I consider myself to be one of the least biased automotive enthusiasts out there. While I can spend hours pouring over the details of any car in front of me, my personal history is littered with turbo 4cyl’s; specifically DSM’s. I’ve had 12 of them. Yeah, I have a problem. But throughout those 12 years, I have also owned a number of other random cars. From a WRX wagon, to a Mazda 3 hatch, I tended to stick to newer 4 cyl cars. Maybe it was the time period I grew up. Fast and the furious was hugely influential to me. Not from a “I need neons and 2 of the big NOS tanks” influential, but from a perspective that life is to be filled with those you care about doing rad things with cars. My favorite car from the original movie was the Charger, but it was well out of any price range that I could afford. That left those little 4 bangers. I always liked them, and I still love seeing an Integra or DSM whooping up on a big V8, but times do change.
A 2017 Ford Mustang GT. A premium model with performance pack and leather Recaro seating. I traded the TBSS in and drove home in the newest car I ever had owned. 1 year old and 2,090 miles when I pulled out of the parking lot. I liked the car. American cars arent known for great interiors, but when compared to my 90’s DSM’s or my 2006 Chevy Trailblazer, this thing felt like the nicest car ever built. Little details like the LED lighting behind the door handles and in the cup holder really stood out to me. Overall I was very happy with it. But even as I pulled out of the lot for the very first time, I knew I wouldn’t be happy for long.
The TBSS that was traded in for the Mustang.
Right after buying it I decided it was time to protect it. I had my buddy Ned do a complete detail on the car, including ceramic coat. The car shined unlike any car I have ever seen. It is unbelievably cruel, a freshly washed black car looks better than any other color (fight me) but is absolutely impossible to keep clean. Even after a single night in the garage it shows every speck of dust. Even though, I could not have been any happier. Right after the detail, I went out to get a few photos of the car. I wanted some photos of the car stock as I already knew what plans were in store.
Even I did a bit of the ceramic coating process.
And the morning when I picked the car up. There is nothing like a freshly detailed car. Please excuse the iPhone photos.
After the actual detail, I went out and shot the first real photos of the car. I’m a sucker for shallow DOF shots, so a front 3/4 angle, trees in the background, and 135mm @ F2 on a full frame camera is my favorite shot.
Right before the car was put away for winter, I decided to get another photographers view of the car. I asked Brandon Duester to shoot the car. I told him what I was going to change on the car over winter so he could make sure to focus on those areas. The plan is to have Brandon shoot the car again, in the same location at roughly the same time of year, to showcase the changes. That should be coming up soon, so keep an eye out. Here are a few of Brandon’s shots.
I always appreciate when people catch photos of me shooting, so I figured it was only appropriate for me to grab a few of Brandon.
I absolutely love this shot of the Recaro seats. While they aren’t as comfy as the normal heated & cooled seats that come in the premium models, looking over and seeing the word “Recaro” more than makes up for it.
I also really liked this shot of the interior. It reminds me of a advertising shot you may see in a brochure.
Knowing that the car would see some power modifications this winter, I wanted to get a baseline on my buddies dyno at Endless Performance.
Car made 360hp/344tq stock on a mustang dyno. Due in large part to the extremely quiet stock exhaust, the car felt much quicker than it actually was.
The mustang parked next to the Hellcat for a few weeks before the Hellcat was about to go in for some work and a dyno tune.
Then the car went away for winter. I put roughly 1,000 miles on the car in the 2 months that I owned it. The car got prepped for storage and the plans were put into place for the winter modifications. Compared to some people’s “builds”, this would be mild. But I consider myself to be pretty good at visualizing a build, and I knew it would come together perfectly. Most mustangs look very similar, and my goal was to use my JDM influence to make this look just slightly different than most S550’s out there.
A little sneak peak at Part 2 coming soon.
I am writing this almost 10 months since the car was put away for winter last year. Since then the car has been completed, and a couple of photoshoots have been done. It is easy to look back and say that I knew the car would come together this perfectly, but that would be slightly misleading. I knew what vision I had in my head, but at the time I had yet to make that become a reality. But it was about to start.
– Andrew
