Horse Sense: Ground Designs 2000 reports that by the time you read this story, the company's similarly designed kit for '96-'98 Mustangs will be available. Natch, Focus kits are also under consideration.
Every group has its cliques. In the automotive world, the high-performance Mustang group is one of tightest-knit cliques. This is no more obvious than in the realm of aftermarket exterior enhancements for Mustangs. As wild as the performance is underhood, the exterior looks are on the conservative side. Most Mustang enthusiasts emulate the latest works of the Special Vehicle Team with Cobra R hoods and wheels, while others crave the look of well-known tuner Mustangs. In all, the result is an attractive but fairly homogenous group of ponycars.
Granted, it's tough to go out on a limb in the looks department, because you can become the popular class eccentric or the shunned class geek with one trip to the paint shop. Care must be taken when choosing to "improve" on the already attractive Mustang. As risky as this gamble can be, every so often a company comes along to put a wild new spin on the Mustang-and it actually works. One such newcomer is Ivan Tampi, the brains behind Ground Designs 2000.
Hiding beneath the Zinc Yellow...
Hiding beneath the Zinc Yellow Saleen Speedster tonneau cover is the heart of an awesome, Greg Sounds-created, custom audio/video system anchored by two McIntosh amplifiers. These powerful amps receive audio signals from a Clarion head unit and DVD player, and pump out sounds to OZ Matrix speakers and twin 12-inch subs mounted in this custom fiberglass box.
As you might guess, Ivan cut his fiberglass on the red-hot import market, creating the popular Street Fyghter and Black Widow body kits for the import crowd. Since Ivan is coming from this background, you might wonder how he got the craving for the Mustang, and it's simple. He just really liked the lines of the '99-and-up New Edge Mustang. It was those edgy lines that inspired him to put pen to paper-no computer-aided design at GD2000-and create the Black Widow Mustang kit seen here.
This kit certainly isn't for everyone, but for those who lean toward aggressive, head-turning looks, the Black Widow goes right up to the new edge without going over it. We don't see Ivan blending in with this car. Some will love it, some will hate it, but they certainly won't confuse it with just another Cobra clone.
Of course, beneath the surface of Ivan's rolling billboard is an honest-to-goodness '01 Mustang Cobra with the real 320 base horsepower under the hood. Ivan wasn't content to let this Black Widow spin away without any aftermarket bite, however. So, as with any modular enthusiast, his first step was adding a supercharger. In fact, his ride was the first to receive an official '01 Cobra kit from Vortech Engineering. He stepped up the blower and optional air-to-water aftercooler, and the result on Vortech's Mustang dynamometer was 385 hp at the rear wheels.
Power is great, but if the goal is to attract attention to the body kit-especially at a sensory overload event such as the SEMA show where this car debuted-looks are important too. As such, Ivan completely revamped the interior of his Cobra with a wild fusion of yellow, black, billet, and carbon fiber. Combine this with the polished bits under the hood, the import-style sponsor stickers adorning the body, and the 19-inch Racing Hart spokes under the wheelwells, and this widow maker creates the kind of show-stopping Mustang suitable for the cover of this magazine. We wonder what he'll do for an encore.