A New Addition

I’m constantly looking for new project cars. Personally, I think the thrill of the chase is just as exciting as actually owning the car. I’ve taken a break on the project car shuffle for a little while, preparing myself (and my wallet) for a new daily driver. I wanted it to be something powerful and rare, and while there are a multitude of choices in the sports car world, I wanted some American muscle behind it. There are very few cars on the market today that have the deep-rooted racing heritage of the Ford Mustang, and I love that Ford has continued to pour countless hours of research and development into improving the car’s already stellar performance pedigree.

Another company that relies heavily on R&D and continuous performance evolution is Roush Performance. Founded in 1995 by motorsports legend Jack Roush, the company designs, engineers and manufactures completely assembled pre-titled vehicles, fitted with high performance parts. This gives you new-car luxuries and dependability, with the performance of an all-out racing machine. While thousands of Roush Performance Mustangs have rolled out of the Plymouth Township, Michigan shop, these cars (and trucks) have the exclusive feel I was looking for with my daily driver. To take that one step further, I had the car delivered to SpeedKore Performance Group in Grafton, Wisconsin for a complete repaint and a few other custom touches that make this car one-of-a-kind.

The heart of my race-ready daily driver is a 5.0-liter dual overhead cam V8 with direct injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT). In its simplest form, the engine cranks out 460 horsepower, but after it ran through the Roush Performance shop, the small-displacement V8 is making 710 horsepower. A Roush Performance TVS R2650 supercharger is largely responsible for the big jump in horsepower, but other items, such as the cold air intake, Roush Active Exhaust system, and custom-calibrated tune are part of the recipe for horsepower.

I am a firm believer in the manual transmission. Sure, in some forms of racing, the automatic reigns supreme, but there is nothing that matches the fun factor of three pedals. This car has a six-speed manual transmission—it’s super smooth and strong enough to take a beating. Next to the shifter is a hand brake from Sikky Manufacturing designed for drifting and I fully intend on using it to skid this thing around and have some fun (on a closed course obviously). Other race-ready items include a custom Cobra Jet six-point roll bar, installed by SpeedKore.

The guys at SpeedKore completely disassembled this brand-new Mustang in order to give it the timeless Gulf livery. I always wanted one of my cars to wear the Gulf colors and this was the perfect opportunity. The 2019 Mustang body is fitted with carbon fiber side vents, and side view mirrors manufactured by SpeedKore. The Roush package gives it a custom chin spoiler, rear spoiler and R8 Aero Body kit. Aesthetically, the car is downright mean-looking and we finished it off with a set of one-off forged aluminum wheels by Wheel Vintiques. The modern interpretation of classic racing wheels measure 20x8.5 and 20x11 inches and they’re wrapped in Michelin 245/35R20 and 285/35R20 tires.

I’ve been planning and building this Mustang in my head for quite some time, and seeing it in person for the first time was a moment I’ll never forget. We unveiled it to the public at McCall’s Motorworks Revival, which is often referred to as the “unofficial kick-off” to Monterey Car Week. I’m so ready to put some miles on it and really exercise the upgrades from Roush Performance and SpeedKore.