2010 Second Annual American Muscle Mustang Show - Twice As Nice

You're probably not going to see too many Super Snakes, much less two of them at the same show side by side. The white Shelby GT500 Super Snake in the foreground even possesses a two-tone black-and-white interior.

If you want to get our attention, a clean, well-executed engine bay is a surefire way of getting us to stop and look at your Mustang. Even though Troy Baum went old-school by going the carburetor route, the engine bay of his '87 GT is clean, clean, clean. Notice the smoothed and filled inner-fender aprons and firewall. Some people only smooth the inner fenders, but Troy went a step further by also doing the firewall. We especially like the trick little coil bump on the driver-side apron. That is a cool little touch on a well-done engine compartment.

In my mind, the '09 1/2 Iacocca Silver 45th Anniversary could be the nicest Mustang ever built. The extended fastback styling, the understated rear, the shark-like front treatment, and the resplendent silver paint have me dreaming of owning one. That will likely never happen, so seeing one in person will have to suffice. Only 45 were built, and since I'm not independently wealthy or an Iacocca family member, ownership will more than likely be beyond my grasp. Lee Iacocca's niece Cindy brought her example to the AmericanMuscle show and won First Place in the specialty Mustang category.

Pypes Performance exhaust and Magnaflow Performance exhaust gave attendees a chance to check out the latest components. Both companies use AmericanMuscle as an outlet for their products,and both had Mustangs in their display to show off new products.

William Caron uses his '08 Shelby GT500 to remind people of the good old days of Shelby race cars. The orange stripes on the fenders of his GT500 harken back to Shelby Cobras of the '60s. Specifically, the stripes on William's GT500 replicate those found on Bob Bondurant and Lew Spencer's FIA 289 Cobra during the '64 season.

Did we mention there was a ton of S197 Mustangs in attendance? With the show taking place in early September 2010, there were also several '11 Mustang GTs at the show creating a buzz.

Of course, the '03-'04 Cobras were out in force as well. This example, owned by Richard Feher, is a Competition Orange '04 convertible. Richard's Cobra features replica SC-style wheels 18x9 front and 18x10 rear. The orange-over-chrome makes for an excellent street car.

Ok, my own '94 Cobra's engine compartment is not nearly as clean as Walter Drumheller's '95 Cobra. Walter's '95 boasts a Ford Racing King Cobra clutch, and E-cam; a BBK Performance cold-air kit and H-pipe; a Professional Products 65mm throttle body; short-tube headers; and a Flowmaster after-cat exhaust. PSI Motorsports in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania, tuned the combo.

John Barnes' new '11 Mustang GT looked like it had already spent some quality time at Evolution with a cold-air intake and a tune. It also sported Foose wheels and a lowered stance.

There's the Black Mustang Club and the Yellow Mustang Registry. At the AmericanMuscle show we found out about GrabberPony.com. Yes, GrabberPony.com is dedicated to those Mustangs wearing the Grabber series of paint schemes. The two S197 Mustangs here wear Grabber Orange paint, but the club also recognizes Mustangs wearing Grabber Blue, Green, and Yellow. Obviously, the club also allows early Mustangs to participate since many early Mustangs wear the Grabber series of colors as well. Roderick Insley owns the GT/CS convertible, while Mark Goodell owns the Grabber Orange coupe.

The AmericanMuscle staff knows how to get around the show in style.

One of the fun games taking place at the show was called Dyno Dunk Tank Competition. How this worked was Mustang owners in attendance would register to have their car dyno'd. AmericanMuscle reps would look over the car and talk with the owners about the car's modifications; then AM reps would guess the horsepower. If the car made more horsepower than the number guessed, AmericanMuscle girls Stephanie and Melissa were dunked. The woman in blue couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if it was falling on her, but she got even by walking up and hitting the target the old-fashioned way.

The AmericanMuscle show featured a mobile Dynojet to let show attendees see how much power their Mustangs put to the ground. Show attendees had to pre-register for the limited amount of dyno spots since the show was a one-day only event. All registered spots filled quickly and there were several Mustang owners wanting to dyno their cars that weren't preregistered. Needless to say, the Dynojet's rollers were humming all day.

Stanley Raijski's '95 GT boasted awesome power from a pushrod powerplant thanks to a Paxton Novi 2000 supercharger, a Holley SysteMAX II intake, a BBK Performance throttle body and air intake, an MSD ignition, and much more. A dyno sheet from SGS Automotive confirms Stanley's GT put down 562 hp with just 11 pounds of boost. With the Novi 2000 on board, that's just beginning to scratch the surface of that blower's capabilities.

"Yeah, but my legs are nicer than yours," says Matt decillis to his wife, Angela. The new Jersey couple had recently traded in Angela's '03 Cobra on the '11 GT sitting next to them. Angela loved her Cobra, and hadn't yet warmed up to the new GT as of the show. Just like with the Cobra, the GT already has a pair of Flowmasters on it, but more mods are planned. The Cobra ran 12.40s at Cecil County, but the couple had yet to run the GT as of this writing.