1989 Mustang Coupe

It costs big money to go fast, yes? And it costs even more to blend this speed with a build quality capable of winning show trophies, don't you think? That being the case, the bean-counter in your head must be computing that this '89 coupe belonging to Janesville, Wisconsin's, Jason McGuire, was an expensive undertaking.

The Titanium Frost notch wowed us enough at last summer's NMRA gig in Joliet that we promptly bestowed our 5.0 Editor's Choice award upon it. And why not? Its surgically clean look just naturally draws admirers, without resorting to any gratuitous bling. And the naturally aspirated 347 stroker-detailed like a SEMA show-stand motor-nestled in that flawless body-color engine bay has sufficient steam to run 12-flat at 144 mph.

But then, all it takes is money, right? Well, apparently not as much as you might think. "I wanted to build something that is possible for someone to duplicate, as the car was completed on a reasonable budget," Jason claims, despite the fact that what he started with was apparently a bit rough when he bought it a few years back, to the point where the car gained the unflattering nickname, the "Nasty Notch."

Of course, the definition of "reasonable" when used to describe an automotive budget is open to interpretation and varies from reader to reader. Fair enough, but even with that disclaimer, Jason did go to great lengths to keep costs under control.

Take the brakes, for instance. After driving the car for a while, Jason decided he needed some additional stopping power, which would also necessitate upgrading to a five-lug setup. But, as he explains, "Wanting to build this car under a decent budget, I didn't want to pay the price for the M-2300-K brake kit, so I decided that with a little patience and the long Wisconsin winter, I would piece together the kit myself. After scouring many different Internet classifieds, I got everything I needed from four different Cobras. I chose a '93 Cobra master cylinder, '94 Mustang front spindles, '99 Cobra front and rear rotors and calipers, and '95 Cobra rear axles. To make it all work, I installed Stainless Steel Brakes lines and a Wilwood proportioning valve." He also acquired the rarely seen '99 Cobra wheels the same way, selling his car's existing Weld Draglites to offset the total purchase cost.

The notchback Jason began with was black, and already had an Eagle 347 stroker with some good supporting hardware underhood. "It surely wasn't the prettiest thing," Jason admits, "but I definitely saw its potential." To achieve that potential, however, would take some serious attention to the body, so Jason enlisted the aid of his talented buddy Ryan Lamb to whip the tired sheetmetal into shape, replacing the front fenders, the driver's door, and the front and rear fascias in the process. Since it was mostly apart, Jason took the opportunity to recolor the coupe in the subtle but tasteful Titanium Frost hue, using DuPont Chromabase applied by the twosome in Jason's garage. The secret to its flawless appearance lies in the hours spent wet-sanding and buffing.

It wasn't until a couple years later that Jason and Ryan got together again to transform the engine bay, which had been left black when the notchback was originally painted. Ryan welded and smoothed the numerous factory openings, and fabricated panels to fill in both framerails. Jason primed the bay three times, wet-sanding with 400-grit in between each coat. He then laid down the base-color coat followed by four coats of clear. All this, again, in his garage. "Of course, I couldn't put all the dirty suspension parts back on," he says, "so I figured a complete suspension upgrade was in order."