After many years of similarly shaped economy cars tearing up the high banked ovals of the NASCAR circuit, there will now be a real sports car on track to lead the pack. Ford’s in house high performance division, Ford Racing, and the NASCAR specialists at Roush Fenway Racing have just unveiled the new 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Mustang. The 21st century thoroughbred will have no problem catching up with the competition when the new car makes its racing debut next July. This will not only add a bit of enthusiasm into the NASCAR circuit but it should undoubtedly help the blue oval move a few more units. Despite contemporary automaker’s reluctance to spend money on competitive racing programs, the old adage “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” still holds true today.
The Ford Mustang has a storied history in motor sports contests and can claim more than 2,000 professional race wins ranging from Trans Am to Funny Car and even D1 professional drifting titles. Jack Roush should know, not only has his aftermarket parts company been tuning Mustangs since 1995 and racing since the 1960s. Roush Racing fields no less than 10 racing vehicles in all three forms of NASCAR competition including the Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and the Craftsman Truck Series as well. Since turning a wheel in NASCAR competition, Roush has earned over 250 wins which all look good for this car of tomorrow spec Mustang.
For all those brands that have decided to skip the Tokyo Motor Show, it looks like they’re already prepping up for the next one on the calendar: the Los Angeles Auto Show in December.
One of the brands that have booked their ticket for Los Angeles is Ford, which is using the event to officially unveil the new Ford Fiesta to its American clientele. In addition to the introduction of the Fiesta, Ford is also set to use Los Angeles for an equally important revelation: the powertrain behind the 2011 Mustang.
In a recent interview with foxnews.com’s Fox Car Report, Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s head of global product development, confirmed that questions surrounding the 2011 Mustang will all be answered in December at Los Angeles.
It’s been a prevalent rumor that’s dragged on for a couple of months now and while earlier reports have said that the 2011 Mustang comes with a base V6 engine along with a souped-up 5.0-liter V8 variant. In addition to that, rampant speculation of an even more powerful aluminum-block version of the 5.4-liter supercharged V8 for the 2011 Shelby GT500 has also become a powerful water cooler topic among car enthusiasts waiting with baited breath to see exactly what Ford’s plans are for the retooled 2011 Mustangs.
In any case, all the questions will be answered when the LA Auto Show goes up and running in December.
The American tuner Steve Saleen has a very hard time keeping his hands off of Ford Mustangs. Somehow whatever Mr. Saleen touches ends up not only looking better, but also has a lot more horsepower, goes faster and handles better as well. Saleen’s bread and butter for the past decade has been modifying Ford’s 4.6 Liter modular V8 powered Mustangs and transforming them into special edition individually numbered Saleen S281s. It looks like the red, white and blue tuner is getting back into the swing of things after reopening their doors as Saleen Performance Vehicles with the upcoming debut of the 2010 S281 Ford Mustang at the SEMA show this November.
Saleen isn’t releasing too much information about the new turn key tuner car, only releasing a few of these teaser images. However we have seen what Steve can do when he puts his mind to it, like the more recent 2010 Signature Series SMS 460 Mustang that made as much as 650 HP depending on the owners wishes and the more mundane Saleen 435S that made 435 HP, both based on the 2010 pony car from the blue oval. If those cars are any indication of what Saleen’s plan is for the new 281 cubic inch Mustang, then the new S281 will feature a few aerodynamically designed body parts, a set of lightweight wheels to go along with a high performance lowered suspension and of course no Saleen muscle car would be complete without a supercharger under the hood. Saleen needs to move as many of these 281 cubic inch hot rods before Ford introduces the new 5.0 Liter Coyote V8 and they have to buy a whole new inventory of S302 stickers.
There’s nothing like cruising America’s highways on a top-down muscle car galloping at speeds that drives the wind straight to your face. For the longest time, Joseph Cram and his father Ralph Cram have dreamt of taking a road trip across the US in a Ford Mustang.
With a fully-restored ‘68 Mustang sitting in their garage, the Crams were well on their way to living out their dream and it seemed like it was just a matter of time before father and son embarked on their journey of a lifetime. Unfortunately, the high cost of maintaining such a vehicle reared its ugly head on the two and to escape the financial bind the family found itself in, the two were forced to part ways with their beloved stallion.
