Lasting Impression

Mark and Jeannette Salinas were pulled back into the Mustang hobby with this '97 Mustang GT.

Driving a Mustang, any year Mustang, always leaves a lasting impression that leaves you yearning for more. Everybody remembers when they took their Mustang around the block for the first time. Or the first time you got on the open road and cracked open the throttle for a bit of fun. That lasting impression usually creates repeat customers for the Mustang brand and Mark and Jeannette Salinas are just that. Mark first owned a '73 Mustang Mach 1 when he was 16 years old. Then he moved on to a '79 Mustang Cobra, which eventually he sold to make room for a Nissan pickup truck that was more suited for a daily driver and work truck.

Several years ago, Salinas went to the local Ford dealer looking to replace his pickup. He first test-drove a six-cylinder Mustang, but the lack of power pushed him to take a look at the GT. Despite the GT being a bit more money than he wanted to spend, Salinas fell in love and purchased the car you see here. It had every option including leather interior, Mach 460 sound system and 17-inch wheels. He left that day with the car and since then has enjoyed being a Mustang owner once again.

Like every good Mustang lover, he modified the car a little bit each year and kept improving on the looks and performance. First were lowering springs and minor bolt-ons like a Pro 5.0 shifter and throttle body. Then came an NOS nitrous kit he sprayed as he blasted around town and to local car shows. He drove the pony like that for several years before getting serious with showing the car at the many shows in California. While attending one large event, Salinas began to notice the popularity of superchargers. Wanting to keep up with the rest of the field, the nitrous was pulled off and a polished ATI ProCharger P1SC blower was bolted on. Eric Cheney of Extreme Mustang Performance tuned an Auto Logic chip for the supercharged application. Like most projects, this Stang began to spiral out of control and continually upgraded easily with the help of longtime friend Wayne Kreps and Salinas' wife, Jeannette.

The emphasis was to have some power under the hood, but it had to excel in the show car arena. It was also very important to keep the car as a daily driver. The first order of business was getting polished pieces for under the hood and the interior. Salinas was quick to say, "I love polished parts!"

The blower head unit was already polished, but he added a chromed strut tower brace, alternator and radiator cover, among other components. One special item to note are the custom polished valve covers from Teambreed Enterprises. Over the next two and half years Salinas continued buying polished goodies. Externally the Stang was ready for some changes. The stock white paint job was retained due to its good condition, but Salinas desperately wanted flames laid on top. His ideas would keep the car unique for shows and also grab the attention of the MM&FF editors.

After many different configurations of flames, Salinas decided to have Tim Broberg of Fastripe handle the application chores. The emphasis was on originality so the flames were put down by hand and the stencil was handed over to Salinas to ensure no one else would have the same pattern. With the white body, they decided on metallic silver flames that have been mixed with white pearl. The edges have been accented with a light touch of black. To help the front-end look, a set of clear parking light markers were added.

A car is not complete without upgrading the wheels and not just any set of polished rims would satisfy Salinas. He hunted down a set of Racing Hart C2 wheels that measure 18x8.5 inches up front and 18x10 inches in the back. Despite being $3,200 for the set, the three-piece rollers did not come in chrome, something that was a must for Salinas. After calling almost every custom shop in California, he found F1 Motorsports in Hollywood was the only shop willing to chrome them. He then fit a set of Sumitomo HTRZ II tires to them.

The Bassani X-pipe, high-flow catalytic converters and Flowmaster mufflers keep this beast street legal and quiet. Salinas and his wife, Jeannette, go to 10-15 car shows up and down the coast of California each year. They enjoy competing against many sponsored show cars and despite this being a mostly homebuilt project, it gets the job done. The car is, however, not all show and dragstrip testing has resulted in many high 12-second times with a best of 12.85 at 107.31 mph. Not bad for a daily-driven show car that still has the air conditioning blowing cold.

Salinas keeps the passengers entertained with a pumping stereo system. Charlie Nord of Good Sounds Auto Stereo added some serious equipment to the Mustang. Nord wired in an Eclipse 7001 Video Monitor radio with DVD player, an Eclipse 12-disc CD changer, a Kenwood amplifier, two 12-inch Boston Pro sub-woofers and two more Alpine amplifiers to help power up all of the watts. The results of the hard work and attention to detail have been several first place trophies, Best Engine awards and the car was even selected for the Police Interceptor award at one show. The police department gives this distinction to a car selected by a panel of officers. While Salinas is satisfied with the performance and looks of his Mustang, expect to see more polished pieces under the hood and a slightly modified paint job next time you head out to a California gathering.

Model: Kimberly Fisher