Mustang Gasser – Big Fun in a Straight Axle Ford

What do you do when you have a 1964.5 Mustang that’s semi-restored and you start getting the itch for a gasser? You build a Mustang Gasser like Roger did. It’s a bit outside the box, and when we first heard about the build we weren’t sure if it could be pulled off correctly.

Once we saw the car, though, all of our doubts disappeared — this thing is just badass. All of the custom work to get the car to sit like it does now was completed at Road Master Rod and Custom in Pittsburg, CA.

The shop owner, Brian, showed up in his pickup to hang out while we spent some time up close with the first-gen Mustang.

When Roger picked it up 15 years ago from the original owner it was primer grey, the interior was fairly complete, and it was well on its way to being a standard restoration. As you can see by the stickers on the side of the car, not to mention the massive stacks sticking out of the hood, Roger decided to get a bit crazy instead.

The straight axle up front is a Speedway Motors setup that Brian adapted to work with the Mustang’s frame rails, of course completely re-working the suspension. To do so, the shock towers were removed and custom inner fenders were built. All of the hard work was worth it though, and the way this thing sits now it’s just begging to be opened up on the quarter mile!

Air is pulled through a set of Don Garlits fuel injection stacks then mixed with hi-octane fuel in an Edelbrock carburetor before being pumped through an Edelbrock intake and into the 1960s OE 289 cubic inch small block. The original motor has been retained, although the previous owner went through and had it rebuilt before Roger got his hands on the car and things went gasser-style.

Once the fuel/air/spark is turned into horsepower, the remnants are sent out of the cylinders through a set of heavily modified Speedway stainless T-bucket headers. Power is transferred through a built-up C4 transmission and out back to an 8-inch rear end.

Inside the car, we noticed a matching old-school helmet with the same lettering as outside – “Twisted Pony.” The steering wheel also matches the overall aesthetic, the interior is a relatively stock affair.

While it could have been cool to go all-out on the interior of the car as well, the simple stock setup works really well with the vintage styling on the exterior.

There are a lot of ways you could go wrong with a build like this, but the way the car is set up seems to strike a perfect balance. Roger had a lot of decisions to make along the way, but we think he’s made all the right ones.

This isn’t a car you’d ever expect to see cruising down the street, and that’s exactly why we love it. The 60s style Street Freaks are back!