«Give me fuel, Give me fire, Give me that which I desire» Metallica
Ford Mustang, the1st generation — probably the most popular car and one of the muscle-car pioneers in North America. They have powerful motors, but very simple suspension, not intended for fast driving on curvy roads — they are nice for traffic light race and can be used as a great base for tuning — carburetors, blowers and piston kits — anything is available if you have enough money, but there will always be people who want to build something special of their own, using non-standard solutions to improve the performance of the car.
Mike Maier from California is one of those guys. He is racing Mustangs for a quite long time and he also has several SCCA (Sport Cars Club of America) trophies. In his free of racing time Mike works in a family company which designs and manufactures suspension and body parts for Mustangs. Once upon a time he decided to build his road legal car, which will be able to bring the fun from speed and handling on the basis of his favorite Ford.
His Blue Mustang “1966 was purchased in 2002 and since then Mike was building the car, using parts of its own and experimenting with them, using the car for solutions testing and as a demo car. The motor has also been seriously modified and now the car is very easy recognizable by the sound, when it goes along the street. Exhaust of the car is not very loud and it does not scare old ladies and children in the neighborhood, but the one who knows the sound of a sports car for sure will notice the familiar notes of the engine and gearbox sound — the engine came from NASCAR.
V8 Ford makes 750 horsepower and 820 Nm of torque, according to old NASCAR tradition it is equipped with a carburetor and it can reach such RPMs that are dreamed by Honda owners. The transmission also came from motorsports — it is a lightened C&R Racing Gearbox and differential. But the most interesting thing is — Mike is not so interested to drive a straight line or ovals. Curvy roads — that's where the blue Mustang can show its best. Of course, teaching the car how to drive takes lots of time and efforts, but now these solutions bring not only fun, but also the profit — the suspension was seriously reworked, int the front there is a set of A-arms, and the rear has pushing rods which are connected to horizontally located adjustable dampers and springs which allow you to show best lap times during track days, not only because of straight line fast segments, but also in the corners. Brakes are upgraded to satisfy increased demand — Wilwood 6-pot brakes in the front and 4-pot in the rear substitute original drum brakes.
The rest of the car is made without screaming elements — exterior has new fenders with extenders and a hood with vent holes, and the interior got a simple roll cage, racing seat belts and Auto Meter instruments in an original dashboard, and the remaining elements are stock and original — old seats and even a wooden steering wheel!
The project is very interesting, Mike Maier is very lucky. To design, to build and to use your own technical solutions for your own favorite car that can bring you to the shopping mall or to show best times on the track — it is an absolute delight for a man with gasoline instead of the blood.
Technical specifications:
Engine
Roush Yates NASCAR Nationwide Series Ford V8,
750 hp and 820 Nm
Driveline
C&R Racing 4-speed race transmission and differential
Suspension
Front: double A-arm front suspension
Rear: panhard rod setup with pushrod to rocker arm coil setup in the trunk, (everything by Mike Maier)
JRI Racing shocks,
Brakes
Wilwood brakes (6-piston calipers front, 4-piston rear)
Wheels/Tires
Custom Team Three wheels 18” with 315/30R18 Falken Azenis RT615K tires
