On Monday, the CJ’s team and Gotta Have It Race visited our friends at In Tune Autoworks and made a run on the dyno to find out how much power the 5.0 Coyote V-8 is really putting out. We came away pretty impressed at the amazing power of the 5.0.

Once we saw the results, we challenged you to guess how powerful the stock Gotta Have It Race is. If you visited our Facebook or Google Plus pages anytime in the last 48 hours, you were able to guess the recorded RWHP, without going over. More than 110 of you made guesses, and now it’s time to announce the winner and the final horsepower results!

Of all of those guesses, only one was exactly correct.

Dylan Seay made the correct guess that Gotta Have It Race made 384 RWHP!

Gotta Have It Race also made a max torque of 346 ft./lb. Both numbers were very impressive for a stock 2013 Mustang GT.

Congratulations Dylan on winning a $50 CJ Pony Parts Gift Card! Thank you to everyone who made a guess!

As we continue working on Gotta Have It Race, we’ll head back to In Tune Autoworks for more dyno runs, to see how these performance parts improve our drag car. Keep checking back throughout the summer to follow the changes, and see the latest dyno runs.

This weekend, Gotta Have It Race is down in Ocean City, Maryland for the Cruisin’ Ocean City event from May 17th-20th, so if you’re in the area, stop by and check it out!

This rendering is brought to us by Inside Line. While the design is similar to some of the ones that we have posted in the last few months, there are a few things that have evolved since then. The most noticeable change is the front end design. It’s dramatically different from the current Mustang’s retro look and is a big change from other renderings we’ve seen, most of which have been a modernized version of the current design.

However, the new Mustang’s renderings do keep the traditional long hood/short deck proportions that have become very well-known as “Mustang.” The rear end also keeps the familiar light bar with the triple lens taillights.

However, while many have mentioned how similar the car is to the Evos concept that we shared last September, it is also very similar to the new 2013 Ford Fusion, especially when looking at the front end styling. While the 2013 Fusion and the 2015 Mustang rendering are both based on the Evos, we’re wondering–are they too similar? What do you think?

Inside Line also shares more about the rest of the car, beyond the design. They’re sharing many of the same rumors that we’ve been hearing since last year:

• The new Mustang will be smaller. It’ll have a lot less sheet metal and a few more curves and will be sleeker and much less bulky than the current Mustang.
• It’ll be a world car. The Mustang will now be sold all over the world, but we’re not sure exactly which markets outside the United States will actually be getting the new pony car. Will there be a right-hand drive version?
• It is going to move to an independent rear suspension. After decades of using a straight axle rear end, the new suspension will improve performance and drive-ability.
• The engines are staying the same, at least initially. Eventually, we are likely going to see an EcoBoost four cylinder with similar power to the current V-6, yet much better mileage. That engine just might not be available for the 2015 model year.

With these rumors being repeated over and over, we’re getting more and more confident that these are some of the things we’ll be seeing in the next Mustang. The timeline for the Mustang’s release also looks the same–we’re still expecting to get our first glimpses of the new Mustang at the 2014 New York Auto Show, less than two years away.

What do you think of the latest renderings?

Source: Inside Line

Gotta Have It Street, making its way to Harrisburg.

Before we get into the events on the track, though, Gotta Have It Street finally arrived on Friday, May 4 after quite an adventure to get it here. Throughout the previous week, the CJ’s team had been in constant contact with Hoffman Ford, trying to make sure Gotta Have It Street arrived in time to make the trip to the track over the weekend. On Wednesday, we were put in touch with a regional Ford representative, who found Gotta Have It Street on a train heading to Philadelphia. Our friends at Hoffman Ford contacted a colleague at a dealership near the rail yard, who contacted an employee at the rail yard. He was able to secure Gotta Have It Street for us, once it was unloaded from the train.

Now that we knew where it was, we needed to pick up Gotta Have It Street and get it to the track! Hoffman Ford helped with that, too, by securing permission for us to drive it from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, then sending one of their staff members to drive our CJ’s team member to Philadelphia. They left Hoffman’s around noon on Friday, picked up the car and made it back to Harrisburg around 4:30 p.m. After that, Gotta Have It Street just needed to be prepped and inspected, then it was cleared to head to the track! It was quite an adventure, but we are thankful to all who were involved, especially Hoffman Ford, for their work in delivering Gotta Have It Street!

Now onto the weekend at the track!

Gotta Have It Race is about to start a pass on the drag strip.

After a late night Thursday that was spent detailing Gotta Have It Race and our 2011 Ford Raptor, both left on Friday morning for the 12th annual NMRA Ford Nationals at the Maryland International Speedway! After arriving around 1:00 p.m., both vehicles got registered and passed the tech inspection. For the weekend’s races, both Gotta Have Builds Mustangs were registered in the Roush Super Stang class, while the Raptor was in the Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning class.

