Ford's Top Hot-Rod Tuner Retiring United Press International - December 14, 2004 Motor Trend John Coletti, the engineer behind some of Ford Motor Co.'s hottest cars as head of the automaker's Special Vehicle Team, is retiring after 32 years. Coletti, 55, led a unit that sold more than 100,000 high-performance versions of Ford vehicles, including the SVT Mustang Cobra and the F-150 Lightning super pickup, over 13 years, the Detroit News said. The 300-horsepower Cobra was pace car at the Indianapolis 500 auto race in 1994. The Mustang's V-8 engine eventually topped out at 390 ponies. Coletti will leave Ford as director of SVT this month leaving the legendary Carrol Shelby, the father of the Ford GT race car, to carry on as a consultant producing high-performance Fords. Shelby is developing a super-charged version of Ford's 5.4-liter V-8 engine for a new high-performance Performance Utility Vehicle. The 32-valve engine would generate 550-horsepower. The muscular PUV would ride on 22-inch wheels and have flat LCD television screens in the headrests. Copyright 2004 by United Press International. http://motortrend.com/features/news/112_news43/
