Last year SEMA was dominated by the Ford Focus and Fiesta ST. Everywhere you turned someone had their interpretation of the perfect ST. SEMA 2014 was dominated by a Ford also, but this time it was of the rear wheel drive big ‘ol burnout variety.
This year is a big deal for Mustangs. 2015 marks 50 years of the Ford Mustang and also the release of the new 2015. The 2015 design has been a little polarizing, with purist calling it a “Fusion Coupe”, but it really does look impressive in person.
The 2015 Mustang is starting to break away from just a big, dumb, muscle car and turn the Mustang into an honest-to-goodness sports car. The live rear axle that Ford has insisted on for the last 49 years is finally gone and in its place is an independent rear suspension.
With the use of a modern suspension and the beautiful updated styling, the 2015 Mustang was a blank canvas for many builds this year. The finest of which comes from Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s RTR brand.
Vaughn has been drifting Mustangs for some time, and now with a suspension design that is more complicated than a horse and buggy, the Mustang is pretty damn good at going around corners.
Unlike most show cars at SEMA, this RTR was getting beat on with drifting demonstrations and a nightly burnout for good measure. It’s always nice to see a great show car and then see it in action.
The first thing that strikes you about the RTR are the green wheels. If it wasn’t for these, you might mistake it for pedestrian from 100 feet away. The next thing you’ll notice is that this is a seriously wide car with some excellent bolt-on over fenders. Over fenders have definitely been a craze at the last two SEMA shows, but this Mustang wears them well and doesn’t come off as trendy.
The heart of this Mustang is a blown V8 that sounds incredible under load. With over 700hp, this thing has no trouble burning through some tires on command.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Mustangs, but never could fully get behind them until the Boss 302 and Cobra models. The RTR takes the best parts of both of those Mustangs and does them even better. It’s great to know America can build a car that smoke supercars in a straight line and finally around corners.
