2005 Ford Mustang Roush Sport - Deerly Departed - '05 Roush Sport

It's funny how a day that starts off badly can sometimes take a sharp turn for the better. A few years ago, Michael and Victoria Cooper were in a two-car procession from their West Bend, Wisconsin, home, heading to the performance doctors at Clinton, Illinois' Anderson Ford Motorsport, when not just one, but two, whitetail deer plotted a simultaneous interception course on the family's '94 GT. The blown and stroked SN95 had been scheduled into Anderson for installation of a nitrous kit and a good tune-up.

Sadly, after the impact of the four-legged missiles, the '94 needed much more than just a tune-up (we assume the same can be said for the deer duo). In fact, once the fur-festooned GT was towed the rest of the way to Anderson, an insurance adjuster ultimately made the call that it would be written off instead of repaired. Luckily, Michael had been wise enough to document his ongoing improvements and modifications of the GT for his insurance company, so the write-off value was somewhat better than would have otherwise been the case.

Naturally, all this stuff took a good portion of the day to sort out, during which time, Mike's wife, Victoria, wandered next door to the showroom of Anderson Ford-Mercury, not so much to check out the wares as just to use the facilities. On her way, however, she spotted a new, prominently displayed '05 Roush Sport in Sonic Blue. The stylish GT coupe called out to her in no uncertain terms, so she jumped in and checked it out; then excitedly went to tell her husband about what she'd discovered. Naturally, one thing led to another, and by day's end, the couple were headed back to Wisconsin as proud owners of the Roush-with the proceeds of their '94 GT write-off going toward its purchase price. It was, in other words, partially financed by Bambi.

The Roush Sport package includes the company's six-piece body kit; rear-exit high-performance exhaust with trapezoidal tips; foglamps; and Roush-embroidered floor mats, fender badges, and a windshield banner. Combine this with the rare Sonic Blue hue, and you've got a heck of a handsome S197. The stock GT rims, though, looked a little outclassed, so Michael hunted down a set of Ford Racing Performance Parts' FR500-style 18x9 rims and filled the fenders with Pirellis up front and BFG Drag Radials out back. Those fenders lost some of their extreme factory altitude with the help of Roush Stage 2 springs, dampers, and antiroll bars. The chassis is also bolstered with Steeda's G-Trac brace up front, along with their adjustable third-link and billet lower trailing arms on duty to control the rear axle. Said axle is now fitted with FRPP 4.10 gears and Moser 31-spline axles.

Now looked and handled the way an enthusiast's Mustang should-but what about thrust? The Roush Sport package leaves the Three-Valve utterly stock. A person just can't go from a supercharged 331-inch pushrod to a factory stock modular. It just wouldn't be right. "I've always had the speed itch," Michael admits. "Nothing's ever quick enough." So the power ball began rolling with typical bolt-on hardware, including gears, a premium-fuel tune, a cold-air inlet, and an upgraded exhaust. Then Mike got more serious, together with his old friend Marv Zuidema at C&M Performance (Hubertus, Wisconsin).