Anyone that is a part of the Mustang II Facebook groups and forums has probably come across Adam Hines' Mustang II coupe at one time or another. This 1977 coupe started it's life as a 4 cylinder, 4 speed car and it's safe to say that it's current incarnation looks nothing like it's former self. The blacked out coupe is aptly named: Vader...
From the manufacturer, the Mustang II Coupes never had the Cobra II treatment (nor the King Cobra treatment), instead focusing on more luxury variants like the Ghia. But I think that everybody looking at this car would agree that it probably should have been given a sporty package. The stripes, emblems and spoilers (front and rear) fit the profile of the car just as good as any Cobra II that I've come across.
The car has been significantly lowered with a full tubular control arm setup, 500lb QA-1 Coilovers, and Caltrac bars. You can also spot some pretty beefy Wilwood 4-piston brakes under the Torque Thrust wheels.
But Adam's car doesn't just look mean, there's a powerful 347 stroker hiding under the hood that will give any modern Mustang a run for it's money. Just a quick glimpse at the MSD ignition and beautiful serpentine conversion shows how much time and attention to detail was spent making this car a standout piece. He's running the full roller 347 with AFR heads and a 600cfm carb. I don't know if Adam has had this car on the Dyno, but it's likely putting out somwhere between 4 to 5 times the power it did from the factory 2.3.
The interior has also received special treatment, with a custom dash with ProComp gauges installed. He's got a full telescoping steering column from Flaming River to introduce some more modern creature comforts.
Stylistically, Adam chose to go for a full trim delete front and rear bumper, front spoiler (with valance), and rear spoiler. Adam had to narrow the rear spoiler to fit the smaller profile of the coupe's trunk lid, compared to the wider hatch lid on the hatchback model. If you look closely, you can see that the whole spoiler has been molded into the body.
If you've seen Vader before, you've probably also seen Adam's more recent build, a blue T-top, with a similar treatment. Though it will probably get it's own writeup at some point, it's cool to see these two cars side by side. And despite being obvious brothers, it's interesting to see how different the Mustang II can look with a simple swap of some body parts. These are definitely a few Mustangs IIs worthy of our respect.
Build Details
- 347 Stroker Roller Motor
- AFR heads
- Quick Fuel 600 CFM carburetor
- MSD Ignition
- TKO-600 5-speed proto-typed by tremec to fit the M II platform
- Hydraulic Clutch
- Aluminum drive shaft
- 2008 Mustang GT 8.8 rear end narrowed 2.5", 3.28 gears
- Flowmaster 3" exhaust
- 4-wheel willwood 4 piston disc brakes
- Caltrac traction system
- Tubular upper/lower control arms
- QA-1 500lb coil overs
- Hand made dash panel
- Torque-Thrust wheels
- Flaming River steering [GM] column
