2006 "Maaco Medusa" Mustang S281 EBR - Mythology In The Making

Maaco Medusa 2006 Mustang S281 EBR

Medusa was the name of a Gorgon in greek mythology. Once a beautiful woman, she had sex with Poseidon in the temple of the goddess Athena. Upon discovering this, Athena transformed Medusa into a Gorgon - a monster with brass hands, sharp fangs and hair made from living serpents. Any living creature whose eyes met her gaze would instantly be turned to stone. The hero Perseus, was sent by King Polydectes to find Medusa and cut off her head. When he did, her offspring from the encounter with Poseidon - came out of her neck, the winged horse Pegasus and the giant Chrysador. Perseus used Medusa's head to rescue Andromeda and then kill King Polydectes - ultimately he gave it to Athena, who placed it on her breastplate to protect her in battle.

What's all this got to do with a Mustang you may ask? Well, meet the Maaco Medusa. Don't worry you won't be turned to stone by looking at the headlights, but this car will probably make you stop dead in your tracks. The brainchild of Tony Martino, founder and CEO of Maaco (yes the body and paint company), along with Rocco Major and Lee Vighetti of Bolt-Onz Luxury and Performance Specialties, the Medusa has been garnering award after award since it was completed in spring 2006. We'll let Rocco Major tell us a little about how the car came into being. "Tony (Martino) wanted a car to showcase for Maaco. He approached us about building it and one week later we came up with a proposal. The idea was to build a jaw-dropping show car, with dazzling paint and bodywork, tons of electronic hardware and plenty of good old-fashioned American muscle performance." What the boys ended up showing Tony was a variation on this. "Looking for a brand new muscle car that was stunning led us straight to the Saleen Mustang. We were getting involved with the Saleen and we thought it would be a great ideal to pool our resources. We originally wanted to start the project, based around a Saleen S-281 Extreme." Only there was one small problem. "At the time we started this project, they're weren't any Extremes in circulation." Well, actually there were, but the three cars were prototypes and spread out all over the place. Instead, the lads hatched a plan to purchase a brand new 2006 Mustang GT and convert it into a Saleen show car. "We got this black '06 GT, brought it to the shop and tore it down." But Lee, Rocco and the gang had their work cut out for them. "We wanted this thing to be an absolute killer piece, in like, every way, but there weren't any parts made for the car when we began, so we had to get stuff as it became available." The first plan of action was to dress the car up as a Saleen S-281 Extreme. "What we ended up doing was getting all the parts to turn the GT into a S-281. The guys at Saleen, especially Carlos and Joe Duran, along with Mac Worch, were really helpful in making this project happen. They would send us parts as soon as they had them available, sometimes before they were even put in the system - what we ended up with was the first S-281 EBR - it's our model and Saleen has authorized us to reproduce it." And when the lads say they got everything, they mean it. "We got all of the body upgrades, including the front splitter, ground effects, rear end treatment, plus we got all of the performance upgrades - the full suspension, Saleen Alcon brakes, handling kit, wheels, tires, HID headlights." They also got the full driveline - 550 horsepower supercharged 4.6-liter 3-valve V8, modified six-speed manual gearbox, 4.10:1 ring and pinion, fuel pumps, diff cover along with the full interior upgrades (seat skins, door inserts, gauges, shifter and pedals). That's a lot of stuff and they got it in a fairly short span of time. And that was only the beginning.

"One thing we knew we wanted to do on this car was an air-ride suspension - we contacted one of our vendors who'd worked with us in the past, Chassis Tech. They hadn't planned to start offering a Mustang kit for several months, but when they heard about the Medusa, they jumped right in." Still, this was another aspect that had the team kind of going along in the dark. "Chassis Tech had a few experimental parts lying around, but they got on it and delivered to us a complete, air ride suspension package in two weeks and it was excellent." Oh and before we move on we should probably mention that the air ride is computer controlled. "My background is in electrical engineering," says Rocco, "and it was important to use this car as a showcase for the latest in technology. To that end we created a complete computer system, using two Windows XP based PCs that control just about every aspect of the car, from the suspension, to onboard diagnostics, satellite navigation and the entertainment system. It even has two laser keyboards that provide high-speed internet access and everything is accessed through two screens - a 10-inch in-dash touch screen and another 15-inch screen in the trunk."

