Giveaway Cars
Project Name: Cyber Stallion
Car: '89 Mustang LX
Timeline: February 2000-June 2000
Goal: Bolt-on giveaway car
Result: We gave it away.
Grade: A
Best Performance: No strip testing.
Biggest mistake: None
Best move: Making a reader happy.
Cyber Stallion was a joint venture between MM&FF and Brothers Performance Warehouse. We took a timid LX, threw a slew of bolt-ons at it, and dressed it up with a Cobra body kit and some shiny, new blue paint. We could not locate a photo for this car, but it looked similar to Code Blue, except for some Cobra ground effects pieces and chrome Cobra R wheels.
Project Name: Code Red
Car: '87 Mustang LX
Timeline: July 1995-May 1996
Goal: BBK giveaway build-up car.
Result: 341 supercharged rwhp
Grade: A
Best Performance: Never drag tested.
Biggest mistake: None
Best move: BBK InstaCharger install.
MM&FF has given away quite a few cars on its own (including Code Blue, which you read about earlier). Code Red was built in conjunction with the folks at BBK Performance Parts. While Project Code Blue went to a reader down South and The Horse With No Name got shipped to the winner in California, Code Red--built in California--naturally went south a few exits of MM&FF World Headquarters to a reader in New Jersey.
Project Name: Electric Banana
Car: '95 Mustang GT
Timeline: April 1998-August 1998
Goal: Test bolt-on parts on an SN-95 Mustang.
Result: Nearly 300 hp to the wheels.
Grade: B
Best Performance: Never flogged at the track.
Biggest mistake: None
Best move: Edelbrock package.
MM&FF joined up with Brothers Performance Warehouse to test some new parts.
Project Name: Ped Project
Car: '95 Mustang GT
Timeline: February 2000-June 2000
Goal: Use the Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog to build a 12-second street car for famous NHRA Funny Car driver.
Result: We accomplished all our objectives.
Grade: A
Best Performance: 12.98/111.88 mph
Biggest mistake: None--you can't go wrong with any of the modifications made to this thing.
Best move: Kenny Youngblood-designed paint and graphics.
We take full credit for all the racing success Tony Pedregon has enjoyed. He won his first NHRA Funny Car race in Ennis, Texas, after meeting Editor Jim Campisano. After the MM&FF project buildup, Pedregon won the NHRA Funny Car title driving for John Force. Need we say more?
Project Name: Pro 5.0
Car: '88 Mustang GT
Timeline: May 2001-June 2002
Goal: Build a killer, high-horse street machine as a subscription sweepstakes car.
Result: Over 500 rwhp with a LaRocca tune.
Grade: A
Best Performance: 526 rwhp
Biggest mistake: Stock block kept car from reaching full potential of blower/stroker engine combo.
Best move: LaRocca tune-up, ATI ProCharger on Central Coast Mustang 342.
Project Pro 5.0 was a giveaway car that was donated to MM&FF from Pro-5.0 Shifters. In its previous life, the '88 GT had seen road-course duty and toured national Ford events for years as a display for the shifter company. You could actually sit in it and bang imaginary gears if you wanted to. When MM&FF got hold of it, we dropped in a 342ci motor from Central Coast Mustang, topped it off with an ATI ProCharger, and gave it a unique Motor City Auto Body paint job. The craftsmen at Sony Mobile Audio installed a hot stereo complete with a custom enclosure, and then we gave the car away to a lawyer from Ohio.