By Shant Jaltorossian
I consider myself a Mustang fan, so when I received an invitation to check out a special one prepared for a movie, I jumped at the chance. Cars designed for both the big and small screen catch my attention. Granted, this isn’t the 1968 GT 390 Fastback used in Bullitt, or heck, even the Cobra II used in Charlie’s Angels…
…but it’s something.
Ford has teamed up with DreamWorks to promote the Mustang brand, and to that end, this one-off Mustang was created to be showcased in the upcoming Need for Speed movie out next year. Disclaimer: Need for Speed is far from my favorite racing game series (cough EA withholding the Porsche license cough), but it’s clearly loved by many car enthusiasts.
I spoke with Steve Ling, Marketing Manager at Ford, and tried to pick his brain for all things Mustang. His favorite Mustang is, not too surprisingly, the 1969 Boss 302. When pressed further, he admitted that the Mustang II was “not for him” (tisk tisk), but reminisced about every fifteen-year-old boy having a poster of Farrah Fawcett lounging on a Cobra II (you know the one). Despite (or perhaps due to) that chapter in the Mustang story, the Mustang name has endured, and will soon reach the sprightly age of fifty. That’s nothing if not impressive.
As for the car presented to the press, I’m not quite sure what to think. On the one hand, I love the massive haunches. On the other, those wheels are an acquired taste. While I appreciate the fact that it doesn’t have an eye-searing radioactive green paint, or some awful decal job, there a few things left to be desired. While the car will no doubt look great on the screen, in person, some features are a tad off-putting. To wit: the hood scoops seemed to be non-functional, while the conspicuous air intakes on the rear fenders seem out of place on a front-engined car. If nothing else, the car sounded downright mean when started up.
I hope Need for Speed puts up a good fight against that other street racing movie series. Ford certainly won’t say yes to every request for a Mustang — they get more than they can count. Clearly, they see something special happening here. In any case, I won’t say no to car action on the big screen, despite my grudges.
It’s just too bad the car wasn’t available for test drives…
Jeff Glucker
You don't like those wheels? Really? they look AWESOME. That said, I agree with the rear fender intakes and the hood scoops – which reek of Pontiac Ram Air-ness, WTH it's a FORD! Ever since the 4th gen LS1 WS6s everyone is throwing twin snouts on their hoods. In my opinion they only look good on Pontiacs.
Hood scoops look like they came straight off the Pep Boys shelf… ugh.
Who stole the driving lights out of the grille?
Trying to get the BMW "Angel eyes" look. Played out.
Needs to be replaced with grille. At least to make it look like an industrial thing that sucks moderate to large things into the intake.
Any chance they could be feeding extra air to some turbos or a supercharger?
Through and around the hot radiator? Hope the engine can self-adjust it's timing…
The mirrors look like silly wee t-rex arms. The wheels are great, they just need to not be shinydouchefinished.
"Granted, this isn’t the 1969 GT Fastback* used in Bullitt, "
* 1968 GT390 fastback
Whoops… thanks for that.
No problem!
You don't understand rear fender scoops… And you write for a car blog!?
Rear brake cooling.
Okay, so Matt's tone is poor but his point is valid. Rear vents are for brakes, and if they're functional then they're BRAH! but if not they're blah.
The nostrils are pretty clearly blocked so they are most definitely blah. Even if functional, I have yet to see a nostril car that was improved by the nostrils. Even the WS6 – that car has more snout than an alligator and that ain't a good thing baby.
I’m well aware what they’re for. They simply look odd on a Mustang.
They made sense at first as engine air intakes, as you noted.
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8102/8517971028_9c1c3fde3f.jpg" width="450">
<img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2535/4026315149_f697ba9dbe.jpg" width="450">
So you've never seen a first gen stang then? Sorry but you're baffling.
Except that they don't do anything: http://jalopnik.com/need-for-speeds-star-ford-mus…
Love the wide body Mustangs. A few I've seen have to make concessions to scoop on the sides and look awkward.
Wheels- Maybe those gold mesh, center lock wheels from the 80's TransAm cars?
And yes- the mirrors look like TRex arms.
it doesn't have the advertised 900hp, in a world where you can buy a Mustang from the factory with 1000hp.
Yes it's a movie car, yes it's a prop
but a 900hp beating heart of an engine is really something to hear and behold.
Hoons, I think I have a problem. I see this car and feel nothing. If anything, it makes my longing for a Packard or Hudson that much stronger.
I agree. This just looks like a lot of muscle and not much brain. If there is anything my neanderthal beat-and-harass-instict works on, it's fake shit. Hood scoops and a rear air intake for…what? Any time, I'd prefer this one:
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oZedMLs1Ftg/TSV3FGrY0VI/AAAAAAAAC7M/nJ7J_lAcYVc/s1600/Volvo_245_GLT_1981_1.jpg" width="600">
But that's just me then. I'm lost in the wrong blog post, I suppose. And I didn't even employ (brackets).
I'm with you here, there are far too much whistles here, it looks like it is on steroids.
<img src="http://healthlevelup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/muscle_building_steroids41.jpg">
How and why…never mind. I just imagine that there is no fart left in that man. Holy macaroni!
If this is a real human, where the hell is he going to get a dress shirt? Can't walk around in a sleeveless sack all the time.
I love the stylin' wristwatch.
+1 on the silly mirrors, but I love the big fenders, front and rear. If the vehicle (any vehicle) has a scoop, NACA duct, whatever, it has to be functional to be cool. Otherwise, finally a Mustang I might consider. The wheels are awesome.
The Cheverra recently appeared again, now this Mustang. I'm betting we're going to see more of the wide (we used to call these IMSA-style) fenders, front and rear, again. It's about time they come back.
Oddly enough I saw this car and the Koenigsegg Agera R they are using in the movie as they were filming part of the movie here in Columbus, GA last week. Here's a picture of the Agera (bonus points for the cop inadvertently posing):
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/rcmaster1029/Need for Speed/P1040478_zps34468f75.jpg" width="600">
3 Agera R Replicas:
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/rcmaster1029/Need for Speed/P1040425_zps3db55781.jpg" width="600">
Mercedes camera car:
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/rcmaster1029/Need for Speed/P1040426_zpsfb114af3.jpg" width="600">
Camera car being towed back after it gets hit while filming:
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/rcmaster1029/Need for Speed/P1040437_zpsbc0b46d2.jpg" width="600">
Columbus, GA turns into Mt. Kisco, NY:
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/rcmaster1029/Need for Speed/P1040455_zpse0d7a764.jpg" width="600">
Agera R replica stunt cars:
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/rcmaster1029/Need for Speed/P1040480_zpsd3e0a862.jpg" width="600">
Porsche Cayenne camera car:
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/rcmaster1029/Need for Speed/P1040487_zps746e5669.jpg" width="600">
Ramp for when the car goes into the river in the movie (it just crashes on the bridge during filming, there are videos of it on Youtube):
<img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/rcmaster1029/Need for Speed/P1040493_zpsc62488c2.jpg" width="600">
It was really cool to see all this stuff since nothing ever happens in this town.
Oh, and here's a video I took:
http://youtu.be/VA5uUFWnAho
(Something's wrong with the embed feature it seems.)