Bay City, Michigan's Tim Barber thought he would be at a disadvantage compared to the shop cars that attended the KOTS. But we were impressed with the overall quality of Tim's convertible. A dual-power-adder engine built by Tim and Hunt Machine Shop, the 'vert made 630 hp and 595 lb-ft of torque on the Werx Dynojet in KOTS competition.
With a built AODE on board, Tim's car was a piece of cake to drive. The tranny features a manual valvebody, a shift-improvement kit, and an Art Carr 4,200-stall converter. Hit the Overdrive button, and the car could probably be comfortably driven from Florida to California. With every interior amenity working as designed, Tim's 'vert hit on all cylinders for the competition. Cervini's Auto Designs Stalker components and a Cincinnati Composites hood combined with Intense Blue Pearl paint really hit hard in the fit-and-finish category. If we had included dragstrip numbers as part of the competition, Tim would've won the whole shebang. On his final test-and-tune run on Sunday of the Bristol Bash, he realized his goal of a 9-second pass-a 9.96 at 138 mph to be exact-at a portly 3,738 pounds. Only Nick Yarber's '95 Cobra was quicker during our impromptu drag testing. We didn't count drag testing this year, though we may try to talk Editor Turner into adding it for the '04 KOTS competition. Alas, Tim was ever-so-slightly beaten out for the title by his best friend.
That's right, Jim Matzke of Saginaw, Michigan, is 5.0 Mustang and Super Fords '03 King of the Street. Though he didn't seem to be in sync with Tech Editor Houlahan's KOTS organizational scheme, and he acted as if he'd never been to a dragstrip, Jim put his '95 GT convertible in the bulls-eye of all aspects of the King of the Street. His 'vert made the fourth-highest horsepower number at 634 and the third-highest torque number at 595. The car also scored well in the street manners, fit and finish, and ergonomics/interior categories to take Jim to the top of the KOTS heap. What kept most of the other competitors from finishing strong is that they did well in one category but not in another. Jim's GT finished near or at the top, in every category.
Take one part SN-95 GT convertible, mix it with Ground Designs Black Widow ground effects, a Cervini's rear spoiler, a Harwood hood, Xenon side-scoops, BASF Ocean paint, APC pro-jector headlights, chrome Cobra R wheels, 630-plus chromed-out horsepower, a TTC-Tremec TKO five-speed, a nice interior, everyday driveability, and you have the '03 King of the Street. To be honest, some staffers weren't crazy about the Black Widow body kit, but it fits the overall profile of Jim's 'vert.
On the street, the Spec Stage 3 clutch was a little grabby, and the Moser spool made tight turns interesting, but both are needed with a powerful stick car. And they're easily learned with just a couple minutes behind the wheel. The worst fear of driving Jim's car was that of ripping off the Black Widow front bumper cover.
While Jim subscribes to the dual-power-adder school of thought to arrive at 630-plus horsepower, he also uses a Vortech S-Trim set up for 14 pounds of boost, with a Compucar nitrous kit to cool the air intake charge. Jim has had his fair share of problems on the way to KOTS king-dom. In fact, this combination is his fifth powerplant since owning the car, with Hunt Machine (the same shop that performed the work on Tim Barber's 'vert) taking responsibility for the latest underhood power iteration. Before adding the nitrous, the car made 588 hp on Anderson Ford Motorsport's Dynojet, but with the Compucar nitrous system and 50hp jets fitted, it has made as much as 679 hp and 649 lb-ft of torque. Fortunately for Jim, he didn't need all that to win King of the Street. He simply took advantage of a spectacular blend of a lot of power, streetworthiness, and stunning good looks.