Of all the hundreds of stories we’ve done over the years, this was and probably still is our favorite. A little back story on the publishing of this one. I had typed it out at the very last minute..first draft, one shot, no time for editing before it needed to hit the printer. When the Bluelines came back for approval before final printing, I noticed that my Byline was missing. Editor Gromer had decided that I had too many in that issue, so he scrubbed it. It was pointless trying to argue or reason with the little fuck, so I quickly whipped up that nearly full page sidebar and slipped it in with our list of corrections and additions…along with my name. EAD Cliff.
Full story below.
When this article was first published I read it to my friend Vincent, who happens to be blind but was born with a steering wheel in his hand like so many of us. Well, he was so inspired by Tony’s writing that he was able to talk one of our “die hard” Chevy guys into buying an ‘87 Type and has since turned it into a mid 10 second super quiet street car.
I remember reading this article on Cars Illustrated when it came out back in 1986, I was 18 years old at the time. Tony DeFeo was an inspiration to me, I loved his articles on Cars Illustrated, especially the Mustang 5.0 stuff. Tony was such an inspiration that and I eventually made cars may life and went into the Automotive aftermarket, where I have been since I was a kid. The Roadrunner articles, the 5.0 LX Mustang, the 5.7 Trans Am, the Iroc 5.7, the Corvette, some of the Shelby 2.2 turbo articles are all seared in my memory. I found your YouTube channel and that brought me here, and I am a loyal subscriber. May you live a long and prosperous life, you may not be aware of it, but you influenced a ton of us that are now in the Automotive Aftermarket business, and we are forever grateful.
Uncle Tony when I grow up I want to be just like you. My favorite gueto. I never knew the 87 mustang was so fast. Im just getting into fords, and I now understand, being the proud owner of a 96 Cobra I am impressed at what ford did with the motor. I also owned an 87 buick Gn, but it was not stock, I loved that car, so much power but what a maintenance whore it was, and the price for parts..Fogetttaboutit.. lol Great write up, you should get back into magazines.
Love,
Official Uncle Tony fan
I remember reading this when it first came out, I remembered it again years later when a friend bought a 87 T Type and we went for a ride… I’m glad you’re on YouTube my friend!