Hennessey Performance Engineering has built some
incredible cars over the years, from a six-wheeled Ford F-150 Raptor to the
awe-inspiring Venom supercar. The company just reached its 10,000th build, and
it’s celebrating that milestone with an 808-horsepower Ford Mustang.
The Hennessey Heritage Edition Mustang adds more
power and retro style to Ford’s evergreen muscle car. It’s inspired by Ford’s
own GT ’67 Heritage Edition and, like that supercar, the Mustang wears the same
red-and-white livery and racing No. 1 as the Ford GT40 that won the 24 Hours of
Le Mans in 1967. That win was special because an American car won with American
drivers (Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt) at the wheel. The GT40 and its string of
four Le Mans victories were the inspiration for the modern GT supercar.
Hennessey started with a Mustang GT, treating the
car’s 5.0-liter V8 to a supercharger and other upgrades. The result is the
aforementioned 808 hp, and 677 pound-feet of torque. Hennessey claims the
Heritage Edition will do 0 to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, run the quarter mile in
10.7 seconds at 132 mph, and reach a top speed of “over 200 mph.” Hennessey
will offer the upgrade on cars equipped with both the six-speed manual and
10-speed automatic transmissions.
The Heritage Edition Mustang sits a bit closer to
the ground on lowered suspension. The wheels are 20-inch forged pieces of
Hennessey’s own design, and they come wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
tires. Brembo brakes help keep the Mustang’s prodigious power under control.
Hennessey will build just 19 Heritage Edition
Mustangs, priced from US$ 89,950. Each car will get a serial-numbered dashboard
and engine plaques, a letter of authenticity, and a personal letter of
gratitude from Hennessey founder and CEO John Hennessey. The company also provides a three-year/36,000-mile
warranty for its upgrades, supplementing the Ford factory warranty.
Hennessey started building cars in 1991, and since
then it has modified performance vehicles from all three of the major U.S.
automakers. Hennessey claims to have delivered over 6.5 million hp, averaging
over 650 hp per car. The company is now aiming to build the world’s fastest
production car. It claims the new Venom F5 will hit 301 mph when the supercar
finally gets unleashed on a track.
