Rick Shrout says he and his wife, Jennifer, celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary on July 23, 2004. We really hope he's right. During that time, the Blue Springs, Missouri, couple have owned a ton of Mustangs-more than 100, according to Rick.
Jennifer went along with the fevered pitch at which Mustangs would come and go-until Rick put together a certain Fox GT. Rick has always been able to cut Mustangs loose once he was done with them, but for some reason Jennifer was attached to that particular GT-until Rick sold it, that is.
It was at that point Jennifer decided she wanted her own Mustang-a Fox coupe-so Rick immediately began looking. He found the ideal project car as a roller-a black coupe with grey interior, which was perfect since he already had a complete drivetrain just waiting for a home. Jennifer gave Rick a few guidelines with which to build the car. It had to be a five-speed, it had to be loud, and she would be the one to choose the color and the wheels.
Rick already had his ducks in a row with a Gore Performance-built 306, a TTC-Tremec 3550, and Flowmaster Delta Flow mufflers with dumps. Of course, we think he had an ulterior motive when he hung a Vortech R-Trim supercharger off the passenger side of the engine. We could be alone in that assumption, but we doubt it. Anyway, the color Jennifer chose is actually a Pontiac color she saw on an '04 Grand Prix.
After the Mustang was completely stripped, Hammock Collision did the honors by applying the GM hue. We can see why Jennifer chose Roush 18x9 wheels with Dunlop and Goodyear treads. They really differentiate her coupe from the norm, as we don't see many Fox Mustangs wearing these wheels.
With help from Ryan Goodridge, Jay Lawler, and Rodney Arlint, Jennifer had her daily driver. But on the weekends, Rick had a race car. He even has a race-style hood from Cervini's Auto Designs and a Vamp Racing rear wing (on a spare trunk lid), with Weld Racing wheels just for track outings. Here's where the Vortech R-Trim comes into play, although on a recent track outing Rick hurt one of the Trick Flow heads when a cylinder got too hot.
When we last spoke with Rick and Jennifer, the coupe was still sitting on the Weld wheels, but the engine was at Gore Performance getting redone. The good news is the car ran its best pass with an 11.31, when it blew a head gasket and hurt a cylinder head. The bad news is Jennifer is without her coupe and driving an '00 Mustang V-6 with the Roush wheels on it. Not that there's anything wrong with a V-6 Mustang, but it pales in comparison to Jennifer's coupe. Rick even thought about throwing in another of his spare engines just so Jennifer could drive the car, but he really didn't want to do the work twice.
Speaking of work, if Rick ever sells the coupe, he'll need to work on his marriage. "That's how much she loves the car," he says jokingly.