1967 Mustang Fastback - Euro Stang
Custom car trends are often hard to gauge. Sure, it looks good now but how about in a few years? We think this 67 Mustang has definate staying power with its subtle blend of modern styling touches.
www.hotrod.com
Updating classic sheetmetal with modern technology is nothing new. It’s the essence of what hot rodding has been about since the pre-World War II dry-lakes era. But every generation of hot rodders redefines the parameters of what’s old, what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s not—sometimes more than once. Right now the hot thing is slamming musclecars with 19s and air bags and dropping in a fuel-injected late-model engine with an overdrive transmission. It’s a simple formula that appeals to the baby boomers at the top of the hot rod demographic bell curve, and we’ve seen some really trick examples of the trend spread across our pages in the past few years.
But after a while there gets to be a sameness about the latest style, no matter how well executed, and as with any trend, there are only a few that break out however slightly from the mold. We think the Ring Brothers’ ’67 Mustang is one of them. Painted in the broadest strokes, it’s scripted from the familiar formula: It rides on airbags with 18s and 19s, it has an updated interior, subtly modified sheetmetal, and the obligatory fuel-injected V-8 and overdrive tranny. But there is a difference, and it was obvious from the briefest glance at a few thumbnail photos that were sent our way by photographer Rich Chenet. This Mustang has a more refined, integrated look than the typical street-rodified or Trans-Am–inspired Shelby clone, but we couldn’t quite put a finger on what made this particular car stand out from the rest until about halfway into our conversation with builder Jim Ring, one half of the Ring Brothers car-building operation that crafted this unique musclecar.
Jim talked about how he and his brother Mike have evolved as custom car builders over the years, starting with a rusty basket case ’65 Mustang fastback that they transformed into a show car and progressing to the custom car operation in Spring Green, Wisconsin, that they run in conjunction with their collision shop. “We started out building concours-correct restorations,” Jim says. “But the problem was that no matter how well we did it, there was always somebody who knew more than we did. So that got us heading in a different direction.” The next step in the evolution was building cars from readily available parts. “We’d buy the parts we could buy, bolt it all together, and make it as nice as we could.” It made for mostly nice cars, though Jim admits there are some he’d like to forget, and ultimately there was again a sameness. The next step was building the kind of things that you can only create with imagination. “There was no choice but to make what we thought was cool.”
Maybe it’s because of their background building restos, but the Ring Brothers’ idea of cool isn’t to try to go over the top of the next guy just to stand out in a crowd. They aren’t into the gaudy bling-bling look. “There’s a lot of things everybody would like to forget,” Jim says. “I’d like to not have somebody look at [our] cars in 10 or 20 years and have them look dated.”
Which brings us to this Mustang. The project came about in sort of an odd way. The Ring Brothers’ shop is located about 2 1/2 hours west of Milwaukee in a small town of 1,500 people. It’s not exactly a hub of activity, but their shop caught the eye of Les Orosz, a well-heeled real estate investor from Madison. “Les liked what we had at our shop and he wanted us to build him a Mustang. He left the details up to us. The only input he really had was in the color,” Jim says.
“We wanted to build something that looked like it could have been done by the factory,” Jim says. He and his brother loved the basic lines of the ’67-’68 fastback, but there were a few things that weren’t quite right in their eyes. For one they didn’t like the recessed design of the rear tailpanel, so they built custom taillights with a carbon-fiber inset panel. They also fretted over what to do with the faux side scoops. “Everyone has always banged their head over what to do with those,” Jim says. The usual answer is to resort to Shelby-like side scoops but, according to Jim, “We wanted to do something that was functional, so we mounted a pair of transmission coolers on each side. It has a mean look, but it’s very functional.” The final touch was a fiberglass front roll pan that smoothes the front end of the car.
When we got to talking about the interior, which features leather-wrapped bucket seats and a custom dash and console, we mentioned that it had an unusually factory-inspired look to it for a custom car. That’s when Jim said what we’d been thinking but hadn’t put our finger on. “We get to see a lot of Porsches and Mercedes in our collision repair business. Their styling, especially the interiors, is so simple but cool looking. They get the job done. This interior reflects our idea of what could have been done by the factory.” That finally put into words what we’d been thinking since the first glance at the car. From the sedate-for-their-size SSR spoke wheels to the beautifully executed leather-wrapped interior right down to the inset fender emblems reminiscent of an E46 BMW M3, the Ring Brothers ’67 Mustang embodies a distinctly European aesthetic. It’s unique enough to really stand out from the standard billet street-rod look we’ve seen transferred to so many musclecars.
The Ring Brothers’ have come up with a look that improves on the already near- flawless design of the ’67-’68 Mustangs, and it’s the best looking re-interpretation we’ve seen so far. They think so too and have plans to build others just like it. “Number two is already sold,” Jim said. “And we’d like to build five or 10 more.” If you have the bucks, get your order in early.
Quick Inspection:
’67 Ford Mustang,
Les Orosz/Ring Brothers • Spring Green, WI
POWERTRAIN
Engine: A 351W-based Roush Performance 402R crate engine was modified with a Momar Injection four-pack induction system managed by a Haltech EFI computer that resembles a quartet of vintage Weber downdraft carburetors.
Power: It hasn’t really been wrung out on a dyno other than for EFI tuning purposes, but Mike Ring estimates the 402 at about 525 hp.
Transmission: “This car should not have an automatic,” says builder Jim Ring. But the owner insisted on one anyway, so he got it. It’s a Performance Automatic C4 cooled by a pair of B&M trans coolers mounted behind the functional side ducts.
Rearend: John’s Rearends in Minneapolis, Minnesota, built the Ford 9-inch with 3.55 gears.
CHASSIS
Suspension: The front end rides on Fat Man Fabrications spindles and lower control arms with a Mustang II rack-and-pinion. The rear suspension is an Air Ride Technologies four-link with Shockwave coilover air springs on all four corners.
Brakes: It’s got Baer two-piston PBR calipers with 13-inch rotors on the front and Baer single-piston PBR calipers with 13-inch rotors on the rear.
Wheels: The modular SSRs are 18x9 on the front and 19x10 on the rear
Tires: Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar P245/40ZR18s on the front and P285/35ZR19s on the back
Interior: A custom leather-wrapped dash and aluminum console combine with leather bucket seats to create an amazingly modern, European-inspired interior. Tubular steel harness bars are mounted behind the seat, and the rear seat is deleted with an aluminum bulkhead.
Audi A2 , технические данные
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