Baddest Mustangs - The Top 10 Stangs Of 2006

Stephen Harvey '94 Mustang GT
Of all the cars we saw this year in True Street, Stephen Harvey's Mustang GT was one that truly defined the class. Imagine owning a car that is show-worthy, can nearly run in the 9-second zone (Harvey has run a 10.01 at 135 mph to date), and can hold its own in New York City traffic during an MM&FF photo shoot. Sound ridiculous? Not in the least.

Appearing on the cover of our January '06 issue was Harvey's bright yellow stomper that features a LaFerriere Racing 310ci Ford topped with TFS heads and a Turbonetics T76 hairdryer. The Stang is an all-around perfect street/strip flyer that hauls on the track and stops just as fast thanks to a set of Baer Competition Pro Brakes. It's a good thing Harvey did stop, otherwise we wouldn't have seen how good a car it was and put it in our Top 10.

Eric Dillard '97 SVT Mustang Cobra
What do you get when you take a '97 Cobra complete with 284ci mod motor, stuff it with Comp Cams bumpsticks, massage the heads, and force-feed the little powerplant with a Precision 88mm turbo? How about a 900-plus-horsepower rocket ship? The man behind the magic is Eric Dillard, partner in crime with the rest of the crew at Pro Line Racing Engines. His '97 Cobra graced the pages of our September '06 issue.

This car is sickingly fast. When you can whoop the you-know-what out of your buddy's Hyabusa from a 40-mph roll, you deserve to make the coveted Top 10 list. The other awesome thing about Dillard's ride is that you would never know what lurks under the hood. With only a minor cowl hood and 18-inch Boyd wheels on all four corners, this Cobra looks just like many other Mustangs tooling down the highway.

Justin Burcham '05 Mustang GT
In looking at our photos of the S197 Mustangs, we knew this year's baddest of the bad was Justin Burcham's '05 GT. Burcham has flat-out obliterated records with his retro-Stang the past few years, winning the Nitto Tire/MM&FF '05 Mustang Shootout (covered in the February '06 issue) last year with elapsed times well into the 10-second zone.

He one-upped himself this year, though, as he piloted his Stang to a 9.46-second pass at 145 mph, making him the driver of the world's quickest S197 Mustang. Powering the Pony is an Al Papitto-built Three-Valve sporting a DiabloSport tune and a ProCharger FR1 huffer. As if that wasn't enough to make the Stang go fast, Burcham added a Zex nitrous kit to really kick the car into high gear. Backing the mod motor is a Tremec TKO600 manual transmission. If we didn't put Burcham's '05 GT on the Top 10 list after that 9-second pass, we wouldn't be doing our jobs.

Joe Intravaia '05 Mustang GT Saleen Clone
The most basic part of the car culture is to make it cool and do it your way at the same time. Joe Intravaia wanted a Saleen in the worst way, but he decided to get one in an unconventional manner: buy a new '05 GT and make one.

Thanks to the Saleen body kit and the staff at North Star Collision (Valley Stream, New York), Intravaia had the looks for his Saleen. After letting Jim D'Amore from JDM Engineering get his hands on the Stang, you can't tell whether or not this is a clone or the real thing. Sporting a stroker mod mill and a Saleen blower, the faux Saleen has blasted deep into the 10-second zone on numerous occasions while competing in the Fun Ford Weekend Ultra Stang class. By the way, it has the stock automatic in place and weighs over 4,000 pounds.

D'Amore drove Intravaia's Stang all throughout 2006, placing Third in the national points standings. Let's see-D'Amore took Intravaia's Mustang GT, made it into a Saleen, got it into the mid-10s, and finished Third in the national points standings. The car was so good, it was featured in the July '06 issue, well before the stroker was put in. Sounds like a Top 10 finisher to us.