Robert Vasquez: Because Seven Would Be Too Few: Ford Showing Eight Modified Mustangs at SEMA

Friday, October 23, 2015

Because Seven Would Be Too Few: Ford Showing Eight Modified Mustangs at SEMA

SEMA Ford Mustangs Whatever you do, don’t say “SEMA Stangs” five times fast. By the second attempt, well, it gets inappropriate. Nearly as inappropriate? The number of modified Mustangs Ford plans to display at this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas. After all, couldn’t there just be one modded version of each basic Mustang that’s offered, say, a V-6, an EcoBoost, and a V-8 GT, plus perhaps a Shelby GT350? Nope. Ford is showing eight—count ’em, eight—Mustangs. SEMA Ford Mustang Bisimoto Bisimoto Mustang EcoBoost In stock form, the turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine in the Ford Mustang is respectable enough. It musters 310 horsepower. It’s fairly quiet. It’s unobtrusively boring. Clearly, the potential for greatness is there—just look to the 2016 Ford Focus RS, which uses the same basic engine but produces 350(!) horsepower. Tuner Bisimoto agrees, and so it went and gave the EcoBoost Mustang 590 more horsepower. And the outfit named its creation the “BisiBoost” Mustang. See? It’s already better. To get to 900 horsepower, Bisimoto overhauled the ECU, fitted a boost controller, replaced nearly every internal engine component with lighter and stronger pieces, piped a custom exhaust, and threw on a Turbonetics turbo with a “Godzilla” blow-off valve. The various braking, suspension, and styling components Bisimoto also changed are nearly meaningless. We’d drive this Stang even if it were rolling on four space-saver spares. SEMA Ford Mustang Motoroso Motoroso Mustang GT Coming down slightly from our BisiMustang high, may we present this Motoroso-fettled Mustang GT? It has but 727 horsepower, thanks to a Roush supercharger and a Gibson exhaust bolted to its 5.0-liter V-8. Lowered over Eibach springs, the pony car looks pretty mean, but the red wheels are a bit much. Wilwood brakes help slow this Mustang from a gallop, while a host of subtle body addenda are just noticeable enough to slow curious passersby. SEMA Ford Mustang TS Designs TS Designs Ford Mustang EcoBoost Convertible As Ford’s press release for the TS Designs Mustang convertible rightly points out, the car has “some rockin’ hips with three extra inches to love.” Indeed, those hips don’t lie—they only make slipping into parking spaces slightly more claustrophobic. Custom wide-body styling aside, this Ford has only mild mechanical upgrades, including an intercooler, a cat-back exhaust, a Steeda Stage 3 handling kit, and 21-inch front and 22-inch rear Forgiato wheels. SEMA Ford Mustang Mad Industries Mad Industries Mustang GT Convertible If you’re partial to the colors of a particularly nasty bruise, then this searingly blue-and-black Mad Industries Mustang GT convertible will punch you in the eyes. The grille, wheels, door mirrors, and the entire interior is “Brilliant Blue,” and it contrasts violently with the Pure Black main paint color. And the Mustang should punch its occupants in the gut with 725 horsepower, again the result of supercharging the 5.0-liter V-8 and slapping on a new exhaust. Wilwood brakes and Eibach suspension upgrades are present, too. SEMA Ford Mustang Ice Nine Group Ice Nine Mustang EcoBoost Eye-assaulting blue paint must be a theme at SEMA this year, because here it is again. Luckily, on Ice Nine’s EcoBoost Mustang the blue is limited to the wheels, and those are easy enough to swap away. Otherwise, this is one incredible-looking EcoBoost. For starters, it wears the a body kit emulating the Mustang Shelby GT350R’s aero bits, but adds bold-on fender flares. An Air Lift suspension kit lowers the Mustang, while a Garrett turbo, an Ice Nine downpipe, and COBB tuning ECU programmer bring output to 475 horsepower. SEMA Ford Mustang Dragg Dragg Mustang EcoBoost Cop Car Lucky for us, Dragg’s cop-car Mustang EcoBoost is neither a real patrol car nor is it mechanically modded much. A Vortech intercooler, AIRAID intake, Borla exhaust, and an ECU tune are the only performance-enhancing upgrades outside of Wilwood brakes. There is of course a light bar, flashing red and blue lights, and a sinister black paint job fitted over a carbon-fiber body kit and huge 20-inch Velgen wheels.

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SEMA Ford Mustang Bojix Bojix Design Mustang EcoBoost Is that a triple stripe we see running from bumper to bumper on Bojix Design’s Mustang EcoBoost? Why, yes, it is. We really dig the yellow, gray, and darker-gray flashes of color over the Lamborghini Bianca Isis white-and-silver paint, and the yellow spokes on the wheels are a neat detail we’ve seen on Bojix creations before. The Bojix Mustang isn’t just a pretty face—it also has an intercooler, downpipe, and intake from Full-Race motorsports, as well as an upgraded turbo. Cortex coilovers and sway bars work in concert with Ford Performance bushings, rear differential bearings, and 3.73:1 rear end; Eibach springs; and Brembo brakes to improve the EcoBoost’s handling and braking. SEMA Ford Mustang CGS CGS Ford Mustang Convertible Described as “a relative sleeper” among the “wild concepts” peppering the rest of the SEMA show, the CGS-tuned Mustang convertible nonetheless appears handsome with its classic red-and-white color scheme and limited exterior addenda. Underneath its restrained body there is a supercharger, a CGS cat-back exhaust, a CGS cold-air intake, a KW coil-over suspension, Steeda sway bars, and Brembo brakes.