Most of you reading this are here not because you have a laptop with the wi-fi capabilities. You’re not here because you have a PC with a bundled home cable/internet package. You’re not here because you are smart enough to use your smart phone to pull up this web page. You’re here because an older relative turned you into a car guy/girl. You aren’t here just from the standpoint of being able to navigate the world wide web, you’re here because of your love for Mustangs.
Even though Prance’s coupe was originally red, he repainted it in his grandfather’s horse barn an Acura NSX red. Yes, he had to sand and buff the car a few times after painting it, but that is always the case.
For Will Prance, he comes from a long line of Ford fans. “My great-grandfather owned the first Ford dealership in Cherokee county, Georgia,” Prance says. Reynolds Ford-Mercury was located in Canton, Georgia, and it was in the family until 1978. The sticker on the deck lid of Prance’s coupe pays homage to his great grandfather’s dealership. Prance’s great-grandfather owning a Ford dealership is just one reason he is into cars.
Something else that fueled his lust for all-things-fast was the fact that he started racing go-karts at the age of 8. He raced all the way up until he was 20 years old. When his dad passed away in 2011, he tried to stay in racing, but without his dad there, it just wasn’t the same. Therefore, he turned to playing with street cars, but not at just any shop. The shop that Prance uses to work on cars is the same shop his dad used. Prance not only works on cars at the shop, he uses it as a portal to connect with his dad, and all the times they spent together working on cars. He goes there often to reminisce about the times he spent there with his dad working on cars. “My dad was very tedious, and I built stuff to the level that he would approve of it,” Prance says.
There's nothing cooler than a Fox coupe sitting in the weeds on a killer set of wheels. Prance's coupe has stance, but the cool kind, not the import, cambered-out wheels kind.
His dad was more into pickup trucks, and he had a Falcon, but no Fox Mustangs for dad. Prance came across his love of Fox Mustangs when his uncle Darrell owned one. “My uncle Darrell had a Fox Mustang, and when he got into a tight spot, I bought the car.” Within a week of owning the car, he had it all tore apart. Like many of us do, Prance didn’t hold onto that car very long. He sold that car, bought an SN95, and then sold the SN95.
As you can see by the Broadway at the Beach sign in the background, we shot the car at the Palace Theater in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Of course, that should tell you we shot it at the 2015 Mustang Week.
The car's True Forged wheels make Prance's coupe pop, and made it easy to want to bring it to you here. Meanwhile, the sticker on the deck lid pays homage to his great-grandfather's Ford dealership.
I’ve done everything to my car.
So, we know the question you are asking. You are wondering if it’s an original 5.0-liter car. You’ll be happy to know it is in fact, an original 5.0-liter car, but it was an AOD car. Since it’s an ‘86, it did have the conventional EFI, and not the CFI arrangement, which is a good thing. It is also an original Sand-beige interior car with a console delete. Prance tells us, “That is super rare.”
A cam, heads, intake 306 with a Vortech makes for an entertaining street car without totally blowing up your wallet. With a touch over 500-rwhp, the combination is about maxed out since it is a stock block combo. Anymore, and Prance would risk splitting block right down the middle.
The car was also originally red, but the new color that Prance applied is called New Formula red, which is an Acura NSX color (Remember those?). Prance bought the car at the end of 2011. He drove it for a little while, cleaning it up, and figuring out a plan. After about 3 months Prance stripped it down and painted it in his grandfather’s horse barn. “I have wet sanded and buffed the car three times,” Prance says. That’s usually the case with paint jobs applied anywhere outside a controlled paint booth. However, even the best paint jobs can use a sand and buff. Plus, by looking at the car you could never tell.
Prance hand-built the inner fender aprons, and the reinforcement bars, as well. The bars are a custom touch we don’t see too often.
After Prance painted the car he drove it for about a year. He drove the car to Mustang Week, and that really fueled Prance’s fire to go to town on the car. Each Mustang Week outing he finds something else he can do to the car to make it even better. The yearly event serves as the impetus for improvement.
After attending Mustang Week 2013 he went back home and did an engine swap, smoothed the engine bay, made the strut bars, and added the heater hose cover. The engine is a 306 with Mahle 9.0:1 pistons, Ford Performance aluminum heads and E303 camshaft, a Trick Flow Track Heat intake, 42 lb/hr injectors, an Accufab 75mm throttle body, and an MSD 6AL ignition with a Pro Billet distributor. The blower Prance chose is a Vortech V-1 S-Trim, and he was able to find out the particular supercharger he added was the 450th made by Vortech, and is over 25 years old. The S-Trim makes 12 pounds of boost with help from a 10-rib belt set-up, a Mondo blow-off valve, and an Anderson Ford Motorsport Power Pipe. Behind the 306 is a World Class T5 with a Ford Performance clutch.
Many times, when it comes to Mustang interiors, a two-tone treatment doesn't look right. However, we think Prance has nailed the look of the car's interior. He tells us the console delete option is very rare. We'll take his word for it. We just know the Corbeau GTS II seats looks right at home in the '86.
Prance made the shifter bezel out of balsa wood, and wrapped it in fiberglass. Then he and a friend made the shifter handle on a bridge port machine.
With an AEM 340 lph fuel pump, combined with a MegaSquirt standalone, the combination is good for 515 horsepower at the rear tires. As part of the MegaSquirt, Prance’s coupe features launch control, and a flat-shift function allowing Prance to leave his foot on the floor between shifts.
After returning from Mustang Week 2014 he spruced up the car’s interior with new carpet and Corbeau GTS II seats, added new quarter windows, SVO taillights, AN fuel fittings and new fuel lines, and new custom bead-rolled engine bay panels in the car. Prance hand-built the engine compartment panels at that time to further smooth out the engine bay. He also added a 5-lug brake conversion with 2001 Cobra brakes. “I shaved the calipers for a smooth look,” Prance says.
To complete the transformation, and really turn heads at Mustang Week 2015, he added True Forged wheels. He received the wheels the Saturday before Mustang Week. “I test drove the car to the gas station and back home right onto the trailer to leave for Mustang Week.”
After returning from the latest Mustang Week, it’s no surprise he has plans to improve the car even further. He’s already added Stifflers’ Fit System (Fully Integrated Technology), which includes subframe connectors, stiffening rails, and web bracing. The car is up on jack stands right now getting fully detailed, new upper and lower control arms, a gear swap, a rear disc brake swap, and a K-member swap. He’s not sure who he’ll use for the K-member, but he’ll be working on that for next year’s Mustang Week. He’s also working on modifying the front bumper cover, but you’ll have to wait until Mustang Week 2016 to see the results. “That’s the event I really look forward to,” Prance says about the yearly Mustang pilgrimage to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
When it comes to his coupe, Prance is one of those guys that takes pride in doing his own work. “I’ve even tuned it,” Prance says. Most people need a shop to tune their Mustang, but Prance spent 3 months learning the MegaSquirt software so that he could handle the car’s tuning. “I’ve done everything to my car,” he says.
That’s not surprising though. Prance has a tradition to keep going, and it starts with this coupe.
This author has had to push plenty of his own Mustangs, but I can’t remember ever having to push start a feature car. That was a first with Prance’s coupe. The alternator chose Mustang Week to go out, and right after our shoot, his buddy Kody Smith returned with a new alternator. Of course, at Mustang Week, there are always fellow Mustang guys willing to lend tools, a helping hand, or point and laugh.