Ford Mustang Cobra Jet rumbles off the assembly line
 

he name "Cobra Jet" may remind some of an unfortunate Sam Jackson film, but to Mustang and drag racing enthusiasts it refers to the latest addition to the pony-car family, the Mustang FR500CJ. The drag-racing version of the outgoing Mustang was unveiled at SEMA just a few months ago and is already rolling off the assembly line as the latest model in the Ford Racing line-up.

Featuring a modified 5.4-liter V8 with cold air induction, the Cobra Jet features stainless competition headers, upgraded rear axle and driveshaft, drag-optimized adjustable suspension, and unique wheels wrapped in slicks. Buyers can choose between a six-speed manual or three-speed automatic, and the interior is augmented by racing buckets and short-throw shifter (on the manual version). The vehicles, which receive unique VINs since they aren't street legal, are delivered in body-on-white, with louvered rear window panels. The package presents an affordable and straightforward racing platform for those seeking domination of the quarter-mile.


http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog....tsema08_02.jpg

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog....fr500cj_10.jpg

you can probably drive it on the street and no one will notice it's not street legal. even when the cop pulls u over.

You can't insure it I'm assuming thats why the special VIN and the non-street legal claim.

And Ford wonders why its losing money. Talk about a complete waste of time. Anyone who is actually in to drag racing is going to build a car themselves. Why would anyone buy a car brand new that they can't drive on the street. It would be one thing if this was a track ready mustang (road course) but making it Drag only put it in a very select category.
I honestly don't know why anyone would buy one of these.

Berz out.

That is retarded. I wonder how many they are going to produce and then not sell? It probably would have been a better idea to throw out the option to buy one, then make them apon payment received.

it may be the camera angle, but what a shitty place to stick an oil filter

every oil change you will dump half a liter of oil on your motor mount

:lol it's a competition engine and it's supposed to be disassembled every couple races anyway. The angle in fact, kinda looks like you can't get the filter out with the control arm intact :lol

Never thought of it that way, thanks for the insight!

yeah what a retarded idea. I drag race with a car that's built from factory?

What's wrong with drag racing the GT500 then? Slap on some drag slicks and it's the same shit??

Unless without stating it this thing comes with some retarded amount of power like 1000bhp.....but I highly doubt it it's a 5.4L engine with no boost....

What would make sense for Cobra to do is to build a "drift ready" package just like "drift R/Cs" that you can buy at toys R us. I mean you go to toys R us you'd pick up the "Drift ready" package than the "Drag ready" package any day..... because if I want a drag R/C I'd mod the shit out of it, swap the motor add a bigger battery you name it I'll do it. A "drift package" would be appealing as in that you hope they know wtf they are doing while you don't and you can pay for the expertise...."drag package" what the fuck...

Companies have been doing this for well over 30 years. There are several classes of racing that mandate specific mods and these cars are a great start for those classes. They aren't looking to sell many of these so it isn't really designed to be a mass market move.

ps. most of the people (well all technically) aren't looking for a car that can be driven on the street so they don't need a car that can be.

Because, Pat, you are from Hong Kong, and you (and me) and most of Vancouver's demographic is into drifting or road racing, and not Drag Racing.

BUT, if we travel outside of our little world, you will discover that there are MILLIONS of NASCAR and NHRA fans that live in places where you never travel, and will eat up these Mustang Jets like Lucky Charms for breakfast.

One of these with the 3 speed auto would probably be a great bracket car.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/18/b...jet-prototype/

car # 1 is worth $375k from Barett Jackson

damn

ya but that doesn't make the idea any less retarded. Again what's wrong with GT500 at the strip?

There's nothing wrong with taking a stock GT500 or a 997GT3 to the drag strip or a DE.

But once you start drag racing competitively or road racing competitively, you need to build the car to meet the safety standards, and be competitive.

That's why Porsche offers a GT3 CUP, and Ford offers the FR350C and FR500C and now, for drag racing, the FR500CJ.

It's for a very niche set of buyers I don't really see the issue. The people forking over the jack for these things would probably never drive it on the street or the track anyway.

I don't have a problem with them producing this vehicle, but the first that comes to my mind is what type of power is it going to make? It's still just a NA car, with a cold air intake, and headers... which doesn't make like crazy amounts of power. Unless they've upped the compression, built the piss out of the head...then maybe... If not, then domniation will only happen if it's bracket racing.

The article also says that there were 50 made, and they sold out in 10 days.

Ford could sell a lot of these if they wanted to. They are capitalizing on the mustang brand and nostalgia. Hence all the "limited" edition mustangs "bullitt, shelby, california, etc..," that have little to no real value added modifications.

Having said that, I'm sure that if you bought all the parts it would be more expensive than what they are selling for...except for the first one sold of course.

that said how is this move making Ford a lot of money? They need to make something that sells to the masses not some niche race market.

not in this economy.
not with the fuel prices we see today.
not right now.

hence retarded as fuck. Put that R&D to better use. my idea of street legal drift machine is financially way more viable than this piece of junk. At least it'll be sold to the masses at a good margin.

lol at drifting

It's definately not a cash cow for Ford. They're making money on it, but that's not the reason for doing it. The Cobra Jet project serves as advertising support for the regular Mustang product line, and it works.

I would love to see a factory Drift Mustang like the Falken Tire car, but the reality is that Drifting is a tiny niche market compared to Drag racing or real wheel-to-wheel racing.