Horse Sense: As assistant Webmaster of SuperStallions of the Net (www.superstallions.com), Adam is a regular at SuperStallions events, held mostly at Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Maryland. He tells us he's a three-time grudge-match winner against his fellow SuperStallions members. Of course, he didn't tell us how many grudge matches he's lost. Any fellow SuperStallions members care to chime in?
We don't know of many people who buy a Mustang to leave it stock, but Lynbrook, New York's Adam Dugger told himself that's what he'd do. Prior to getting the '88 GT seen here, his intention was to leave it stock-maybe put an exhaust and rear disc brakes on it, but that was it. Yeah, right-we've heard so many people say those exact words only to have a blower, gears, and a cage in the car quicker than you can say, "What's it run?" Adam even bought an AOD car because he thought an AOD's perceived lack of durability with anything more than stock horsepower would keep him from modifying it. "Well, that didn't last,"Adam says. Really?
Adam found the car in October 1992. "It was driven by a suburban mom," he says. "It even had a car seat and baby toys in the back seat." Slowly but surely the car began a transformation that has lasted through 10 years of ownership. "I drove it for about six years as a daily driver, which meant wrenching late nights to get it ready for the next day's trip to school, work, etc.," Adam says.
Along the way, he made several performance concessions to keep the car in its daily driver status. Since he lives on Long Island, the car must be emissions legal, so the smog pump and Bassani X-pipe with cats keeps the sniffer at bay. "The trip to the track from home is filled with traffic and potholes," Adam says, "so the car had to remain a street car that would occasionally head to the track. Losing the air conditioning, power steering, or the sound deadener were never considerations."
Red interiors don't get much...
Red interiors don't get much respect these days, but Adam chose to make do and simply outfit the cockpit with the bare essentials. A six-point cage ensures the car is 11-second legal, while custom subframe connectors keep the T-tops from popping out during hard launches. Several Auto Meter gauges keep tabs on the mechanical goings-on, and a BBK white-face gauge kit carries over the custom gauge theme.
With the street-limiting factors out of the way, Adam could do to the exterior as he wished. Since his favorite Mustang is a '93 Cobra, he decided to build his own using the GT as a base. He added a Cobra R hood, a '93 Cobra rear wing, rear bumper cover, front spats, and a grille insert from Cervini's Auto Designs. OEM '93 Cobra side skirts pull off the exterior transforma-tion. The '99 Cobra wheels came from the Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog and are wrapped in Goodyear and BFGoodrich treads front and rear, respectively. "Being a fake Cobra, the car earned the nickname 'Fobra' from several people," Adam says.
That's fine with him because he takes pride in the fact he did 95 percent of the work on the car himself. "I don't have the high budget needed to try out new parts," he says, "so I spend a lot of time researching and planning out modifications so they work the first time." Adam even documents and photo-graphs his experiences for his Web site (www.duggerracing.com). "Everything from the white-face gauge install to the more recent SN-95 brake conversion is up there," he says. When projects come up that he can't handle himself-such as any welding or gear swaps-Adam relies on Mustang Magic in Deer Park, New York [(631) 254-3430].
Furthermore, through Adam's involvement in the SuperStallions of the Net Internet club, he can always find someone willing to lend a helping hand. "I have met so many great people through this hobby," Adam says. "That's how I foundWimp, Matt, Jimmy V., and other people associated with SuperStallions.
"Of course, first and foremost, I would like to thank my wonderful wife, Judy, for being out there in the garage helping out, holding the work light for those late-night thrash sessions, for understanding where the money was going, and for not letting me sell the car when the thought crossed my mind. I am her biggest fan, and I can't understand how I got so lucky."
Adam also sends out a big thanks to Lane Palmer at Fastlane Racing for assembling the short-block; Drag Radial racer Spence Hart for the tuning advice; Mark Squitieri for wrenching assistance and car-cleaning tips; and Jim, Jeff, and Jay at BSD Racing for their tech advice.
Hey, Adam, we thought you did 95 percent of the work on the car yourself!