16 years later, the Joseph and Ralph Cram have yet to embark on their journey and with resigned exasperation, were ready to hang up their dream; that is until an unexpected turn of fortune steered them back to fulfilling the elusive joyride.
When Ford released its “The 10 Unleashed” program, which encouraged consumers to submit their ultimate Mustang dream in 250 words or less, the Crams seized the opportunity and described their dream Mustang joyride across the US. Lo and behold, the Crams’ story was one of those chosen by Ford and, as a result, the two were given the chance to finally fulfill their long-overdue road trip. As a reward for their entry, Joseph and Ralph Cram were given the keys to a Mustang so they could get the chance to drive from Houston to Detroit and participate in the Woodward Dream Cruise – one of the largest automotive gatherings in the world.
Check out the video after the jump to see father and son galloping into the sunset 16 years too late. Then again, better late than never, right?
Despite the fact that General Motors has continuously delayed the launch of a drop top pony car once again you can’t stop automotive enthusiasts from chopping the roofs off of 2010 Chevrolet Camaro. It would be a difficult job to tell this yellow Camaro from Drop Top Customs apart from what will eventually roll off the line at GM’s Oshawa assembly plant in Ontario, Canada. Now they aren’t showing any close ups of the welds and that large convertible cover offers a lot of room to hide some unsightly craftsmanship, but if it never breaks then there will be no need to open it up. We will just have to take a closer look at the car when we see it at this year’s SEMA show where Drop Top Customs will most likely have more than one Camaro convertible on display.
Now Drop Top is asking for a solid $18,000 to give Camaro owners the opportunity to experience the wind in their hair at least a year and a half before the general market will be able to. The question you have to ask yourself is a $40,000 V6 Camaro really worth it? Perhaps as more and more of these modern muscle cars appear on the streets of the U.S. owners will be more inclined to pony up for the extra appeal, and when they do the Florida based shop will be waiting to help a few Camaro owners stay ahead of the pack.
The American hot rodding company Steeda has a long history of real world success with their supercharged lineup of Ford Mustangs, and this November they are going to continue the tradition by unveiling the 2010 Mustang Q Series at the world’s greatest aftermarket car show, SEMA. When the Specialty Equipment Market Association opens its doors at the Las Vegas Convention Center the new Steeda Mustang will be standing front and center amongst a host of high performance tuned machines.
The design team at Steeda have undertaken countless hours of computer aided design, aerodynamic analysis and on track testing to ensure that the 2010 Q Series Mustang will perform in any situation, especially because the majority of Steeda’s customers plan on having some track day fun with their dialed in pony car. The body has been upgraded with an aggressive front bumper with a larger air dam that allows even more fresh air to pass across the car’s cooling elements and ensure that the front end sticks to the road. Although this rendering of the 2010 Steeda is still just a computer drawing, the new bulge in the hood hints at something special underneath. Finishing off the new 2010 tuner Mustang are an attractive set of forked five spoke alloys and the signature Steeda side stripe running along the bottom of the car’s doors.
Steeda is quite confident about the real world abilities of their latest product. Dario Orlando, the founder of Steeda Autosports said that "Simply put – no other car has won more races and set more records in production based classes than the Steeda Q Series of high performance Mustangs and I am confident that our 2010 version will carry on that same Steeda tradition." So with America’s love for the Ford Mustang, the allure of messing up Mopars on the drag strip and the ability to play around with Corvettes at the occasional track day outing, Steeda is almost guaranteed future success with their lineup of precisely tuned high performance Mustangs.
Unfortunately as a consequence of General Motor’s recent fiscal restructuring, their High Performance Vehicle Operations team was temporarily disbanded and put to work on everyday people movers. However this new spy shot thanks to our friends at Left Lane News, it looks like the supercharged Cadillac CTS-V is back on track to go on sale sometime in 2010. We had heard rumors of a possible V powered wagon, these photos of the two door model are giving us hope that there will be much more to come.
