Ford Motor Company (F)

[Seminole Red]

The new Ford Mustang’s independent rear suspension may make it a better car just about anywhere on earth, but there’s one stretch of road where the solid axle is still king – and it’s a quarter-mile long.

The 2016 Cobra Jet unveiled at the 2015 SEMA show is a factory-built drag racer that can go straight from the dealership to the strip. It’s been stripped out, then built back up with a 8.50-second roll cage, fuel cell, Corbeau racing seats, 5-point harness, 3-speed automatic transmission, and a coil-over suspension.

The engine is based on the Mustang GT’s 5.0-liter V8, and shares 75 percent of its parts, but gets a Whipple supercharger from the Ford Performance parts catalog that bumps its power up to around 575 hp, plus an electric water pump from the Ford C-Max hybrid to cool it down between runs.

But that kind of power means nothing if you can’t keep the Cobra Jet’s stock Hoosier slicks on the pavement, so Ford swapped in four-link 9-inch live rear axle, which is just what you want underneath the Christmas Tree…lights, that is.

As with past Cobra Jets, Ford is only making 50, split evenly between Oxford White and Deep Impact blue this time around. Certified for several drag racing classes, the starting price for the very street-illegal ‘Stang is $99,990, and the only options are a Cobra Jet graphics package and a wheelie bar for $1,995 each.

And while many of the parts used to create it are available from the Ford Performance catalog for DIY-types, that rear axle is exclusive to the Cobra Jet for now.