However, we're probably getting a little ahead of ourselves, for all the electronic wizardry came after another signature feature of the Medusa was ironed out, the doors. "Everybody knows that Lamborghini doors are becoming really popular on late-model Mustangs, but we wanted to try something different. We placed a call to GT Factory to use some of their gullwing style doors, but we ran into another problem, like those we'd already had - there wasn't anything available for us at the time." However, necessity being the mother of invention that it is, a few more phone calls to the 'right people' and the gang at Bolt-Onz finally had a set of prototype pieces they could work with. "What we got was a brand-new style hinge that wasn't available and we got it working, though it took some careful massaging." The result, well just look at the pictures - to us at least it almost looks as if the Medusa has sprouted wings when the doors are in the open position ... truly unique.

Once the doors were installed and working, the electronics and entertainment system went in. "We removed the factory Shaker 500 sound system and relocated the four way flasher, HVAC controls and traction control so we could install the 10-inch screen. It's the central nervous system for the Medusa and the driver accesses and controls everything by touching the screen - the laser keyboards we talked about for the internet and stuff are housed on the front sunvisors - one for the driver and front passenger. When you activate them, they project a full-size keyboard onto the sunvisor that works just like a regular one would, but without any moving parts or physical mass." Before we move on, we should probably also mention that the Medusa has a built-in Crimestopper TrackNet unit that allows the owner to locate the car if stolen, giving coordinates across the US, Canada and even Mexico - plus engine immobilizing and even door locking can be controlled remotely, online or through a cell phone. Jeez.

After all that was figured out, it was time for the Medusa to get some love in the body and paint department. "There were a lot of man hours involved with the body paint and interior," relates Major. "We removed every interior panel, because we wanted it to match the exterior finish. Every single piece came out - console, kick panels, door and rear side panels. Each was smoothed and custom painted to match the exterior finish we had planned for the car. It was very labor intensive getting the interior panels to match but we did it." Xtreme Auto Interiors of Abington, PA was charged with replacing the headliner and rear shelf. "I just about fell out of my chair when the guys came in and showed me the headliner material they'd found - it matched the ChromaLusion finish we had planned for the exterior of the car - it was unbelievable." The seats received full Saleen upgrades and the trunk received custom upgrades to work in conjunction with the 15-inch touch screen and electronics.

With the interior done, the next task on hand was to install the tinted glass and paint the car itself. "Once we had the windows installed, with 20 percent tint, it was time to paint it, says Rocco. "The paint is Dupont ChromaLusion Prizm over an Orange Crush effect - there are actually two stages of ChromaLusion, one lighter, one darker. The body and paint were done down at Maaco's HQ in King of Prussia, PA where Rocco and Lee worked with Lee's brother Mike who's a Maaco technician. "I've always liked the body and paint side of vehicles," mentions Mike Vighetti, "my dad was the mechanical guy - but for me it's always been about paint and body. I took bodywork in tech school and every car I've owned has basically needed body and paint," he chuckles. "I got into it so much that I got awards at school, Maaco came and solicited me and I've been working with them ever since." Make no mistake, the painting was a complex process, but the guys worked and worked at it over the course of a very intensive weekend to get the task completed. "Maaco techs are certified in using the best materials, so although the paint scheme was challenging, the guys simply performed the task the same way they would for their customer vehicles." Maaco's Tony Martino said.

All in all, it took approximately 14 weeks to transform the Medusa from regular black to GT, to killer showcar. It was completed in time to be taken to the All-Ford Nationals at Carlisle Fairgrounds in early June 2006 (covered in MM Sept '06), where it drew a tremendous crowd and rightly so. Since that time it's been out and about as time permits - it went to the Woodward Dream Cruise. "I must have put 180 miles on it driving it up and down Woodward," says Mike, "I think I went through three and half tanks of gas - it's an incredible car to drive and it just gets so much attention." More recently, the car was brought down to the 2006 SEMA show were again, even amid a sea of tricked out rides, it stood out. "People were coming up to us and saying it was the best Mustang at the show - it makes you really feel good when they say things like that at SEMA."

