If you have ever seen what most consider to be the greatest car chase in movie history, then you are most likely familiar with the American actor Steve McQueen’s appreciation for reality, which is why he insisted on filming the motion picture’s iconic chase scene between McQueen’s 1968 Ford Mustang Bullitt and a black shotgun wielding 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 440 Magnum where both cars go flying through the air in San Francisco and then end up trading paint at over 100 MPH on nearby open roads. This short film from 1968 highlights McQueen’s commitment to reality in the 1968 film Bullitt.
If you have been a high school student than you can relate to Derek Murrell’s dream of blowing the pants off of his shop teacher Bill Rosenblum in a 1/4 mile grudge match style drag race, and somehow miraculously the blue oval fairies made it happen with a pair of highly modified 2010 Ford Mustang GTs. The one thing you have to watch out for when challenging a high school shop teacher to any sort of automotive competition is that they most likely have some sort of speed junkie inspired mechanical know how that got them into that position. Which just so happens to be the case with seasoned central Florida drag racing public school employee.
While Mr. Rosenblum was in charge of installing all of the Ford Racing Parts onto his shiny new Mustang, the student had another teacher, 10 time NHRA Pro Stock Champion Bob Glidden to help him figure out how to hook up the GT’s hoosier drag radials. But only the winner of this best two out of three competition will be able to take home their ride. Will Derek’s 11.2 second passes be good enough to make his dream come true? Watch the video to find out.
Even if the American automaker Ford has just launched the 2010 Mustang, the blue oval engineers are already preparing a few new goodies for the 2011 model. The latest spy shots are showing that we might get more than we bargained for.
In a recent trip to Ford’s testing facility in Dearborn, our editorial staff not only saw, but heard a pair of Mustangs running up and down the high speed straight away section of their track. The interesting thing, aside from the amber lights and strange looking camouflage, these pony cars were singing to a much deeper tune than any of the 2010 models that we had ever heard before. That is because under the hood Ford was testing out the new, all-aluminum 32-valve 5.0 Liter V8 that makes around 400 HP and 400 lb-ft of torque. Dubbed the “Coyote,” this new power plant will give the Mustang a fighting chance against modern day muscle like the 426 HP Chevrolet Camaro SS and 376 HP Dodge Challenger R/T.
The prototypes that were spotted testing were wearing sticky Pirelli P Zero Corsa r-compound tires, the same rubber donuts that are used in super car applications. This means that we could see an even more potent track package in 2011 as well. Now we will just have to wait until November when Ford Raptor owners can experiment with shoehorning the all new 6.2 Liter V8 into a Mustang chassis, although they both make the same amount of power, the extra displacement would be worth some bragging rights.
After recently selling for $125,000 at the wold’s largest blue oval dealership, Galpin Ford in Van Nuys, California. This iconic 45th Anniversary Silver Ford Mustang Iacocca built in tribute to the automotive legend himself, Lee Iacocca. The very special edition pony car has been caught doing what it does best on video for the first time. Under the hood, this particular Iacocca Mustang is powered by a naturally aspirated 4.6 Liter modular V8 rated at 320 HP, but the next 44 owners can choose from items like an optional supercharged power plant that makes 400 HP as well as a 14 inch Ford Racing brake kit to bring all that fun to a halt.
It’s an understatement to even assume that the Ford Iacocca Silver 45th anniversary Mustang has gathered a lot of attention weeks prior to its official unveiling. After all, the car is dedicated to none other than Lee Iacocca, the father of the original Mustang.
So with buzz at an all-time high, the car was officially unveiled last week in front of over 300 VIPs at the Galpin Ford in Van Nuys, California. Judging from the turnout, it’s fair to say that the hype was well justified.
As part of the festivities during the official launch, one of the Iacocca Mustangs was auctioned of for the attending guests.
Starting at $80,000, two bidders immediately went on a bidding showdown to see who would go home with the prized Mustang. When it seemed that the back and forth would not end, a third bidder – a guy by the name of Steve Sularski - made his presence felt and announced a bid of over $125,000 to which the car was sold. For that amount of money, Sularski became the first owner of a Ford Iacocca Silver 45th anniversary Mustang.
In an attempt to show the world what they are working with, Ford has launched an internet based Mustang customizing program that allows individuals to design their own personalized pony car. Don’t be fooled, this isn’t just a few simple selections. The online program lets you pick graphics, stripes, scoops, rims, tire smoke and much much more. So if you are bored in the office and there is no boss around you can have a little fun creating a customized 2010 Mustang!
We recently had the opportunity to try out almost every variation of Mustang at Ford’s Dearborn test facility and were amazed by the vehicle’s versatility and fun to drive factor. No matter whether is was a Shelby GT500 or a glass roof V6, the Mustang was absolutely fantastic. There is also another little trick to making the most out of your pony car. If you peruse through the Ford Racing Parts catalog, for about $5,000 you can upgrade a GT Mustang with a Whipple Supercharger, Brembo brakes and a Hurst shifter amongst other things that will transform your V8 pony car into a bargain snake competitor.
