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COBRA TERMINATORCobra Terminator supplied by BlueOvalNew.comAll copyrights to the below photographs are waved provided they are not used for commercial purposes and BlueOvalNews.com is noted as the source.
Preproduction 2002 Cobra "Terminator" Build BeginsPublished: 09 April, 2001 A source at the Dearborn-Mustang Assembly Plant told BlueOvalNews that they recently built an unspecified number of Mustangs dedicated for use on the "Terminator" Cobra program. DAP currently builds the Base, GT, Cobra and Bullitt model Mustangs. Last February BlueOvalNews interviewed a member of Team Mustang who said that SVE was working on offering a SuperCharged Cobra, possibly for the 2002 model year. The code name for the program is "Terminator". A source close to the "Terminator" program told BlueOvalNews that "Ford wants a SuperCharged Mustang on the market. That's already been determined. Now it's just a matter of if we can make that happen for 2002 or not." A source at Roush told BlueOvalNews that they had a dedicated team working 24-7 on developing the "Terminator" Cobra in an effort to make the program into a production vehicle for the 2002 model year. A previous report by BlueOvalNews detailed how Ford is exploring the usage of SuperChargers and smaller displacement engines for production vehicles. While the Cobra would definitely benefit from a factory SuperCharger, it will not fall victim to a smaller displacement engine - at least not for the 2002 model year. Sources familiar with the program have told BlueOvalNews that the 2002 "Terminator" Cobra will not use the 4.6L 4V engine but instead use the 4.6L 2V engine. In another effort to make the 2002 Cobra faster, Ford is also looking at ways to trim the "fat" in an effort to make the Cobra lighter and more efficient. Ford might use the "Terminator" moniker for the production version of the 2002 SuperCharged Cobra, but a Team Mustang source also noted that the "KR" for "King of the Road" name was proposed as well. If everything goes well for the Colletti group, you will see the "Terminator" unveiled at SEMA this November. The last Mustang that was equipped with a factory SuperCharger was when Ford gained control of the Shelby Mustang GT350 in 1968 and moved production to Ionia, Michigan.
The prototype Terminator has functional hood scoops. Note the bra has a flap which can cover the scoops.
Notice the yellow SVT Lightning that never made production.
Terminator: rear.
You can also see the yellow Lightning in the background. It has a Michigan "Manufacturer Plate."
A better representation of the hood's height.
Team Mustang members reveal supercharged Cobra isn't too far awayPublished: February 12, 2001
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 | BlueOvalNews: First off - how is the 2001 Cobra coming along? |
Team Mustang member: We've been plagued by minor little issues that have moved it back a week here, two weeks here but our backs are not against the wall or even near the drop dead date. The validation testing has been proved out to print with both engine and exhaust N.V.H. teams. Our JOB1 date is well ahead of April 1st, but I can't give you the exact date. The first shipments will occur a week or two after production begins with the furthest markets like Canada, etc. being shipped first to help fill the pipeline so that everyone will be getting the Cobra at the same time.
| BlueOvalNews: Why the continued JOB1 delays? |
Team Mustang member: I can't discuss the problems related to the 1999 due to the class action. But the 2001 is not a touch and go program. It's only been a touch and go JOB1 date. What can and has caused JOB1 delays in the past? Vaguely - any problem that we experience with the base model or GT, anything at the plant level that isn't even associated with the Cobra. Even suppliers can cause the Cobra's JOB1 date to change. In general, we can't rush to resolve a problem - 9 women can't make a baby in a month. The Cobra has been frustrating as hell for people on the launch team and for consumers.
| BlueOvalNews: The buzz around Dearborn is that a supercharged Cobra is under development. When can we expect to see a production version? |
Team Mustang member: The supercharged "Terminator" Cobra is a work around the clock project. We're optimistic and committed to launching the vehicle in 2002 as a 2002 model year program.
| BlueOvalNews: Did the program launch primarily as a response to SVE's taking over the Cobra beginning with the 2002 model year? |
Team Mustang member: No. This program has been an in-cycle consideration for several years now. The development work has been contracted out to Roush and Watson engineering - the same people who did the 2000 CobraR for SVE.
| BlueOvalNews: Back in July of 1999 we mentioned that the 4.6L 4V Cobra would be killed off. What's the status today? |
Team Mustang member: The 4.6L 4V Cobra has been a great success for us, but everyone in and outside of Ford realize we need something more competitive. The supercharged '02 is not based on the 4.6L 4V engine though.
| BlueOvalNews: So what are we talking about here? We know the 5.0L is not going to be introduced until 2003? What's the '03's JOB1 date? |
Team Mustang member: The 2003 Mustang will be a very, very late program - we're on track for an October 2003 launch. In all reasonableness JOB1 dates change when we experience some degradation or stumbles in a program. No, we're not using the 4.6L 4V, 5.0L 4V or the 3.9L as a basis for the supercharged Mustang - it's a mystery motor. Let's leave it up to the imagination of Mustang enthusiasts.
