05 Mustang on the street....

[Jc'S MaCh 1]

I took these from another site.. so don't flame me if what is said at the bottom is real or not.....

http://fs.candiphotography.com/ford/05what.jpg

http://fs.candiphotography.com/ford/05what2.jpg

http://fs.candiphotography.com/ford/boost1.jpg

http://fs.candiphotography.com/ford/seats1.jpg

http://fs.candiphotography.com/ford/wheel1.jpg

http://fs.candiphotography.com/ford/rear.jpg

That's a video of J. Mays talking about the release and what not.

Okay.. Here's the deal.

J. Mays, the Vice President of Ford Engineering came down to OKC to visit our local Mustang club (link) and unveil the new '05 GT for the centenial of Ford. It was a press conference type setting and he invited our club to put our cars in the background. Ashley's Cobra was right next to him the whole time, it was really neat.

And here's the info that everyone wants to know, straight from the horses mouth:

There will NOT be an '05 Cobra. The Cobra will debut a '06, (start selling in mid '05,) and will not be a 4.6L. It is going to be a 5.4liter 3 Valve supercharged motor. The rated power output is 500BHP. Do the math on that and you'll soon figure that the '05 Cobra will be putting out about 470-490RWHP ('03 Cobra math.)

The GT will be offered in several models, but they'll all be the 4.6. They plan on offering the DOHC and the SOHC, but J. Mays said the SOHC won't be around much longer (good call!)

The V6 and GT will start selling mid next summer ('04,) and will have a base price of $18k.

The front end is different on each the V6, GT, and Cobra.

If you have any more questions, just ask. I grilled him on everything I could think of. I asked him how long the Mustang will be around and if it would follow the Camaro with it's demise. He said in 40 years there'll still be Mustangs.

The prototype isn't a 2+2 like all other Mustangs. The release versions will have a back seat.

The body on the red prototype vert is all carbon fiber! He estimated ~2,800lbs.

The gauges and/or dash panel won't be the same either. These gauges in this car were all mechanical, and cool as hell!

The GT/V6 will be solid rear, and the Cobra will be an IRS. The prototype was an IRS rear end with an '03 Cobra motor and a 5-speed automatic transmission.

The GTs will have 18" wheels, Cobra will have 20" wheels.

Ian

[Jc'S MaCh 1]

Here is a video of J. Mays talking about the release and what not.

http://fs.candiphotography.com/ford/MOV05757.MPG

Jc

[Walt]

Originally posted by Jc'S MaCh 1
J. Mays, the Vice President of Ford Engineering came down to OKC to visit our local Mustang club (link) and unveil the new '05 GT for the centenial of Ford.

No wonder there is so much confusion between the Mustang Concept cars unveiled earlier this year, and the upcoming S197 Mustang. When the VP basically says "This is the '05 Mustang right here, well except for the .....".

I don't remember people so generally believing that the Mustang III Concept car shown back in 1992 was identical to the upcoming SN95 Mustang (it wasn't).

[DP-Jedi]

Originally posted by Walt
No wonder there is so much confusion between the Mustang Concept cars unveiled earlier this year, and the upcoming S197 Mustang. When the VP basically says "This is the '05 Mustang right here, well except for the .....".

I don't remember people so generally believing that the Mustang III Concept car shown back in 1992 was identical to the upcoming SN95 Mustang (it wasn't).

That's because the MachIII wasn't based on the production car, as is the case here. If you read the interview with the guy who designed the 2005 concepts in the newest MM&FF, he says that the production versions were well under way when they started working on the concepts for the NAIAS this year. The concepts were based on the production models, not vice versa. MM&FF also says that per J. Mays, there isn't a spitting distance between what will be available next summer, and what we saw at NAIAS.

[Walt]

Originally posted by DP-Jedi
he says that the production versions were well under way when they started working on the concepts for the NAIAS this year.

That had to be true for the '92 Mustang III concept too. That concept car was shown only a year before the SN95 was introduced, and therefore, the SN95 design had to be well under way by then.

There were "hints" of the upcoming SN95 in the Mustang III concept car. Compare the dash and the tail light designs, they were similar, but no where near identical (which is my point).

I just don't think it is fair or correct to point to the latest Mustang concept car, and state that it is, without any deviations, the '05 Mustang.

[DP-Jedi]

Originally posted by Walt
That had to be true for the '92 Mustang III concept too. That concept car was shown only a year before the SN95 was introduced, and therefore, the SN95 design had to be well under way by then.

There were "hints" of the upcoming SN95 in the Mustang III concept car. Compare the dash and the tail light designs, they were similar, but no where near identical (which is my point).

I just don't think it is fair or correct to point to the latest Mustang concept car, and state that it is, without any deviations, the '05 Mustang.

I hear you and see your point. I wasn't aware that the MachIII was developed after the SN95 was under way. I agree that the concept isn't purely what we'll see next summer - Mays said that the production will be more voluptuous. Gimme those curves they took away in '99!!

Dave

[Unit 5302]

The chassis reportedly being used for the 05 Mustang is a Dew Lite platform designed for IRS.

I would be suprised if that function wasn't fully incorporated into the car.

As for the photo's, if they aren't real, somebody did one heck of a job with photo editing. The tree's/people in the paint reflection, along with the shadows and sunlight on the seats/body, honeycomb grille shadow pattern under the front fascia, and other miscellaneous cues make it an expert job or authentic.

As far as using '03 Cobra math, you could also use 99 Cobra math, in which case the '05 would make about 450hp, hehe. I severely doubt the supercharged 5.4L engine will make it into the Mustang. Has anybody else here seen the fact it sticks through the hood of a Fox 4 car by a mile? I also agree with what was stated about the '05 not being any where near a carbon copy of the prototype show car.