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"         Our first clue? That, two and a half years ago, the SVT Cobra R was delivered to our Newport Beach offices via a flat-bed tow truck. Turns out there was so little ground clearance that its Dzus-fastened front spoiler needed to come off before the car could be unloaded. A peek beneath its rear valance revealed a rectangular fuel cell where the stock tank once was, and a towering rear wing and NASCAR-style twin exhausts dumping out in front of the rear tires clearly announced its intentions.   Yep, we had $54,000 worth of thinly veiled race car on our hands, twitchy as a facial tic, boomy as a stadium fireworks finale, with a ride that&amp;#039;d compress your spine like a linebacker head-butting a tackling dummy. It ran like a wide receiver, though, with its breathed-on 5.4-liter Triton truck V-8 delivering 385 bhp and serving up a 13.2-second quarter mile.   Today, Ford&amp;#039;s Special Vehicle Team offers up a nearly-as-quick, more civilized Mustang for a forehead-slapping $20,000 less. And that&amp;#039;s including leather upholstery, air conditioning, a sound system (other than the engine) and an actual back seat.   How, you ask?   First off, it&amp;#039;s going to be made in relatively large volumes: an estimated 12,000 cars a year, versus the Cobra R&amp;#039;s entire run of 300. Second, SVT&amp;#039;s John Coletti and his engineers have minimized the exterior flash and pumped up the engine room \u2014 quite literally \u2014 with the same Eaton Gen IV Roots-type supercharger used on SVT&amp;#039;s F-150 Lightning pickup. Only in the Mustang&amp;#039;s case, it&amp;#039;s acting on the 32-valve 4.6-liter modular V-8 that was standard issue, sans blower, in the 2001 SVT Cobra (no 2002 Cobras were built).   To better withstand the increased stresses of forced induction, its block is now cast iron, clearanced to accept the forged crank&amp;#039;s counterweights. Exquisite forged connecting rods (H-section pieces from Manley) now link the lower-compression dished pistons (8.5:1) to the crank. At full furor, a peak of 8.0 psi boost crams through revised aluminum cylinder heads, but not before surrendering heat to an air-to-water intercooler with its own separate coolant loop and expansion tank.   The impressive result is output just shy of a Z06 Corvette&amp;#039;s: 390 bhp at 6000 rpm, with a like amount of torque at 3500.   This colossal twist channels through an 11.2-lb. aluminum flywheel, a clutch disc now clamped more securely by its pressure plate, a new 6-speed manual (the Tremec T-56), a large-diameter aluminum driveshaft and on to the limited-slip final drive, lashed down more tightly with an added tubular crossmember in the rear subframe. Finally, through a pair of toughened halfshafts, the full wrath unloads on 275/40ZR-17 Goodyears fitted to boldly-spoked 17 x 9-in. wheels.   Which, barring excessive wheelspin, will slingshot this relic to the standard performance benchmarks in some truly phenomenal times: try 4.9 sec. to 60 mph, 11.1 to 100 and 13.3 sec. at 108.1 mph through the quarter. I&amp;#039;ll save you a look at our Road Test Summary by offering that this &amp;#039;Stang will edge out a 911 Carrera 2 \u2014 and stay within a tenth or two of the Cobra R \u2014 well into triple-digit speeds.   Gauged against domestic iron, the Cobra will go toe-to-toe with a standard C5 Corvette, and at least give a Z06 owner something to think about. Impressive indeed, considering that the late-1970s&amp;#039; Ford Fairmont figures prominently in the Cobra&amp;#039;s bloodline, and that at $34,750, it&amp;#039;s about $15K cheaper than the Super-Vette and nearly half of the Porsche&amp;#039;s MSRP.   We&amp;#039;re happy to report that its handling emulates a Corvette far more than a Fairmont. The multilink rear suspension, with its cast-aluminum lower arms, maintains adhesion far better than the Mustang GT&amp;#039;s live-axle setup, and the standard Bilstein shocks, valved to cope with 600 lb./in. spring rates all around, deliver a firm ride that&amp;#039;s kidney-hostile only over the most severe bumps.   Steering feels sharper, with higher-rate rack bushings and those 40-series tires, and 0.90g of maximum grip is approached in a linear, predictable way that terminates in mild understeer. But, in finest Mustang tradition, steering out the side window [cross wrists holding an imaginary steering wheel, and look 90 degrees to your left] can be summoned with a sharp prod of the throttle. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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