We also spent a couple days wheeling the Legend X's little brother-the LM500 Series 1. Featuring a stock 4.6 engine augmented with a RoushCharger supercharger, the LM500's bodywork and Shelby CS67 wheels take you back in time, while the smooth, robust power puts you back in the seat. Interestingly, the LM500 forgoes mufflers for more power and growl, but that doesn't keep you from retaining a full warranty with the Roush blower (a more aggressive 500hp ProCharged version is also available). Similar to its big brother, it features billet interior bits, extra gauges, and most importantly, painted-on stripes. An LM500 Series 1 will set you back $23,000 on top of a customer-supplied S197.
Being curious sorts, it was only natural that we strap the Legend Mustangs to our in-house Mustang chassis dynamometer to see what they crank out. We dyno'd the Legend X car first-we had to see what that monster made. It topped out with 502 hp and 549 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels on the dyno graph. Our 200-rpm increments in the chart don't show those highlights, but they were there.
Steve Temple was quick to tell us the car cranks out 668 on a Dynojet, which we don't have a hard time believing. The Mustang dyno loads the vehicle for weight and aerodynamics. Either way, the Legend X currently holds the title for the most powerful Mustang we've tested on our in-house dyno. (To learn more about how dynos differ, check out www.mustang50magazine.com/techarticles/m5lp_0204_chassis_dynamometers/index.html.)
Knowing it would be a tough act to follow, we had to see how the more affordable, lower-boost Series 1 car stacked up. Its stock long-block and conservatively pullied Roush blower weren't going to throw down the world-beating power of the Legend X's screw-boosted 5.0-liter, but it did have rear-wheel peaks of 381 hp and 351 lb-ft of torque.
Sadly, our short experience with the cars didn't allow track testing, but we're guessing we would've had fits getting the Legend X to hook up on street tires. We think the Series 1 would run about like the Roush Stage 3 we tested last year since the Series 1 feels a lot like that car.
Click here for the Legend Mustangs dyno chart