| BlueOvalNews: Are we taking about a 5.4L here? |
Team Mustang member: No. We're not planning on a 5.4L Mustang or Cobra, especially a supercharged version. The transmission group is toying with the idea of a 5.4L production Mustang, so a program does exist but it's not something we're actively involved with. That's up to marketing, the engine and transmission divisions to send it downstream to us. The question of a 5.4L Mustang isn't at the discretion of Team Mustang - if it were than you'd have a Cobra KR (King of the Road) on the market.
| BlueOvalNews: Generally, how does Team Mustang view SVE? |
Team Mustang member: Headed by a good Italian boy who likes to get his way. I've never heard anything bad about Coletti. SVE did little things here and there and when they became successful at it they we're thrown more things. And their head count, or personnel increased as they expanded. It really got to the point where Ford's upper management decided that SVE couldn't just keep adding more and more personnel. That's how Team Mustang got the 1999 Cobra program. With the 1999, at the time it made more sense, once the Cobra was established to let the Mustang platform team to continue with it. And it really freed up SVE's people to do other jobs. As SVE had become successful and as upper management had thrown even more projects at them, including the proposed SVT Thunderbird, investigating that kind of stuff required people, time and money. As they have been given more and more things to do they have been able to add head count to the point to where they could make a power play and take the Cobra back. Then Coletti's people yelled that the platform, Team Mustang people were screwing the Cobra up. But it wasn't Team Mustang who screwed the Cobra's engine up. It was the engine people. It wasn't Team Mustang who screwed the Cobra's rear chassis up it was the chassis people. The same thing would have happened even if SVE were on the program - they couldn't have avoided any of it. So really Coletti used it as a power play to get more people and bring the Cobra into his fold.
| BlueOvalNews: The first Cobra we'll see from SVE will be supercharged. That's gotta be a sting. |
Team Mustang member: The supercharged Mustang program was initially started - at least in 1996. So from a Team Mustang standpoint it's nothing really new.
| BlueOvalNews: Why did it take Ford so long to produce a supercharged Mustang? The after-market is hot on this stuff? |
Team Mustang member: An engine program takes a good six years from development to production so we're not off the mark on that. And we often run the program in eight year cycles so it's about right. Could we have introduced a supercharged Mustang sooner? The marketing department at Ford would tell Team Mustang "Well a supercharged Mustang is a nice and novel idea, but we've looked at the market place in general and we don't believe a supercharged Mustang will really make that much of a difference. Based on the investment, you're not really going to sell more Mustangs." So it was a hard sell to marketing.
| BlueOvalNews: From the competitive side through, Camaro is really working over the Mustang. Is this the stop gap? |
Team Mustang member: For many years marketing would always tell us to be just as fast as the Camaro. Just as fast. And that would infuriate a lot of us because we're forced to market the Mustang at a moving target. We know that the Camaro has close to 350 horsepower TODAY. So we've been given the green light to match that in 2003. The only problem is that the Camaro is expected to get bumped to 375 horsepower. So we're chasing a moving target here. Of course that wasn't always the way it was - we really had the upper hand in the 1980's and most of the 1990's. What people don't understand is how far we've come since 1986. 225 horsepower was a lot back then, today it's laughable. But there's more to performance than just horsepower. The Camaro's suspension geometry is better. The gearing is tailored different. 2003 will be a good year for the Mustang (grins and smiles).
| BlueOvalNews: Are we in the beginning of a horsepower race? |
Team Mustang member: GM is because it's all they have. But we can't win that kind of race with what we have. The 4.6L can rev high. We can get the 4.6L to rev even higher, but let's face the fact that the engine's lower end is the holy stop gate. And that holy stop gate says - gee you can get the 4.6L to rev higher and you can certainly get the 4.6L to generate even more horsepower, but at what kind of reliability? What we do not need are failure fatigued 4.6L 4V's running around like ticking bombs. We're really reaching the pinnacle of horsepower and acceptable durability performance levels with the 4.6L. On the other hand, GM's using a 5.7L and they are planning on going to a 6.0L in 2003/2004. The only way the Mustang can compete is to increase the size of the engine. We're doing that in 2003. What enthusiasts shouldn't push manufacturers for is a horsepower race. Because you're eventually going to flash back to 1973 when the walls came crashing down and we ended up with a 90 horsepower 302 in 1974.
| BlueOvalNews: We know that a 5.0L Cobra comes out in 2003. Is the supercharged Cobra a one year deal? |
Team Mustang member: Why can't we offer both? Why can't we offer an engine upgrade? The Mustang has amazing marketing potential that we have not taken advantage of for decades. The Bullitt is really the start of a new direction. If we can incorporate unique models in a cost effective manner and market them at a price that people can afford - then we can take the Mustang to where no other car in its segment can go. The Bullitt was actually conceived by a few people on Team Mustang. They took parts from the 35th anniversary Mustang, the Puma's shifter ball and added some performance flair to create something very exciting. We have great expectations that the Bullitt will yield for the Mustang.
