We couldn't pass it up and, quite frankly, if we had, we might have been bludgeoned within an inch of our lives by nightfall. Three years in a row, the Electric Red '93 sedan of Tony and Jossie Menendez, who reside in Pembroke Pines, Florida, just kept getting better and better. The attention to detail and cleanliness just knocked us out. Each year we'd go over the car with a fine-tooth comb and each year we'd walk way thinking the car belonged in Mustang Monthly. However, intervening over commitments to other owners had us telling Tony next year would be his year. We kept this song and dance up for three long years, not intentionally mind you. Finally in 2000 we made an early morning beeline to the sedan just after Tony had parked it. We approached, all smiles, and told Tony we wanted to snap some photos that afternoon. He seemed pleased for some reason, but probably a little doubtful on whether we'd actually do it or not. Late in the day, we dragged the happy couple away from the Silver Springs show in Ocala, Florida, for the shots you see here.
Though a one-owner '93 isn't unusual, one that has stayed this clean is. Tony managed to take very good care of the Electric Red sedan, while making some improvements under the hood. To keep things stealthy, he has done almost nothing to the outside of the car. The sole deviation is a neat screen he placed under the cowl grille to keep any debris from entering the cowl tank. It's certainly not a Stormin' Norman cowl hood or other radical departure from stock, but it does go toward that clean thing we mentioned earlier. The only other deviation from the factory you can see without "seeing them" are the huge P245/50R BFGoodrich meats that Tony squeezed onto the 16-inch stock wheels that normally carried P225/55ZR Goodyear unidirectional Gatorbacks. Why more rubber? Because more power needs some way to transfer it and that requires more cross section.
In the more-power department, Tony is running a combination of a stock bottom end and some serious stuff from the 5.0 power bin. The first thing you'll see is that Powerdyne huffer that feeds air into a 75mm mass air meter, a 65mm throttle body, a polished GT-40 intake, then into a set of Edelbrock RPM heads. Other engine goodies that help in the go department are a set of underdrive pulleys. There's also a set of Ford Racing Performance Parts (FRPP) equal-length, 1 3/4-inch headers that mate to a MAC 211/42-inch, high-flow catalytic H-pipe that bolts to a set of Flowmaster mufflers and finally they exhaust to a set of MAC stainless pipes. All of this nets 370 attractive ponies at the rear wheels.
The drivetrain is bolstered by a world-class T5 five-speed, an aluminum driveshaft, and 3.73 gears, while the corner carving is handled by Steeda suspension goodies and the braking by Baer Claw 12-inch disc brakes. When we asked the former fire chief (maybe that's why the car is red) if he plans to do more, he just smiled and said, "I have some more things in mind."
We're sure that whatever they are, Tony will keep 'em clean.