Mechanics Corner - April 10

Mechanics Corner - April 10

“SHELBY DECLARES THE 2014 PLANT DYNAMITE”


By Mike Godwin

 

Just as Northrop Grumman has the famous Skunk Works that delivered the United States both the U-2 and SR-71 aircraft Ford has long has a similar program. In the eighties it was under the banner of SVO, which stood for Special Vehicle Organization. These cloak and dagger designers turned out some impressive Mustangs and other models for Ford. They had no shame in placing a very desirable SVO badge on their cars. Later they would undergo a slight name change to SVT. This of course did not stand for Slow Vehicle Team as some of the competitors wished it had. It stood for then as it does now for the Specialty Vehicle Team. Both cars and trucks that received this teams special attention served notice that to tamper with one at the stop light was opening a serious can of door slamming.

 

Just a fraction of a layer of management away from the SVT group operates what is called AVT an acronym for Advanced Vehicle Team. This group briefly was referred to as the FFP, which stood for Ford Future Products but an agricultural group got wind of this and filed a suit as they already held a copyright on the FFP designation. Not wanting to reveal the existence of the group and the influence they had on SVT products Ford quietly agreed to a new name.

 

Knowing that the off the showroom horse power race is in full swing the AVT gang set out to slam the door shut on the competition with the 50th Anniversary Mustang. Original concept was for a lightweight car that could produce about 600 HP and respectable torque. With the fact that the Bow Tie gang was already beyond that 600 Horse Power figure for the Corvette the ante had to be pushed up a few notches. How about an honest 655 HP for the GT equipped cars coming from a strong V 8 with proven cylinder head and supercharger technology? Would that be an opening bid for the Bow Tie guys? Certainly an achievable HP rating without pushing the GT price out of the ballpark.

 

But now the killer of all killer motors needs to be made available for the 2014 Shelby line up. Not wanting to disappoint the legend the ATV group turned to their stepbrothers over at Lincoln Mercury and reminded them that Ford SVT had produced the twin cam V 8 motors that made the Mercury line a desirable four door street weapon. The Mercury line conceded that in the prototype 2014 cars the under rated V 10 was not being offered. Great the ATV group now had a base motor that they could build upon or build off depending on how wild things had to get. Wild is putting it mildly as the motor development group put together a twin Super Charger equipped V 10 that gave up 1,076 HP on the dyno. Awesome the boys declared that they had the Silver Bullet of street motors to kill off the Brand X competition. Most important this engine is 100 % emissions compliant. The development group even looked ahead and built a motor that they say is a Fully Ozone Oxidation Legal System.

 

With all that Pony Power available they became concerned about the space in the engine bay of the new Mustangs.  Starting with the 50th Anniversary Mustang the use of composite material technology that already exists in the aviation industry will be used by most automotive manufactures. ATV executives explain that this type of technology will allow changes to all pieces of the car very easily. Most importantly without the cost of retooling that is required many times with the current manufacturing processes. 

 

The use of both man made and natural material that are either biodegradable or fully recyclable is in keeping with Ford Corporate goals of significantly lowering the impact of the firm’s vehicles on the environment. Even the tires are recyclable on many of the prototype models. This is epically important to the Mustang, as the new materials are also lightweight. The ATV group refers to this new method of manufacturing cars as the Advanced Product Recyclable International Lightweight.

 

ATV engineers stressed that a slight change to the interior of the Shelby Mustangs would be required to fit the new V 10 Super Motor into the 2014 Mustang shell. Not wanting to extend the length of the nose and hood the team will simply use a water jet cutting machine to cut the firewall free from the body. Then fashion two pods for the driver and front seat passenger’s feet and actually glue the entire package back together. No special tooling or exterior changes are required.

 

So brace yourself for the fastest most powerful Mustang ever to be produced. The Boardrooms are buzzing with all sorts of ideas and the Add Agencies are beside themselves on what this new and exciting Mustang offers. Of course the combined name gets to be a little much. What with the entire name being the Advanced Product Recyclable International Lightweight Fully Ozone Oxidation Legal System an entire billboard will be consumed by the name with no space left for a picture of the Mustang.

 

Maybe they could resort to the use of an acronym. Say something like APRIL FOOLS!! That should do it.