner structure and new products, Ford president Mark Fields makes mention of a 2008 Mustang Bullitt. As part of Ford’s commitment to produce refreshed Mustangs every year, Fields was quoted as saying “We added additional Mustang derivatives to our near-term product plans – to ensure we have at least one new Mustang every year. One of those will be the return of the Bullitt, and it’s coming in 2008.”

While this news is new to many Mustang enthusiasts, it comes as little suprise for some. Back in August of 2005, Motor Trend speculated a return during coverage of the 2001 Bullitt… just in time for the 40th anniversary of the 1968 film starring Steve McQueen.

Ford tuner/supercar builder Saleen shut down a few Orange County streets and opened the doors to its headquarters for its 10th annual open house/car show.

Saleen (the company) let the Saleen Owners and Enthusiasts Club (SOEC) take over its manufacturing headquarters so that everyone could celebrate all things Saleen (the car). Though this car show was technically open to any and all cars, this event was pretty much dominated by all things Ford-powered and Saleen-tuned.

Though a few S7s and Saleen-tuned F150s were on hand, the car of the day was the Saleen Mustang. All generations of Saleen-tuned ‘Stangs were on hand, which is great for the Saleen Mustang fan, not-so-great for those looking for a bit of variety. Don’t get us wrong, we love Saleen Mustangs as much as the next certified gear-head. It just seems as if most of these cars are picked up by the type of guy that spends one too many hours watching the Barrett-Jackson auctions on TV and not-so-secretly hopes that his Saleen Mustang will be the next million-dollar car. Most of these Saleen Mustangs look as if they rarely come out of the garage, let alone see any sort of track time. Whatever happened to buying a race-ready car and taking it racing?

Today it is not uncommon to find a ‘65 Fastback with modular V8 power, but brothers Bob and Wayne Julian took their project “SN65″ to a whole new level.  This beautiful Screaming Yellow fastback is not your average shoehorned V8 swap, but rather the merging of two unibodies. The Julian brothers began by painstakenly cutting the body off of a 2003 Cobra with just 13k on the ticker, this was followed by cutting the opposite portion from a perfectly healthy 1965 Fastback.

There were many major differences in the two unibodies, one being the Terminator’s wheelbase was 7inches shorter than that of the Fastback.  Not wanting to the outcome to appear as that of a funny car the Julian brothers engineered a method to extend the Cobra’s wheelbase.  Another hurdle was how to handle the width changes in the last 40 years of Ford engineering that led to the Mustang’s body wideing from 56 inches to nearly 61 inches.  However the brothers had an answer for everything, so they facilitated fender flares and spent tedious hours re-engineering the entire suspension.

Recent rumors sugguest that American Idol star Kelly Clarkson recently ditched her $60K hot pink convertible Ford Mustang after finding out that it was not as unique as she once thought. Clarkson’s Mustang, which was customized by Galpin Auto Sports, was a duplicate of the car customized for adult film star Alana Evans.

While Saleen, Roush, Shelby, Foose, Steeda and company have been building press releases and showing off their modded mustangs, Team Shinoda has been quietly building the Most Powerful Production Mustangs, as per their slogan. Power, Performance, Style. That’s their motto - fitting considering the companies history.

In 1969, the late Larry Shinoda, who also designed the Corvette Stingray and Z28 Camaro, introduced the original Boss 302 and Boss 429 Mustangs. These were the cars to beat, winning both NHRA drag racing events and SCCA Trans-Am championships. These cars won the hearts of racers and enthusiasts alike.