Rocco adds. "It's really good when East Coast guys like us get recognition - a lot of the time the market for showcars is in California because a lot of people here tend to think in seasonal terms, so it's tough to build cars like this. But we think that we've shown a lot of people what we can do and being an Authorized Saleen parts and Accessories dealer means we have the access and we can build more cars like this - if a customer wants it we can do it."

Although the Medusa is now most definitely a living, moving entity, the lads haven't quite finished playing with it yet. "Tony [Martino] has a couple of goals with the car," says Rocco. One of them is getting top horsepower and torque numbers and another is a top speed rating - we're actually looking at 200 plus mph for the last one and around 650 for top horsepower numbers." Considering what the chaps have accomplished already, it looks like these goals will be a walk in the park.

Interior / Exterior

Maaco Medusa 2006 Mustang S281 EBR

Exterior

Saleen Aluminum hood with heat ventilation, Saleen injection molded Thermoplastic Olefin front fascia, rocker panel extensions and rear fascia; Saleen carbon front spliter and rear diffuser; Saleen front grille; HID headlights and integrated front turn signals; Saleen rear panel; spoiler and end caps; Saleen quarter window trim; GT Factory prototype Gull Wing door conversion; Dupont Pure Fire Chromalusion black and orange crush paint and racing stripes by Bolt-Onz/Maaco

Interior

Full Saleen interior upgrades - leather sport seats with louvered head rests; Saleen 200 mph speedometer and black faced gauges, Saleen dash vents, bezels and steering wheel boss; Saleen performance pedals and foot brace; Saleen close-ratio shifter; Saleen door sill plates and serialized dash plaque, dash mounted 10" touch screen (for Windows XP operating system); trunk mounted 15" trunk screen, Yamaha based in-car entertainment system with AM/FW/CD/MP3/DVD and Dolby surround sound; custom trunk enclosure for Yamaha head unit; computers and air suspension controls

Suspension

Saleen Racecraft tubular front sway bar with urethan pivot bushings; Chassis Tech custom air-suspension with modified Saleen Racecraft front struts and specially calibrated settings; boxed rear lower control arms; Saleen Racecraft shocks with Chassis Tech air springs; Saleen direct action rear sway bar and specially calibrated suspension settings

Wheels And Tires

Saleen seven-spoke alloy wheels; 20- X 9-inch (front); 20- x 10-inch (rear)

Pirelli P-Zero Rosso performance tires 275/35ZR20 (front); 275/40ZR20 (rear)

Specifications

Maaco Medusa 2006 Mustang S281 EBR

Engine

Ford 4.6-liter 3V SOHC V8

Engine Modifications

Saleen forged steel crank, Saleen forged steel connecting rods, Saleen forged aluminum pistons; Saleen series VI Integrated Twin-Screw supercharger, Saleen two-stage water-to-air intercooler system; Saleen designed high-flow inlet tube and airbox cover; Saleen Performance two-core aluminum radiator and high-flow cooling system; Saleen 60 lb/hr fuel injectors, Saleen twin fuel pumps; JDM long-tube headers; JDW 2 1/2" cross-pipe; Magnaflow 2 1/2" variable pitch mufflers; twin Kinetic trunk mounted batteries

Electronics

Dual on-board PCs, running Windows XP; twin Bluetooth sunvisor mounted laser keyboards; TrackNet vehicle security system with GPS tracking

Driveline

Saleen Quick Ratio six-speed manual gearbox; Saleen MaxGrip speed sensitive limited slip differential with 4.10:1 final drive, high-performance clutch. lightweight aluminum flywheel, balanced aluminum driveshaft

Numbers

550 crank HP

500 crank lb/ft TQ

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Bolt-Onz Luxury and Performance Specialities; Chassis Tech, Xtreme Auto Interiors; GT Factory, Joe Duran; Carlos Duran and Mac Worch at Saleen Performance