The 10 Most Impactful Ford Muscle Stories Of 2017

Editor Turner's Top Five Picks

Outside perspectives can be an opportunity to learn something new, and Editor Turner brings more than 25 years of knowledge and experience to the party here at our Ford roundtable. As he explained in his FordNXT article, Steve had the opportunity this year to drive some incredibly badass modern Blue Oval hot rods, but as far as the Ford Muscle world is concerned here are his five favorite stories from 2017:

• Jack Lyons Built A Brand-New Fox With Over 810 HP

• Driving Revology’s Coyote-Powered 1966 Shelby GT350

• Insane, GT350-Powered 1993 Cobra Project Underway

• Building A 931-Horsepower 5.4-liter On A Budget

• Hellcat-Conquering Classic Pony Packs GT500 Power

One minute you’re ramping up for the launch of an all-new digital magazine, and the next you’re reflecting on an entire 365-day journey. It’s true what they say, time really does fly, and we’ve kept the pedal down since January by way of providing you folks with the best and most engaging stories we possibly can.

As we bring 2017 to a close and enter into the new year, we can’t help but look back at the good times these last 12 months through nostalgia-tinted glasses. For those of you who have been with us since the StangTV days, you’ll know that our staff has changed some throughout the last decade. Nevertheless, your new editor Steve Turner and his humble crew aim to bring that momentum with us as we push forward into 2018.

So, while we don’t report on breaking news in the modern Ford performance world like our sister site FordNXT, we continually strive to bring our readers the biggest and baddest traditional Ford performance around. And with that, we bring you our Top 10 most impactful stories of 2017. We hope you enjoy!

10. Aaron Kaufman’s ’63 Falcon Racecar

When fans of Gas Monkey Garage discovered that former head technician Aaron Kaufman was selling his prized 1963 Ford Falcon racecar, many of them were not surprised. After all, Aaron did leave the show and decided to sell his road race-prepped Falcon, which sold for more than $65,000. His former Falcon is powered by a 363-cube small-block Ford with some trick goodies that aim to help the classic Ford breathe.

9. Larry Barringer’s Turbocharged Coyote-Swapped Fox

Sir, it looks like you have a Coyote engine stuck on your massive turbocharger. Seriously, what isn’t there to like about Larry’s incredible Fox Mustang? For starters, it’s a Four-Eye, T-top coupe, which makes it extremely rare. It’s also a 100-percent street car making more than four digits in terms of power (around 1,300-plus ponies last we checked), and it’s powered by a forged and massaged 5.0-liter Coyote engine. Oh, and did we mention it runs bottom 8s — nearly 7s — in the quarter? Easily, Betty White was one of our favorite cars we’ve ever featured.

8. Terminator Cobra Engine Rundown

Here’s a little bit of trivia for you (our old school readers might remember this project.) That Terminator engine with its massive Whipple twin screw supercharger sitting a top was actually a former StangTV project car; an Oxford White 2003 Cobra we once had. In the Terminator engine article, we dissect the innards (a.k.a. rotating assembly) of the 4.6-liter DOHC Four-Valve V8 found in the ’03-’04 SVT Cobra. Hey, maybe our New Year’s resolution should be to publish part two?

7. Fox Mustangs Sell For Big Bucks At Barrett-Jackson

Who would have thought that nearly 40 years later, a Fox Mustang would be raking in nearly six figures at an auction? But don’t sell your one of one million made yet – these six Mustangs shattered world records last year at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale event, thanks in part to their former owner, Dennis Collins. A Blue Oval fan and car enthusiast all around, Dennis is another Gas Monkey Garage fellow with a taste in cars that have power, and we can get behind that.

6. R3 Performance Debuts Ford-Licensed Mustang Bodies

With new companies like R3 Performance entering the Mustang replica game, it truly is easier than ever to obtain your dream car. Imagine having to source one of these ’64-’70 Mustangs yourself – not knowing the condition of the car until further inspection, and taking a risk when it comes time to purchase. Or, you could skip that entire headache by way of a Ford officially licensed Mustang replica from R3, the new kids on the block.

5. 1968 Shelby GT500 KR Barn Find

You’ve probably seen that show American Pickers right? Everyone loves a good “barn find,” and it probably doesn’t get much better than this. This was a legit 1968 Shelby GT500 KR (yes, a real King of the Road!). Who would have thought they would ever stumble across a Mustang of this caliber? Patrick Glenn Nichols tells us the crazy story in the original article linked above.

4. Top 10 Coyote-Swapped Mustangs

Coyote swaps – they’ve been all the rage even before last year, and it looks like this trend isn’t slowing down anytime soon. And for good reason, of course. It’s no secret that we too, are fans of the modern 5.0-liter swap, and we had the opportunity to choose 10 of our favorite Coyote-powered ‘Stangs last year to share with you. Hopefully, it will inspire others to join the Coyote cult as a result.

3. 1993 SVT Cobra R Is A Fox Fantasy

When Dennis Collins’ collection of Mustangs sold for more than six figures combined last January, we began questioning the value of the Fox platform post auction. Naturally, we wrote a rather comical story about Fox owners catching the “Barrett-Jackson Flu,” but does this extremely rare, wrapped-up ’93 SVT Cobra R fit the bill? We think yes, and we wagered to say this particular Fox would garner six figures at auction.

2. April Fools! Ford Reverts Back To Pushrod Engines

Admittedly, this one started out as a running joke in the office leading up to April Fools and being played on the LS guys in our office over at LSX Mag. This was around the time that the other guys were spreading rumors around the web in regards to the 2019 Shelby GT500 being powered by a naturally aspirated 7.0-liter V8 engine. Now that this myth has been dispelled, we can enjoy the humor which this article brought last April 1st.

1. Prototype 1992 SVT Cobra R

Noticing a trend here? We all love Foxes, and rare ones at that. This ’92 SVT Cobra R prototype is arguably the rarest of them. Sporting a handful of unique prototype components makes this Fox one to watch, and this one undoubtedly was used as a test-mule for the future of the one-and-only 1993 SVT Cobra R that followed shortly after.

We think it goes without saying that 2017 was both an interesting and exciting year for fans of the Blue Oval muscle and classics. And, luckily for you, we plan to enter 2018 with the same mindset – providing our fans with only the best Ford coverage around. As we close out this year, we want to take this moment to say thank you to you, our readers, for keeping us going!

About the author

Harrison Noble

Living in San Diego for most of his life, Harrison was exposed to a variety of cars at an early age. His passion for anything that is fast, or has a V8, brought him to Power Automedia.
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