Past Blast

Revology Cars adds a modern 5.0-liter option to its neoclassic Mustang

By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of Ford Performance and Revology Cars

If you are a longtime follower of the Ford’s Special Vehicle Team, you will no doubt remember the name Tom Scarpello. He was once the head of Ford SVT, so he knows a thing or two about building hot Mustangs. These days Tom is running the new company he founded, Revology Cars based in Winter Park, Florida. The company builds re-creations of classic Mustangs with modern powertrains, suspensions, and conveniences.

“I love classic cars, but I don’t love the way they drive. A lot of people agree with me, judging by the exploding interest in ‘restomods’ (classic cars updated with modern components to improve performance and driveability),” Tom said when the cars were announced. “Today, however, consumer expectations have advanced and people are finding that carefully and professionally modified classic cars are an exciting alternative,” he says. “If the car is built right, the market potential for this type of vehicle is very significant.”

You can hear more about Revology Cars from Tom in these videos…

Until now, the venerable pushrod 5.0-liter stood alone as the powerplant of choice for the Revology rides. These engines are a potent, reliable, and an easy fit in a classic Mustang engine compartment. We had the pleasure of visiting Revology while the cars were in their prototype stages and we drove the push-rod powered versions with manual and automatic transmissions. They were fun cars that delivered that kind of trouble-free flashback that you want in an all-new classic Mustang.

During our visit, however, we couldn’t help but inquire about the possibility of adding a Coyote engine to the option sheet. At that time, it seemed the pushrod engine would be the solution for the foreseeable future, but it seems that Revology customers shared our TiVCT lust, as the company has just announced the addition of a Coyote engine option for its vehicles.

“The power-to-weight ratio of the Coyote-powered Revology Mustang will be better than a new Porsche 911, and approaching that of a new Corvette,” Tom explained. “The performance is really quite impressive, with this state-of-the-art engine in a classic Mustang body.”

To make the most of the new engine option the vehicles receive a host of supporting upgrades to maximize that Coyote performance. Besides the obviously larger 17-inch wheels on the Coyote-optioned cars, those additions are larger brakes, larger exhaust, a more robust driveline, and a stiffened chassis.

“You can’t just add power, and keep everything else the same. You have to methodically go through every sub-system of the car to be sure it is optimized for the revised power output,” Nathan Loucks, Revology vehicle integration supervisor, said. “We had to fit a much larger wheel and tire package with the Coyote, because without it, the car would be severely traction-limited. Also, the larger wheels allow for bigger brakes, which are a must with this kind of performance.”

Of course, fitting the wider Coyote engine into a vintage-style engine compartment is no easy task. It means re-engineering the front suspension, but the Revology team did not want to compromise performance for packaging.

“It is a bit of a challenge,” Dan Maas, Revology’s technical director, said. “It is easy to free up space by moving to a compromised front suspension design, but we didn’t go that route. We’ve managed to not only package the engine, but we’ve positioned it for optimal front/rear weight distribution and kept the superior suspension geometry that delivers the ride and handling of a modern car.”

The front suspension in question is a MacPherson strut arrangement, which is backed by a three-link rear suspension. These cars also offer power rack and pinion steering and all the other creature comforts, like intermittent wipers, keyless entry, power windows, power seats, tilt steering columns, and more.

The starting price for a Revology Mustang replica is $119,500 with the push-rod engine, and the company plans to announce the tariff for the Coyote option later in the year.

Comments

comments