The Car
Although it seems like there are more special edition Mustangs than regular ones these days, Saleen's Parnelli Jones Edition Mustang stands out from the crowd. Only 500 of these bad boys were made and it's a shame because this thing is fun! The styling and spirit of this car is a tribute to Parnelli Jones' 1970 SCCA Trans Am Boss 302 Mustang with its grabber orange paint, shaker hood, and rear window louvers and much more. The 5.0L V8 has been breathed on by Saleen and produces 400 naturally aspirated horsepower and 390 ft. lbs. of torque. Saleen left no stone un-turned in this car upgrading the shocks, springs, brakes, interior, transmission, and gears to name a few things. The end result is an attention getting beast that will propel itself around a road course faster than a Shelby GT500.

Driving on the Street
The grabber orange paint and agressive exhaust note definately turn a lot of heads driving around Las Vegas and for good reason. The interior of the car is quite nice for a Mustang. The Saleen has different gauge faces as well as a nicely mounted gauge pod on the dash housing oil temp and pressure gauges. My first complaint about this car though has to be the seats. Although they look great in their black/orange two tone leather skins, Saleen for some reason decided to incorporate an un-comfortable bolster that, at 5' 10" presses against my upper back and shoulder blades. Although you get used to it after a bit, it is nonetheless awkward and un-necessary.

This car is surprisingly tame under normal driving conditions. The power curve is nice and smooth, the clutch is easy to engage, and the shifter is very user friendly. The upgraded suspension provides a smooth and streetable feel with good low speed dampening and rebound characteristics. The brakes feel great with a smooth and linear torque curve and confidence inspiring initial bite. The steering is precise and not too heavy or not too light and the Shaker 500 audio system is impressive for a Ford factory item. The exhaust note is deep and sexy but not too loud to talk on a cell phone.

Driving on the Track
After the street test, it was off to Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, NV (about 45 min. West of Las Vegas) to see if this car could back up its looks. Going out there in completely stock form, I was sure that the brake fluid would be the limiting factor on this car given that it weighs over 3700lbs. with driver. The track is a 3.1 mile long course used primarily for driving schools. It features almost every type of turn imaginable as well as some pretty exciting elevation changes and a good combination of low and mid-speed turns. Thankfully, the track is not too hard on brakes as there is pretty ample space between hard braking zones.

Right off the bat I could tell that this car has great potential for an out of the box trackable street car. The balance was surprisingly well and very easy to drive at the limit of the 285/35/19 Pirelli street tires. The car has a little bit of push (understeer) dialed in from the factory, as too be expected, but not near as bad as most of the other stock street cars I have driven. The suspension is also something I will praise as, although it felt like a street car, it was very confidence inspiring and predictable at high and low speeds. The car transfered weight really well to the rear tires exiting the corners and the transitions from entry to mid corner to exit were predictable and easy to manage.

The power felt great on the street, but after driving it around the track I would venture to say that this car could easily handle another 50-100 horsepower. The car was so stable at corner exit that I found myself with my foot to the floor wishing for more. The power that it did have though was extremely smooth in delivery and had a very broad useable rpm range.

Now on to the Achilles Heel of most any street car, the brakes. I had high hopes for the Saleen's braking system given its "track capable" advertising campaign. The front brakes on the Parnelli Jones are upgraded to Saleen (actually made by StopTech) 4-piston calipers with 14" slotted and drilled front rotors, while the rear brakes remained stock. I had figured that the stock fluid would be the limiting factor, but surprisingly it was the pads that went first, and shockingly fast. Initial bite and torque curve of the brake pads felt really good and didn't seem to change much with the heat of tracking a 3700 lb. car. Unfortunately, after about an hour's worth of track time, those same brake pads were over their limit. Over heated and near useless on the track, I was done for the day.

Final Impressions
With minimal upgrades, this car could easily be at the top of my list for best trackable street car. Sure, there are other cars that are cheaper and faster around a race track out of the box, but this car is still one of my personal favorites. Aside from the extremely limited production run and collector car value, this thing is the poster child for modern muscle cars. It is great on the street, great on the track, and gets tons of attention. My only advice to owners of these is to change the brake pads and fluid before heading to a track.

Cliff's Notes:

The Good:
- Collectability
- Looks
- Performance on and off track
- The attention it gets

The Bad:
- Uncomfortable seats
- Stock brake pads not up to track use
- The attention it gets