Gotta Have It Race made its first pass later in the afternoon, on a hot and humid day with a corrected density altitude (DA) of 1872 feet. For the first pass, the car was completely stock, aside from the Barton Short Throw Shifter. On stock tires, Gotta Have It Race’s best run was 13.20 @ 108 mph.

Later that evening, the Race Star Industries Dark Star 17″ x 4.5″ front drag wheels and Dark Star 15″ x 10″ rear drag wheels and Mickey Thompson ET Street and M&H Front Runner tires were installed. The weather cooled into the 60s with the corrected DA dropping to 1081 feet. With both the weather and tire changes, Gotta Have It Race did much better. It’s quickest pass was 12.79 @ 107.1 mph, though it did go a little faster on a 12.84 @ 108.77 mph pass. During the evening, we found that we were hitting the rev limiter in 4th gear, 100 feet before the finish line which cost us some time.

After the evening passes, Gotta Have It Street arrived.

The first picture of both Gotta Have Builds together!

The next morning, we made one minor modification to Gotta Have It Race: Using an SCT iTSX tuner, the rev limiter was raised from 7000 RPMs to 7500 RPMs. No other changes were made to the car. Gotta Have It Street also had to have the Race Star Industries Dark Star 17″x4.5″ front wheels and Dark Star 17″x9.5″ rear wheels with 275/40-17 BF Goodrich Drag Radials quickly installed. Then, Gotta Have It Street needed to be run through track registration and the tech inspection. After all that, racing could begin for the day!

Gotta Have It Street is about to start a pass on the drag strip.

Gotta Have It Race improved on the times from the day before significantly, with the best pass being 12.39 @ 111.97 mph. Gotta Have It Street came out of the gate strong for an automatic Mustang, with the best pass being a 12.93 @ 109.04, though the team felt that the low RPM shifts (around 6500 RPMs) of the automatic were robbing tenths of seconds off the time. Finally, the Raptor ran a 15.62 @ 89 mph, which was pretty good considering its massive size.

On the final day of racing, the weather was perfect in the low 60s with low humidity and a corrected DA of 212 feet. All three CJ’s vehicles competed in their first round of competition and were eliminated, though they all recorded decent times. The Raptor went first and ran a 15.73 @ 87 mph, but lost to an experienced racer who finished 7th in the class the previous year. Gotta Have It Race went next and ran a 12.22 @ 109.43 mph, while Gotta Have It Street ran a 12.895 @ 104 mph, though the driver got off the throttle a little early to avoid breaking out, which cost him two tenths of a second.

With everyone being eliminated, Gotta Have It Race made a few more passes to get a better time. That afternoon, we ran a 12.08 @ 111.29 mph, our best pass of the weekend! Check out the video of our fastest pass!

Overall, we’re very pleased with the performance of all three CJ’s vehicles, especially Gotta Have It Race’s fast time on Sunday. More races are coming up soon, so keep checking back!

The CJ Pony Parts team standing by their vehicles.

On Wednesday, several CJ’s team members got down to work installing four parts for Gotta Have It Race’s big unveiling at the track this weekend:

• A Barton Short Throw Shifter & a Barton Shifter Bracket
• A BMR Swaybar Relocation Kit (which allows us to run 15″ rear wheels)
• Race Star Industries Dark Star 17″ x 4.5″ front drag wheels and Dark Star 15″ x 10″ rear drag wheels
• Mickey Thompson ET Street and M&H Front Runner tires

First, the team got to work on the front wheels and tires, which was very easy: Just remove the old and swap in the new!

The next task was the BMR Swaybar Relocation Kit. It took a little longer, but with the experience of CJ Pony Service, was no big deal!

Then, the rear wheels and tires went on:

Finally, the Barton Short Throw Shifter and Barton Shifter Bracket were installed:

The stock shifter being removed.

The new Barton Shifter being installed.

Check out a few shots of the finished product:

We’ll be providing much more detailed videos and blogs on these installs soon, so check back in a week or two when they are ready to go!

Today, Gotta Have It Race and our supporting 2011 Ford Raptor are on the road for 12th annual NMRA Ford Nationals at the Maryland International Speedway! They will be arriving shortly, and will be participating in qualifying runs later today. Unfortunately, Gotta Have It Street will be a little late to the party–we just picked it up!

Gotta Have It Street is almost here....

Gotta Have It Street will arrive in Maryland late tonight/early tomorrow for qualifying runs tomorrow.

We’ll share results next week, upon their return, so you’ll want to keep checking back.

