The Valley Mustang Club Starts A New Tradition With A New Venue

You can see at least a half-dozen Mustangs here on display at the Valley Mustang Club’s annual show. Up front are a pair of ’90 LX 5.0 convertible 7-Up cars.  These were “feature cars” built for a 7 Up promotion that ended up not occurring. There were 4103 built and Frank and Kim Talon’s car on the right is one of 2743 built with an AOD automatic trans.

A little less than a month ago, we stopped in at a local So-Cal Mustang show put on by the Mustang Owners Club of California. Held in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, it caught the attention of another nearby group of Mustang lovers that go by the name of the Valley Mustang Club.

So when the VMC asked if we would come check out their show to be held at a new location in Simi Valley about 20 miles from where the MOCC event took place in Woodland Hills, we decided to check it out.

Of course, we were not disappointed with the VMC’s 14th Annual Mustang and Ford car show that took place on June 5th, 2016. And the new location at the Hummingbird Nest Ranch was certainly a spectacular place to check out close to 100 Mustangs and other Ford cars.

As is usually the case with well-established Mustang clubs, members always do a very nice job of bringing out an excellent cross section of cars to represent both the late-model cars that are the mainstay of StangTV.com as well as the vintage side of the hobby where the ’65-’70s are the most popular era to own, restore, collect and drive.

While the ’65-’70s have amazing staying power in vintage Mustang circles and are probably the most popular collectible cars in the world, it’s the late-models that have the performance and sophistication brought about by 21st-Century progress. And the focus these days are mainly those S197 and S550 cars powered by the Coyote 5.0-liter V-8 that are leading the revolution.

While the vintage cars and the late-model S197/S550 Coyote 5.0s are at the sharp point of the popularity spectrum on both ends, it’s the Fox-body pushrod 5.0s that are also generating more interest from a collectible standpoint.

And one of a number of good things about the VMC event we attended? There was something cool to check out from all three factions on this continuum. Let’s take a look.

S197 Boss 302s were only built for two years and this 2012 Laguna Seca version is an ideal example of the breed.

Even in miniature Hot Wheels form, a Boss 302 Laguna Seca is one of the best S197s of all.

The Valley Mustang Club’s show booth served as the club headquarters for the event. Current members could renew memberships and show attendees could also sign up to be new club members.

From the first ’65s to the latest ’16 Shelby GT350, they were all on display at the VMC show. Blue with white stripes on a new GT350? We’ll take it.

If you divide S197 production into two parts in terms of bodystyle, the ’05-’09s are the first half and the ’10-’14s are the second. This ’09 (of which fewer were produced than the ’05-’08s) is the last of the those cars with a flat taillight panel and its front fender emblem makes note of 45 years of Mustangs.

Shad Murphy’s clean ’93 GT is fixed up with a nice selection of pieces to make it go faster and handle better. This includes a set of Edelbrock aluminum heads, an Edelbrock Performer intake, a Ford Racing B-303 cam and a nitrous system. As can be seen under the hood, it’s also fitted with a Maximum Motorsports strut-tower brace and a pair of MM caster/camber plates.

As with S197s, there are also two eras of SN-95s. The round-body ’94-’98 cars were the first half and the ’99-’04s (also known as the new-edge bodystyle) were the second. This Bright Atlantic Blue ’98 Cobra is one of the more desirable of the ’94-’98s.

Okay, so you won the lottery. Quick, what is the first car you would go out and buy? If you’re reading this, we’d wager an ’05-’06 Ford GT with its supercharged 550-horsepower, 5.4-liter four-valve V-8 would be a strong possible first choice. It would certainly be ours.

According to the S197 Cal Special Registry, this ’13 GT Coyote 5.0 example is car number 156 of 2135 coupes produced that year. It’s also number 24 of 291 built in Race Red for 2013.

The 5.8-liter “Trinity” supercharged four-valve engine was only fitted to ’13-’14 Shelby GT500s. These are pretty much the ultimate S197s and with 662 horsepower they are still the highest-horsepower Ford car produced to date.

If ’13-’14 GT500s are the top-dog among S197s, then it would be fair call ’03-’04 Terminator Cobras tops among SN-95s. This ’03 has a bunch of cool stuff on it, including it being switched from its stock Eaton supercharger to among other things, a Paxton Novi 2200 centrifugal blower with an intercooloer and 60 lb./hr. fuel injectors. The conversion also uses an ’03 Mach 1 upper and lower intake.

Clean Fox-body cars are always good to see as they are becoming more important as the “new” vintage Mustangs of sorts. This ’89 coupe has 17-inch “Bullitt”-style wheels and an earlier-generation polished Edelbrock intake under the hood.

Our friend Charlie Richards owns this minty fresh ’67 fastback and it’s an original S-code 390 car. Its vintage FE powerplant has a Comp Cams valvetrain and a Mallory distributor. Other goodies include its 17-inch late-model-style wheels, a five-speed trans and 3.50:1 gears in its original 9-inch rearend

 

Bob Harris has surely built his ’67 coupe to show-quality status. Its 289 has an Edelbrock intake and aluminum heads, while the C4 trans has a Gear Vendors overdrive on the back which means good highway cruising with its 3.40:1-geared 8-inch rearend. We also like the classy good looks of the car’s 16-inch Billet Specialty wheels and 205/50R16 (front) and 245/50R16 (rear) BFGoodrich tires.

Before Mustangs there were Falcons. And the best ones are pretty much ’64-’65 two-door hardtops like Neal Rein's ’65. He has it all tricked out with a 347 stroker motor with dual-quads, a five-speed manual trans and a 9-inch rearend. We love it.

In a rare pairing, both of these ’69 Mach 1s are S-code 390s with a four-speed. More common among ’69 Mustangs are H- and M- code 351Ws, and Q- and R- code 428 Cobra-Jet engines, while the 390 was in the process of being phased out. It was replaced with the 351 Cleveland in 1970. The Acapulco Blue car on the right is owned by Ric Goudsward and it’s an original paint-and-interior example with only 54,000 miles on the odometer. The car on the left is finished in an equally desirable 1969 color known as Gulfstream Aqua.

About the author

Miles Cook

Miles Cook began his automotive writing career at SEMA, then spent a year at Turbo & Hi-Tech Performance covering the ’90s import scene. He then worked for Car Craft magazine, where he became the de-facto Ford guy on the staff. Next, he went to Mustang Monthly where all Mustangs were the mainstay. Miles is well versed in vintage and late model Mustangs as well as GM, Ford, and Mopar musclecars. His expansive background ensures that Miles is right at home writing for Power Automedia.
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