| BlueOvalNews: How much enthusiasm is there on Team Mustang for the 2003 launch? |
Team Mustang member: A lot of people on Team Mustang don't like the 1999-2001 Mustang's exterior design. The program was launched late because no one could agree on a design. Not this time though. We've got people on this team who REALLY know what the Mustang was and what it should be. The 2003 program will be something. It's going to encompass everything that's Mustang. It's a very exciting program.
| BlueOvalNews: Do you feel the 2003 Charger or 2003 Camaro could dampen the Mustang's sales future? |
Team Mustang member: No. We've got something no one else does - those 7 letters - MUSTANG. We've been the segment leader since 1965 and we'd really have to screw up big to lose that edge. The Mustang has a cult following that no other car in its segment does.
| BlueOvalNews: Is it possible for a 4.6L 4V GT? |
Team Mustang member: The 4.6L 4V is developed, proven and accepted. In all reasonableness it's possible for a 4.6L 4V GT model. But nothing is on paper, there is no actual approved program for that to happen. The Mustang's variability across vehicles needs to be maintained so that there is a measure of model design differentiation. At the same time we want a correlation between the models so that we have versions for the traditional enthusiast as well as for today's performance minded consumers. A good example would be the revival of the Mach1 name coupled to the 4.6L 4V engine. There's a lot of brand awareness associated with the Mach1 today and we know the potential is there for such a product.
| BlueOvalNews: A new Mach-1 would be too sweet. But wouldn't that compete with the Cobra? |
Team Mustang member: Ford has several programs on the burner that would allow product teams to offer products that are a step down from SVE's, but above let's say the GT. What some of us on Team Mustang would like to see is a 320+ horsepower 4.6L 4V Mustang with a solid rear axle. And why not call it a Mach-1?
| BlueOvalNews: What's the support for the program? |
Team Mustang member: The biggest problem isn't with O'Connor (Ford division President) but with some of the people in marketing like Brian Miller who are below him. Jac Nasser has told us to put our consumer mind set on. Jac wants to empower Ford employees to think like a consumer. We want Ford to be the premier automotive products company, not just the premier truck company. But you run into people at marketing who discount new ideas out of hand. We have marketing people who don't want to entertain new and feasible ideas even when Ford management are pushing the product development teams who have their fingers on the pulse to come up with new and exciting additions. A good example would be someone in marketing who transfers from the Econoline van program to the Mustang program who has no idea what the hell a Mustang is even about, but yet will not even consider proposals from the people on the Mustang Team who live, eat and breath Mustang. From a marketing proposal it's always easier for someone in marketing to simply kill a proposal than to deal with the legwork associated to it. Saying no is always cleaner and easier.
| BlueOvalNews: Was the 1999 IRS Cobra a mistake? |
Team Mustang member: Robert, this was something we kicked around for a long, long time. Many heated debates. Tom Scarpello thought the IRS would be more exclusive. And that's really how SVE wants to market these cars. People that drove an IRS Cobra during the development knew it was better. You can prove that on the track - but which track? A handling course or a drag strip? What we wanted to do was make the IRS optional. We even proposed a reminiscent "drag pack" option for the Cobra that would come equipped with a solid rear axle and gearing tailored for the 1/4 mile track. Scarpello wouldn't hear of it though. The other heated debate we had was over a Cobra with an automatic transmission. We have a large following of older Mustang enthusiasts from the 60's and 70's who want an automatic transmission in the Cobra. Of course we have those who oppose the very idea of a Cobra with an automatic transmission as being antiestablishment. What Scarpello doesn't seem to understand is that the Mustang isn't a BMW. Never will be. And I don't think Mustang fans want it to be either. You can try to do this or do that to a Mustang, but the end result is that you still have a Mustang, not a BMW. And that's what makes the Mustang so damn unique - the attributes - close to 40 years later and our competitors, the few that are left, are still trying to catch up.
| BlueOvalNews: The Mustang will leave its birth place here in Dearborn and move to Flat Rock. Is this a good thing for the Mustang? |
Team Mustang member: You bet. The Mustang can achieve a better build quality at Flat Rock. We have a higher level of quality expectations. I think the pre-builds begin in mid July. The Mustang has been the criticism of build quality for years so Flat Rock is a welcome breath of fresh air for us.
(I thank the members of Team Mustang that provided their time and insight to give all Mustang enthusiasts a glimpse of what goes on behind the Mustang brand.)
A silver Terminator. Note the flap is also pulled back exposing the hood scoops.
Terminator: The rear spoiler appears to be pedestal mounted.
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