Giving away the fact that the camouflage wearing coupe is a BMW M3 fighting high performance V-series model are the: Cadillac crested large wire grill that shines through the plastic mesh covering, power dome in the hood that covers the blown 6.2 Liter LSA V8 that is good for a total of 556 HP and 551 ft-lb of torque and a rather meaty looking center mounted dual exhaust to finish off the upscale muscle car theme of the Cadillac V-Series lineup.
However the single largest aspect of the production ready looking CTS-V coupe mule that gives it away as a V-Series, aside from the taped up emblems on the doors, is the running gear. Only one other car in the General Motors catalog wears a set of wheels like those, and especially with a beefy set of brake calipers underneath. Due to the fact that the Pontiac G8 GXP doesn’t have much of a future, despite being such a wonderful automobile, is that this CTS-V coupe is looking more and more like a production car.
Starting off with the same 540 HP supercharged 4.6 Liter V8 as their Stage 3 Mustang, Roush adds back a few of the 2010 pony car’s factory components to create a real stop light drag racing sleeper. That is because almost all of what makes the Roush 540RH, or the Hammer, so special is hidden underneath the car’s sheet metal. Taking advantage of the Mustang GT’s excellent balance and capable power plant, Roush uses the same parts that makes their highest performing modified Mustang so spectacular and then adds it back into a more mundane looking Mustang that will only make you give it a second thought after the pony car gallops off into the distance and the whine of the supercharger fades away with it. So if flying under the radar of the local law enforcement while keeping up with Cobras is something that interests you, the $46,145 Roush 540RH is definitely worth considering.
The American aftermarket blue oval tuner Roush has a long history of releasing their own brand of supercharged Ford Mustang that takes the already fun from the factory pony car and turns it into a track day special. The road car arm of Jack Roush Racing is continuing the trend with the all new 2010 Stage 3 Mustang, a special edition Ford Mustang limited to only 103 units and priced at just $59,945 each.
The stag 3 package is currently the highest of Roush’s upgrade kits for the new Mustang and boosts the pony car’s power plant up to a GT500 rivaling 540 HP and 510 lb-ft of torque. Aside from a tremendous amount of new found power under the hood, the 2010 Roush Mustang wears a full body kit from the aftermarket manufacturer and comes fully equipped with other go fast goodies like a free flowing exhaust, four piston brakes calipers biting down on oversized 14 inch rotors and a new grill that gets rid of the standard center lamps cleaning up the new car’s appearance and improving the air flow across the modified Mustang’s cooling elements.
On the inside the ROUSH Mustang is adorned with a set of leather seats complete with embroidered Jack Roush signature, a set of performance pedal covers including the all important dead pedal to support the driver’s left foot while turing into a tight right hander as well as signature ROUSH illuminated kick plates and a short throw shifter with either a black or white cue ball style knob. Of course, like all Roush Mustangs, the Stage 3 comes equipped with badges on the inside that identify the authenticate it as a Stage 3 Roush Mustang. Still, at under $60,000 a Roush Mustang is an affordable alternative to the factory tuned Shelby Cobra.
One of the men who can be held personally responsible for bringing General Motors to muscle car prominence in the 1960s is Jim Wangers. An automotive design hopeful turned advertising guru, Wangers is responsible for Pontiac’s performance enthusiast marketing campaigns of that foregone era of drag racing down Woodward Avenue and cars that you can take directly from the showroom to the race track and blow the doors off of just about anything. One particular Pontiac that Wangers was responsible for was the 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge, he even commissioned the rack band Paul Revere and the Raiders to take part in the car’s launch campaign and got George Barris to build the Monkees a modified GTO.
So it is only fitting that Big 3 Performance has decided to team up with the man himself in order to create an all new muscle car tribute to Jim Wangers and his Pontiac GTO. Starting from scratch, the team at Big 3 Performance have redesigned the 1969 Judge from the round up, including modern day running gear and other amenities. The body stays very close to the original, incorporating everything from the GTO’s three bar grills to the long sloping fenders to create a truly 21st century muscle car, after all why mess with perfection.
The Jim Wangers Edition GTO will be built using the highest quality materials available. The car’s interior will feature a set of heated and cooled Orthoped leather seats from the racing bucket manufacturer Recaro as well as a high tech audio visual package complete with touch screen navigation and fully powered accessories to complete the modern day muscle car experience.
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