Gotta Have It Race arrived at CJ Pony Parts on Friday, April 27, right around lunch time, delivered by the team at Hoffman Ford.

It looks beautiful! The color glistens in the sun, and it definitely stands out from the crowd. So far, everyone is definitely loving the Recaro seats and the very powerful 5.0 V-8, and I’m sure we’ll find much more to love as we get to know Gotta Have It Race a bit more!

The arrival of Gotta Have It Race gives us just a few days to get it ready for the track! We have a few small parts we want to install before the 12th annual NMRA Ford Nationals at the Maryland International Speedway, including:

• A Barton Short Throw Shifter & a Barton Shifter Bracket
• A BMR Swaybar Relocation Kit (which allows us to run 15″ rear wheels)
• Race Star Industries Dark Star 17″ x 4.5″ front drag wheels and Dark Star 15″ x 10″ rear drag wheels

Those parts should definitely get Gotta Have It Race ready to hit the drag strip for the first time! In addition, Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street will be on display at the Race Star Industries tent in the manufacturer’s midway when they’re not on the track this weekend, which is also where the CJ Pony Parts team will be hanging out, so make sure you stop by!

Also, make sure to keep an eye on our Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter pages–we hope to share the arrival of Gotta Have It Street very soon!

See more pictures of Gotta Have It Race on our Facebook or Google Plus pages, and don’t forget to “Like Us” on Facebook and enter to win $250!

Congratulations to Mark B! Mark won a $250 CJ Pony Parts gift card for being the first to correctly guess that our first Gotta Have Build car was going to arrive on April 27! Good work, Mark!

The Shelby 1000, which was unveiled just a few weeks ago at the New York Auto Show, starts as a stock 2012 GT500 Mustang. From there, it gets pretty heavily modified, with a big supercharger going on the 5.4L V-8, which is also modified. The installation photos illustrate just a bit of what’s going on, as does the note below from Shelby’s Speed Shop Director.

“We didn’t simply turn up the boost to get this level of horsepower,” explained Gil Navarrez, Shelby American’s Speed Shop director.  “We took the serious hot rod approach by taking Ford’s 5.4 liter engine down to the block, and beefed up the internals by machining it for new rods, crank and pistons.  We also flowed the heads, revamped the cooling and improved the exhaust.  With a choice of a Kenne- Bell 3.6 liter or the new Whipple 4.0 liter supercharger and tune, it will crank out serious power all day long.”

The result is 950 horsepower in the street version and 1,100 horsepower in the track version (through the use of race fuel and other minor modifications).

The engine gets removed for modificaitons.

Only 100 are being built.

The cost is $149,995 for the street Shelby 1000, while the track version, the Shelby 1000 Track S/C, starts at $154,995. For both cars, this is in addition to the cost of a new 2012 GT500, so a completed Shelby 1000 is expected to run roughly $200,000.

If you’re interested in ordering one, contact Shelby American directly.

In the meantime, enjoy this week’s video of the Shelby 1000 on the track, and the pictures of the first Shelby 1000 being produced.

Sources: Road & Track/Mustangs Daily

Such big power requires major work, but it's worth it!

No, this isn't one of our Gotta Have Builds. Our new 2013 Mustangs are getting close, though!

No, neither Gotta Have It Street, nor Gotta Have It Race are here yet.

We expect them any day. According to Hoffman Ford, they are very close.

They are so close that we made plans for next weekend, May 4-6, for both cars.

We’re going to the track!

Both Gotta Have It Street and Gotta Have It Race are going to be on the track at the 12th annual NMRA Ford Nationals at the Maryland International Speedway next weekend, May 4-6. Both cars will be entered in the Roush Super Stang class, which is an index-style bracket race that’s strictly for 2005-2013 Mustangs. For Gotta Have It Race, this event marks the beginning of our quest to beat the track’s stock engine record—which is essentially a record that requires a completely stock Coyote 5.0L from throttle-body to oil pan, and is currently in the 11.30 second range at about 120-122 mph. However, with the car being fresh from the factory and totally unmodified for this race, we’re pretty positive we aren’t getting that record this weekend! Meanwhile, this is Gotta Have It Street’s chance to make a big splash on the scene before hitting the show circuit for the summer.

We also will be bringing our 2011 SVT Raptor, which is one of the support vehicles for the Gotta Have Builds cars. The Raptor will be entered in the Detroit Locker Truck and Lightning category.

We can’t wait!

Check out the homepage article on the NMRA Keystone website about CJ Pony Parts, and make sure you keep checking our blog or CJ Pony Parts’ pages on Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter for the announcement about the arrival of Gotta Have It Street and Gotta Have It Race. They’ll be here any day now, and the fun will soon begin!

This is what our competition will be seeing the whole way down the track next weekend!

