These high-performance Mustngs gallop like champions

These high-performance Mustangs gallop like champions

These high-performance Mustangs gallop like champions
11:40 AM CST on Friday, November 10, 2006
By TERRY BOX / The Dallas Morning News

Make my next Mustang yellow or red, bolt a blower on it and give me a suspension as stiff as Laura Bush's smile.

I recently sampled one of each – a retina-searing yellow GT designed by California hot-rod builder Chip Foose and modified with the help of Unique Performance of Farmers Branch; and a traffic-stopping, arrest-me-officer red Shelby GT 500.

I am happy to report that I am not filing this column from the Lew Sterrett Justice Center. But both cars can quickly – and let me emphasize quickly –land you there.

Though different in personality, the Mustangs have more in common than might be immediately apparent: Both are distinctive, limited-production, high-performance cars that can be used as daily drivers but probably won't be. Both should appeal to buyers who want unusual, high-profile Mustangs. Both are powered by supercharged V-8s that struggle to get more than 12 or 13 miles per gallon in town but pump out 400-plus very healthy horsepower. And both deliver big thrills.

Both 2007 models also are expensive for Mustangs. The Foose, which is available in this area from one of Sam Pack's Ford stores, has a base window sticker of about $46,000. The hard-to-find GT 500 has a theoretical base price of $40,930, but many Ford dealers are demanding as much as a $30,000 premium on top of the window sticker.

Can either of these cars – assembly-line Mustangs that are descendants, after all, of the lowly Ford Falcon – possibly be worth that kind of money? That's a call you'll have to make.

But just try to resist the loud, lowered hot-rod-infused Foose, which is officially named the Foose Stallion. The one I drove for a few days had been dropped 1.5 inches and rolled on 20-inch Foose wheels. It never went unnoticed.

With 245/40 tires up front and 275/35s in back, it doesn't give you a ride like a Town Car – or even a Taurus. The ride was resolutely firm, occasionally lapsing into roughness on uneven pavement. But I drove the Foose in rush-hour traffic and made multiple trips on Dallas' ragged streets, and it was fine. I always emerged with a smile.

Besides installing Baer brakes and buttoning down the handling, Foose and Unique fitted a small supercharger to the stock 300-horse 4.6-liter V-8.

Doug Hasty, president of Unique Performance, estimates that the excitable engine produces 400 to 420 horsepower. It revs quickly, kicking the rear end out in first or second, and pulls hard with an edgy shriek from 3,000 to 6,000 rpm.

The stylish Foose felt faster and more composed than my mostly stock GT, blurring the lines between modern muscle car and heavily wrenched hot rod. You'll want to invite it inside. But as much as I liked the Foose, the GT 500 heavyweight was the real surprise here.

Last summer, I drove a pre-production Shelby from Dearborn to Dallas and found the 500-horsepower car oddly lacking in sizzle at times. The Mustang's boost gauge suggested that its 32-valve, 5.4-liter V-8 wasn't getting much push from the supercharger.

That's been fixed – with relish. On the production GT 500 I had for a week, any aggressive stab of the accelerator summoned at least 5 pounds of boost and gobs of tire-shredding, tail-wagging thrust. I now have no doubts about Ford's claim of 500 horses in the Shelby.

In my view, the GT 500 doesn't look quite as good as the Foose. I've never cared for the cheesy stripes on the lower portion of the car's sides. And I dislike the Shelby's clumsy rear-in-the-air, dog-burying-bone stance. If BMW can get its $40,000 cars to sit perfectly atop 18-inch wheels and low-profile tires, why can't Ford?

That said, once you're inside, the GT 500 is a terrific big car – even at a paunchy 3,900 pounds. Everything is stiff or firm. The clutch, for example, will make your leg quiver in traffic, and the six-speed manual can be as notchy and challenging as a screwdriver in a bucket of wet cement.

But once you get accustomed to their high effort levels, you quickly learn to live with them. (Sound like anyone you know?) The ride is well-controlled and precise but still true to its solid-axle, muscle-car lineage. Think of it as heavy-duty sophistication.

And you will be able to think while driving the Shelby. The exhaust system is way too quiet and timid for a 500-horse car. Ignore it until you can order something more immature from the aftermarket. Meanwhile, you can revel in the fact that this is a solid, tight, seriously fast car.

E-mail tbox@dallasnews.com

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