As you browse through the pages of MM&FF, you see mostly high-horsepower-making street cars and tricked-out race cars. It's rare to see featured cars sporting the likes of suicide doors or a RideTech air suspensions, however, there are exceptions. Nathan Fogle's '98 Mustang GT is a great example of such.
Though the first few years of its existence were likely boring, Nathan's steed later found new life in the hands of an aspiring custom car builder-Brian Stitt, who happened to be Nathan's long-time friend.
Nathan and Stitt, now owner and operator of BS Creations in Mansfield, Ohio, were students at Wyotech in Laramie, Wyoming, when Stitt bought the GT at a local dealer in 2000. Both were studying automotive collision and refinishing, specializing in custom paint and body modifications.
When the two finished school, Stitt brought the car back to his home state of Ohio, where the car was wrecked and repaired twice. Stitt later took the GT on the Hot Rod Power Tour, where he sold the car to a guy from Georgia. "He just had to have the car," Stitt tells us.
A few years later, the car found its way back to Ohio, where it was purchased yet again by Stitt, who was by then off and running with BS Creations. The coupe was used as a shop car over the next couple of years. In 2006, Stitt sold the GT to Nathan, who was working at a local body shop. Working evenings and weekends, the pair began transforming the old beater into an all-around slick street machine.
The obvious focus of the build was the appearance, and there's no mistaking the skill level and attention to detail that went into the body modifications and paint. Though both are not seen often on Mustangs, Nathan and Stitt opted for suicide doors and a RideTech air suspension. Nathan and Stitt added Cervini's Stalker II front and rear bumpers, a 4-inch cowl hood, and prepped the body for paint.
After picking the colors, Stitt began laying out the paint scheme. He created faux-checkered flags on the bare metal of the quarter-panels, which were later covered with blue candy clearcoat.
With the black basecoat on the majority of the exterior, the next step was the flames. Stitt laid out the retro-style, long-fingered flames by hand, and filled them with glycol-green candy and a marbleizing compound. "This was not the first flame job, though," says Stitt. "I had two other similar paint schemes on it over the years." He then airbrushed the tips of the flames with a chameleon-like hue to add depth and uniqueness. After a couple coats of metallic blue were applied to the remainder of the roof, hood, and decklid, the entire vehicle was covered in clearcoat.
Stitt and BS Creations applied the same level of skill and attention to detail to the interior of Nathan's coupe. The seats were already covered in black and blue tweed, a result of an upholstery class that Stitt and Nathan took during their education at Wyotech. Stitt painted various interior trim pieces to match the toxic-green exterior, and incorporated the air suspension gauge and controls in the dash and console with custom bezels.
The underhood features a stock bottom end with a pair of Patriot Performance II cylinder heads, Comp Cams sticks, and more custom painting by Stitt. Nathan ported and installed a ported PI intake, complete with a 75mm FRPP throttle body. He upgraded the ignition system with MSD coils, FRPP wires, and NGK spark plugs, and added long-tube headers and a Flowmaster exhaust system. With a shot of Zex nitrous oxide, Nathan estimates his Pony makes a little over 400 rwhp through the T-45 and 8.8-inch rearend.
Along with custom painting...
Along with custom painting by Brian Stitt, the console houses the gauge and controls for the RideTech suspension, and controls for the nitrous.
Along with the installation of the RideTech air suspension, Nathan and Stitt swapped the stock gears for a set of 4.11s, added Cobra front brakes, and finished the look off with a set of Bullitt-style 17s wrapped in BFGoodrich rubber.
A 400hp daily is certainly not an innovative achievement, but when you couple it with the handy work of Nathan, Brian Stitt, and BS Creations, the combination is undeniable.