The first Mustang in the video is the Tjin Edition/UTI 2012 Ford Mustang GT Convertible 5.0. It’s had a Paxton Supercharging System added, which brought it up to 615 HP and 475 TQ with just 8 PSI of boost. It’s also had a few other modifications (to say the least), including a custom Magnaflow exhaust, a fully adjustable air suspension, custom Forgestar 20″ wheels, custom Dupont Bright Orange paint and a Street Scene body kit. It’s an awesome–and bright–Mustang that was also featured at SEMA this past November.

The second Mustang featured in the video is the Project Last Ride 2011 5.0 Mustang that CJ Pony Parts sponsored in October 2011 and was the winner of the Shine Award at SEMA in November 2011. It had a Vortech V-3 Si Supercharger installed and makes 605 HP and 473 TQ, also with 8 PSI of boost. It features Doug Thorley Headers full exhaust and long tube Tri-Y headers, custom yellow Baer 6 inch piston calipers and 14 inch rotors, custom Vossen wheels, and a Trufiber custom hood, front lower air dam, splitter, rear trunk lid, side rockers, wing and rear diffuser. As we mentioned, CJ Pony Parts sponsored this project by supplying a Ford BOSS 302 Intake Manifold Install Kit, a Ford Racing BOSS 302R Intake Manifold, and an unpainted California Special Rear Spoiler. I’m sure you’d agree–it’s a pretty awesome Mustang, and we’re glad to be able to share more of it.

Enjoy the video–at least the Mustang parts (you can just ignore the Camaro and the Nissan if you’d like)–and have a good weekend!

Sources: StangTV/Mustangs Daily

Ford President Alan Mulally poses with families who still own original 1964.5 Mustangs, many of whom will surely be attending in 2014 with their 50 year old 'Stangs.

If you weren’t aware, April 17 was the Ford Mustang’s 48th Anniversary. That means we are just two years away from the 50th anniversary, which the Mustang Club of America announced yesterday is going to be an absolutely HUGE event!

They plan to hold not one, but two celebrations simultaneously from Wednesday, April 16 to Sunday, April 20, 2014. One event will be at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, NV, while the other will be held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

Everyone is invited to the party–not just Mustang owners and MCA members!

The Mustang Club of America will also be organizing several “Pony Trails” rides from a variety of locations, which will allow Mustang owners to caravan together to the nearest event.

Taking a spin around the track might be an option for the 2014 50th Anniversary celebration, like it was in 2009.

After a huge event in 2009 for the 45th anniversary, we had a few ideas of what the 50th might look like:

• Thousands of Mustangs! More than 2300 Mustangs attended in 2009, and we believe that many more will be coming out for this celebration.
• The 2015 Mustang: The latest rumors have the newly redesigned Pony Car being unveiled at the New York Auto Show, which will be running at the same time as the 50th Anniversary events. Would it surprise anyone to see a new 2015 Mustang at some point during the 50th anniversary celebration?
• Mustang enthusiasts from all over the world: More than 55,000 people attended or participated in 2009, and we’re sure that even more will be coming out in 2014, from all over the world.
• Special concerts, big events, hundreds of vendors, and more! With it being the Mustang’s 50th anniversary, we’re pretty certain that anything is fair game for the 50th anniversary celebration, and we’re very excited to see what the MCA and Ford has up their sleeves.

We encourage you to keep checking back. As more details and information gets released, we will pass it along so you can make your plans to attend one of the Mustang’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations in April 2014!

Sources: Mustangs Daily/StangTV/Mustang Monthly

Check out today’s
Deal of the Day!

SilverHorse Racing Remote Trunk Release Kit for 2005-2009 Mustangs.

There was a wide variety of vehicles in attendance on Friday: Quite a few classics, and many modern vehicles. The Mustangs in attendance spanned nearly the entire 48 years of Mustang history. They included a pair of mid-1960s GT350s, and several 2010-2012s. Outside of the Mustangs, there was also a 2011 Ford Raptor, a classic 1964 VW Beetle, a SRT Neon, many motorcycles and even a beautiful early Chevy!

Owners enjoyed plenty of time to check out each others rides, get to know one another, and share a few ideas for modifications or installation tips. It was also a great chance to meet Bill Tumas and the CJ Pony Service team!

Check out some of the pictures from Friday night:

Friday’s Cruise Night was the first of many that will happen during the summer of 2012! On the second Friday of every month, any car, truck, van or motorcycle is invited to head over to the CJ Pony Service parking lot. The event runs from 6 to 9 p.m. and is a great time to meet other owners, check out some cool cars, and have a great time!

Hope to see you at the next CJ Pony Service Cruise Night on Friday, May 11!