If Dominic Toretto would've traded his 1969 blown Pontiac GTO for the car you're about to see in the video below, he would've managed to escape safe and sound from the train that totaled his father's pride and joy. Needless to say, a 10-second Toyota Supra doesn't have the raw all-American appeal of this 8-second Mustang.
Before YouTube-ing the iconic Fast and Furious train scene, let's go through what makes this first-gen heavy smoking Ford Mustang so fast. If you take a look at the exterior, the wide 275 mm radial rubber shoehorned at the rear, LMS rear and the bulged bonnet offer some hints about this pony's straight line pulling power.
In fact, the Mustang you're about to see below is modified by a tuning garage dubbed Tunnel Vision and is one of the most hardcore street-legal drag machines you'll ever encounter. Compared to his opponent's slow coach 13.87-second quarter mile run at 104.82 mph, American muscle wins the day with a blistering 8.57-second run at 164 mph.
So what's under that hood? The simple answer is a very clean engine bay chuck-full of a Ford single overhead camshaft 3.8-liter six-pot destroked to 4 liters capacity. However, some modifications have been applied to this powerplant, including custom built billet roller rockers and exhaust manifold, a Garrett GTX45R turbocharger pushing 40 psi of boost, Haltech Platinum electronic fuel injection coupled to a United E85 fuel pump, a 4-inch single tip exhaust and the very important Preston Automatics Powerglide two-speed transmission.
With that kind of firepower under its belt, even the rear number plate had a tough job hanging on to the Stang.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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