2006 Cervini C-500 Mustang

Horse Sense: Commenting on Rick's boisterous driving style with the C-500, his friend Jeff Floyd just laughs and says, "I don't know why he even has a gas pedal in it ... It oughta have a switch, 'cause he's either wide open or off..."

Well, to be honest, the first "owner" of this Vista Blue '06 GT actually just leased it from Downs Ford. That didn't stop him, however, from promptly delivering it to the Vineland, New Jersey, shops of Cervini's Auto Designs to have it converted into a full-blown, serial-numbered Cervini C-500-car number seven of the series. At that time (early 2006), this 20-some-thousand dollar Cervini conversion to C-500 status included a ProCharger P-1SC centrifugal supercharger (whereas the current C-500 gets the Ford Racing/Whipple screw blower). Anyway, as the story goes, when this gentleman was delivered his completed C-500, he expressed considerable concern over it being number seven, saying that was bad luck. Apparently, he was right because-with only 1,400 miles on the clock-his C-500 was unceremoniously confiscated and locked in a shipping container by the Feds as part of a drug bust involving said gentleman. Bad luck, indeed.

The way we understand it, the government would normally auction off such confiscated chattel, but since the GT had been leased, it still belonged to Ford. Thus Downs Ford got it back and sold it to another gentleman who must have become jaded with its mere 500-plus horsepower, because he shortly delivered it to VT Competition Engines in Michigan and opened up his wallet in a big way. Among VT's tasks, we're told, was the removal of the engine so it could be upgraded with VT's forged stroker internals, bumping it up to about 5.0 liters of displacement. VT also installed its own blower cams in a set of Fox Lake cylinder heads, replaced the P-1SC blower with a higher-flowing ProCharger D-1SC, and installed a 26-spline input shaft on the otherwise-stock TR3650 transmission.

Moving downstream, VT added a stronger clutch and replaced the two-piece factory driveshaft with a one-piece upgrade with shaft loops. The rearend was not forgotten either, as it received 4.10 gears, 33-spline axles, and an Eaton Posi unit specifically modified for those 33-spline axles. So figure another $20,000-$30,000 in modifications.

Naturally, all this work took some time, during which the car owner's marriage came to an abrupt and unhappy end. So, you guessed it: He then had to fire-sale auction the souped-up C-500 to help out with the divorce settlement. The curse of Voodoo Blue once again? At this point, it still showed only about 2,800 miles on the odometer and was good for around 580 hp to the ground.

It was Jeff Floyd-a land surveyor in Virginia-who would find the bargain beast listed on eBay and buy it next. (Jeff also supplied us with the car's entertaining history.) He already has a Cervini Stalker and C-500 number three, and therefore knew precisely at what he was looking. He says some of the paint was a little scruffy (drug dealing in bad neighborhoods will do that), so he immediately dropped his latest C-500 off at Cervini's to have it returned to its original luster.

From there, he was off to see Justin Burcham at JPC Racing for a thorough tune, as well as the installation of some gauges to help keep an eye on the engine health of his investment. That's when Jeff spotted the prototype of JPC's new aluminum Three-Valve intake manifold, which he decided he needed to have-as soon as possible. The car now wears what he describes as a "beta" version of the manifold. Jeff also replaced the original Eleanor-style hood with one of Cervini's 2.5-inch cowl versions and installed a spool when the rearend broke. Given the car's seemingly cursed history, he also started referring to it as "Voodoo Blue."