Have you seen the new Camero? How about the new Charger? New Shelby Cobra maybe?
What do they all have in common? Big horsepower; that's what!!
Johnny has been making progress on the Mustang.
The rear frame rails have been installed and offset to be closer in to the center of the car (to accommodate the large rear tires we're going to be placing in the car).
The rear tire wells are using the stock look even though the tire well has essentially been tubbed out. When someone looks at the underside of the car, unless they know the car (the everyday person won't), the effect I'll have is essentially make the person think "What's going on here? How did he fit that large a tire in that car?".
As we're making subtle tweaks to body panels, these changes will help to add to that "What's different with this car" effect.
I mentioned that to Johnny. "Johnny, I'm real happy how these changes are coming together. We're making subtle changes and tweaks to the car that adds to the car, the way it should have been out of the factory, and yet makes it unique!!"
So what's the deal with mentioning the horsepower at the beginning of this blog? Well, I've been telling the guys we're aiming for 700+HP. Johnny was thinking that 300HP aught to do it but not in my mind. The new production cars coming out today are coming out with 500HP - all tuned out. That's not acceptable for my custom. What has to be built is a car that is absolutely unique. I don't know if another Mustang out there will have a 460 7.4 Cobra engine in it with 550HP out of the gate. That said, I don't even know if of those cars that have that power plant will have it converted to EFI and supercharged. My baby needs to be unique. So unique that it turns heads at every show we go to!!
So powerplant is one way to get that name for the car. In order to fit that block, out come the shock towers and in goes a brand new suspension support for the car.
With the engine comes customizing of the transmission tunnel. And all of this is to fit under the hood without cutting the hood. The engine just has to fit!
The second way is making changes to the body work - already doing that.
The third way is the interior - custom all the way. We're throwing out the rear bench and creating our own 2+2 seating. I'm getting the 2006 3-series bucket seats for the front and we're going to make our own two seats for the rear. There will be a center console that runs the length of the car and will wrap around the rear bucket seats.
The forth way is around finishing. This will be from metal finishings used, dashboard work done, and jewellers that I'll be working with to get the emblems made for the vehicle.
The fifth way is the electronics to be used in the car - I'm going with a Car PC so it'll be all hightech.
In fact, the colors have also changed to use European accents. I like some of the colors on the Bugatti cars and I think that some of those colors would be good to use for Mustang.
Now that the vision of the vehicle is embedded in my mind, I've already started thinking of future projects (or at least dream cars that I would love to have). What would I like to do? Here's a list:
Restomods:
1. 1968 Mustang Coupe (already on it: the premise of this BLOG)
2. 1963 - 1968 VW Beetle
3. 1973 - 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser
4. 1970 Plymouth Barracuda
5. 1968 - 1970 Dodge Charger
6. 2000 - 2006 BMW X5
7. 1950+ Ford F-150
8. 1992 - 2000 3-Series Cabriolet
9. 1998 750i BMW
Dreams:
10. 1993 Porsche 993 (the one from Bad Boys the movie; I'd just buy this)
10+. 1997 Ferrari 355 Spider - this will never happen; this car would be too much to maintain afterwards ($5K CDN for just replacing a clutch...forget that) but it is a car I've been drooling over ever since it's release. Besides, if I'm going to spend $180+K CDN on a car, I'm going to build it from the ground up!
Ok, ok...so it's a million dollar+ list (if I average $100K per car) but hey, in order to make dreams work, you first need to set goals or a vision to strive towards. Then you got to lay out a plan. The final piece is to then set milestones and start executing on those milestone goals.
I've done that with the 540 and I'm doing that with the Mustang. This list may be a big one; the only way that I can see ever checking items off of it is to chip away at each individual project; piece by piece!!
Harvey
