2015 Ford Mustang King Cobra Bows at SEMA With 600+ hp
Automaker Says It Does Sub-11-Second Quarter With Bolt-On Parts
A crowd 15- or 20-people deep cheered as the 2015 Ford Mustang King Cobra was unveiled at the annual SEMA show. They had reason to cheer, as the automaker said the King Cobra checks in with more than 600 hp and runs the quarter-mile in less than 11 seconds.
"This is what you get when you take one of everything from our parts bin," Ford Racing Director Jamie Allison said. "It's all bolt-on parts." In a sign that Ford is riding high on this year's Mustang introduction, Allison was breezy with a self-depricating reference to the King Cobra's original heritage (the 1978 Mustang II) and the weekend's brawl-filled action in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing.
The King Cobra, which looks spectacular with a black, gold, and red paint job which sports what looks like scales over the entire body and a gigantic cobra on the hood, adds about 200 hp to the Mustang GT's 435 hp. They started with a 5-liter, 625hp supercharged V-8 with a cat-back exhaust. Then they add a FR2 Drag Pack-equipped chassis including FR3 Handling Pack, heavy-duty half-shafts, bushing kits, 6-piston calipers, sway bars, dampers and springs, and Recaro seats and a short-throw shifter on the inside, King Cobra etched wheels (which not everybody is in love with) outside. Wrapping it all together is the scale-filled cobra-skin paint graphics.
Stock-car racing legend Richard Petty, a different kind of king, was on hand for the unveiling.Thom Taylor of HotRod.com contributed to this report.
Lee Trevino said “You don't know what pressure is until you've played for $5 a hole with $2 in your pocket.”
You also know what pressure is if you’ve lined up to race around Savannah, Georgia’s Hull Park (then dirt streets in a diamond shape) against a Plymouth Road Runner… and you’re behind the wheel of a Ford Granada.
Did I win? Are you kidding? This is how woeful the Granada was: A cop pulled me over once and laughed as he pointed at the side-view mirror, sadly flopping against the door, hanging by its adjustment cable (the door had rusted out around it). He twisted the knife with, “I was gonna give you a speeding ticket, but I don’t think your car can go that fast. Have a nice day.”
So I learned early that cars can thrill… and frustrate. But it was a quieter event that cemented my emotional connection to four-wheeled creations.
My dad cried when he helped me buy a British racing green 1978 MGB.
It was the first time one of his kids didn’t have hand-me-down transportation. For a scrappy guy who negotiated for his chemical plant’s union only to negotiate against them one day as an accomplished manager, that car represented hard-won success.
Cars are inherently aspirational. We want better cars. The automakers want their cars to be better. We’re here to find out if they’re succeeding. My contribution to the mix: Years as a news reporter, designer and editor. Ten of those in our nation’s auto epicenter and the six before now in digital news.
Oh, and that MGB? Immune to neither Lucas’ comic electrical problems nor… tickets.
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