Let us know how your customized Mustang comes out.
Last year the American automaker Ford asked the guys at CGS Motorsports to put together a very special version of the company’s Flex model called “Reflex” for the mother of all tuner car shows, SEMA. They did such a good job smoothing out Ford’s newest box car, that the blue oval has commissioned another creation from CGS for SEMA 2009, and this time it’s going to be a modified Mustang with a flat black feel.
Even if the show is still a few months away, it is evident by the images that have made their way onto the internet that the crew at CGS are already working on the flat black fast back play on words for SEMA. The project will be called Flatback and will feature a pair of glossy hockey stripes on top of the matte bodywork. Everything from the hood scoops up front to the rear window deletes in the back, this appears to be another smooth show winning design that gives the 2010 Mustang a stealth appeal.
CGS Motorsports will build the customized pony car that was designed by Sean Smith of SS Designs. While CGS will put in the man hours, companies like 3M and BASF will be supplying the custom paint that will cover the Roush body kit. The modified high performance mustang will wear a set of one-off Colorado Custom wheels wrapped in Pirelli Tires connected to the chassis by a KW coil over suspension. Inside, the driver will sit comfortably in a custom Recaro racing seat which will be necessary to stay in place when the blower from Whipple Superchargers goes full tilt. Bringing everything to a halt will be a big brake kit from Baer Brakes. Judging from what CGS did with last year’s rendering, there is no doubt that Fastback will not dissapoint.
A few weeks ago, we talked about a fully-customized 2009 Ford Mustang GT that was created especially for the Experimental Aircraft Association’s “Gathering of Eagles”. The car, which was called the AV-X10 Dearborn Doll, came with a glut of performance enhancements including a 550hp (410kW) supercharger kit, a high-flow FR500S exhaust system, a short throw shifter, a new handling pack featuring dampers, lowering springs and an anti-roll bar, not to mention, of course, the star-designed glass roof on top of the car.
We’re going back to this because the car was recently auctioned off at the 2009 EAA Air Venture Oshkosh fly-in convention, which was held in Wisconsin from July 27 to August 2. The car went for a staggering $250,000, which ironically is smaller than the Ford AV8R that was auctioned off during last year’s event for $500,000.
Despite coming it at only half of the price of the AV8R, the proceeds from the purchase of the AV-X10 Dearborn Doll would go to the EAA’s Young Eagles program, a program that helps raise awareness and engages young people about aviation while also providing free introductory flights to nearly 1.3 million young people since 1992.
The Ford Mustang has never set a set of slicks onto the high banked ovals of the NASCAR circuit, that is until now. Brian Wolfe, the director of Ford North American Motorsport division has announced that things area bout to change. For the 2010 season, Ford will debut a NASCAR spec Mustang as part of the sereis’s “new car” limited rollout for the 2010 Nationwide Series.
“We had been talking with NASCAR for some time about Mustang as part of its vision for a muscle car rollout for the Nationwide Series. We both saw it as a way of differentiating the series from Sprint Cup,” said Wolfe. “We loved the idea, so we jumped on the chance to extend Mustang’s racing legacy to a new series reaching a huge and loyal audience. Mustang has dominated other forms of racing, including NHRA drag racing, Grand-Am Cup road racing, and Formula D drifting, and now it’s coming to NASCAR Nationwide.
Even if it will only be a Mustang body shell and not a complete race car it is still a step in the right direction for both companies. Ford hopes to take advantage of the old win on Sunday, sell on Monday strategy; while NASCAR needs to step away from the current trend of every car looking exactly the same, aside from the decal package. However it would be nice to see some of that racing technology make its way into a production version, just like the famed Ford 429 Cobra Jet V8 from the 1960s.
The American tuning house known for pumping out high performance Fords has just unveiled the new Saleen 435S, based on the new 2010 Ford Mustang, it will be the first vehicle launched under the aftermarket automaker’s new ownership.
The Saleen 435S rides 1.5 inches lower to the ground than a stock Mustang GT and is powered by the same 4.6 Liter, 3 valve, SOHC V8 engine, with the addition of a Saleen Series VI twin screw supercharger and two stage intercooler to bring the intake charge down to a manageable temperature. The blower brings the car’s total output up to 435 HP and 425 lb-ft of torque.
The exterior of the Saleen benefits from an understated blacked out trim panel between the taillights with “Saleen” written in raised lettering, a mesh cover for the fog lights in the grill and graphic elements placed low on each side of the vehicle. Saleen is offering the 435S with a set of 18 inch 5 spoke alloy wheels with 19 and 20 inch rims available as an option. Finishing off the Saleen Mustang transformation are the “435S” lettered on each side of the hood of the pony car’s power dome.
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