Back in the 1960's, practically all you saw at the drags were 1955-to-1957 Chevrolets. They practically dominated the gas, modified, and stock classes, doing battle against the classic Willys, Austin and Anglias.
Today, the 1979-to-1993 Fox-platform Mustangs, and their contemporary counterparts, the 1994-2001 Mustangs, are pretty much taking up the slack where the '55-57 Chevrolets left off. These cars are fairly inexpensive to build. Their 5.0 and 5.8 pushrod V8 engines, and 4.6 overhead cammers are easy to work on, and make plenty horsepower. And best of all, they haul butt.
Mount Clemens, Michigan, Ford man Lidio Iacobelli specializes in preparing some of the fastest and quickest 4.6 and 5.0 late-model Mustangs in the area--no small accomplishment when you consider that Ford Motor Company's World Headquarters (aka, "The Big Glass House") is located just a few miles down the road in Dearborn.
His company, Alternative Automotive Performance, is located in Mount Clemens and specializes in supercharged ponycars. Alternative Auto is capable of doing everything from a basic street tuneup to building you a turn-key race car. Yes, things are always jumping down at Lidio's.
The Bright Tangerine 1998 Mustang Cobra pictured is the latest in a long line of ponycars which Iacobelli has campaigned at the drags. Other mounts have included a 351-W-powered, 1979 Mustang LX, a 5.0-powered 1988 Mustang LX coupe, and a Mod motored, 1991 Mustang LX coupe. Although all of them are considered personal "toys," they were obviously built to promote Iacobelli's business. His latest is by far Lidio's best.
"I've always wanted to build a big tire car for the NMRA and Fun Ford Weekend Mod Motor classes." Of course, these cars differ from the Pro 5.0, and "Renegade" class cars in that they are often street driven, and run anywhere from 15-seconds down to the low 7s. In fact, Iacobelli's Mustang even has a radio in it.
Credit for the car's outstanding chassis goes to Mike Pustelny at Almount, Mich.'s MPR Racing. Basically, Pustelny "backhalved" the car, installing a 2x3-inch box tube rear subframe along wih a 12-point MPRE rollcage, and tubular strut front crossmember. Attached to it is a Koni coil over/4-link-suspended, MPR-fabricated Ford 9-inch rear end utilizing a 5.13:1 geared Strange Engineering spool with 40-spline Strange Engineering axles, and Lamb Engineering disc brakes. Up front, the car utilizes a Koni coil-over front suspension along with Lamb Engineering disc brakes and Flaming River manual rack-and-pinion steering gear. Wheels and tires on Iacobelli's mod-Stang are from the Center Line and Mickey Thompson folks.
The 4.6-liter, Vortech T-trim supercharged (26 psi) DOHC mod motor was prepared by Iacobelli and Co., and features 9.8:1 compression Diamond Automotive forged-aluminum pistons, stock Cobra cams, AAP re-worked cylinder heads, Performance Fabrication Engineering headers, and a Ford EDIS-8 electronic engine management system. The 4R70W transmission (with 10-inch, 4800 stall-speed torque converter) is from Performance Automatic.
The factory Mustang Bright Tangerine PPG paint and bodywork was done by Highland Park, Mich.'s Joe Cicall, and features an H.O. Fibertrends Cobra R glass hood. The orange and black interior features MPR aluminum bucket seats (sewn up by Willie's Workshop in Port Huron) and aluminum door panels. Also onboard is a full complement of Auto Meter instrumentation and RJS Safety Equipment.
Completed in 2001, Iacobelli's Cobra has turned in a best of 9.43/144.00, and was the number two qualifier at last season's Fun Ford Weekend event in Norwalk, Ohio. As Mod-Motored Mustang drag cars go, this is one of the nicest.