Car of the Month Sept 09
Mike Mak's 2007 Mustang GT

It was 1979 and my father was about to realize his American Dream of buying his 1st brand new car since immigrating to the United States from Hong Kong in 1965. His car of choice was a 4 door gold LTD with a 351 and a vinyl top. As we walked into Big Valley Ford in Stockton CA, I was 11 at the time, I noticed a bright red “Race Car” which turned out to be a stock 1979 Mustang GT with T Tops. To this 11 year old this car was what I would dream about at night. I had no idea what the car really was but this was the beginning of my love of Mustangs and Fords for the rest of my life. My dad helped reinforce my love of Fords by only buying Fords till the day he passed away in 1996.

In the Spring of 2006, I had completely fallen in love with the new Mustang. The new Mustangs handled, drove, rode, and performed absolutely amazing. If you haven’t ever driven one do yourself a favor and take one for a spin… you’ll be amazed at how nice they are. So one evening I went over to Frontier Ford and picked up a brand new Premium Packaged equipped 2006 White Mustang GT which included a leather steering wheel, aluminum looking dash, & Bullitt style wheels. The car was beautiful and had that great new car smell!

Even though the GT was great I wanted more so I added a S&B Cold Air kit, 20" Chrome Bullitt Wheels, Saleen Shifter, Saleen Suspension, and a Mac Exhaust system within the first 2 weeks. A week later I decided to take the car to Thunderhill Raceway for some open track time and boy was it a blast! The car performed great BUT I wanted more… the bug was 8 planted so over the next 30 days the exhaust system was upgraded to a full Bassani X-pipe/ exhaust system, CDC Chin Spoiler, Sequential Tail lights, CDC Ducktail Spoiler, J&M rear control Arms, J&M Adjustable panhard bar, Saleen 14" Brakes, and a CDC Glassback Roof was installed along with a Saleen Supercharger which increased the cars HP from 255RWHP to 420RWHP. My car was now finished and I enjoyed it for over 12,000 miles until it had a chance meeting with a tree while avoiding a deer in the Spring of 2007. I was so depressed after I lost the car for weeks because I loved everything my car had become. To me it was the perfect car. I loved EVERYTHING about the car.. the awesome HP of the Saleen Supercharger, the handling , the sound of the exhaust, the looks, …everything I loved about it.

Now it was time to get a replacement and my 1st choice was to rebuild the exact car that I had but my wife talked me out of it so I ended up getting a brand new 2007 Vista Blue Mustang GT. I transferred many of my old parts to the new car and added some nice white stripes and a light bar. The car looked great and I enjoyed the car for about 9 months but I really missed my old car. PLUS my 2 young kids hated the convertible because of how windy it was with the top down. So I decided to sell my convertible and it was sold within a month.

I began the journey of trying to find another white Mustang GT with the equipment I wanted. You would have thought it would have been easy to find a White Mustang GT with a manual transmission and leather interior but it took a few months since I was busy with work. So while I was in Southern California during the Thanksgiving holidays I received a call from Frontier Ford that they had the car I wanted and we struck a deal over the phone. That following Monday I and my wife went into the dealership to sign the paperwork to pickup my new baby. I have never been so happy to receive a new car.. it was almost like receiving my 1st car ever! I’ve had cars much more expensive but I can’t ever remember being as excited about a new car as I was that day! What I realized it was, it was the return of my long lost baby coming back home to daddy! ..........

So I decided to make the car as similar to my old car as possible with a few minor changes. My thought was why tinker with something I loved so much. Among the changes to my previous setup where a Saleen Supercharger with 10lbs of boost producing 450RWHP, GT500 Spoiler, CDC Aggressive Chin Spoiler, KMC Nova 20" Mach 1 Style Wheels (Since I always loved the Magnum 500 style wheels), and a Hurst Shifter. I also had all the lights on the car tinted to give it a move stealthy look. I would have never thought I could have made the car more perfect for me but now it is.. it’s exactly how I wanted it. With 450RWHP it can hold it’s own again most cars on the road, the suspension is good enough for track use… yet extremely comfortable for me to drive daily while dropping my kids off at school or attending meetings, the shifter shifts awesome, and the looks to me is a perfect blend of classic styling with upgraded cues. The car is used as my daily driver and as a test vehicle for my customer’s to take for a spin. I love my car and everything it has become so if you ever want to take my car for a test drive just give me a call or swing by TPS Motorsports in Campbell and I’ll be more than happy to let you take the car for a spin so you can experience why I have a big grin on my face every time I drive my Mustang. I built my car to enjoy and that’s what I do every day I drive my Mustang.. I enjoy it
Mike Mak