Copy and Photos by C. Asaravala

Update, July 2004 - In early July we were informed by local police that our car had been recovered and an arrest was made. We immediately headed to the impound lot to assess the damage. What we saw was unbelievable (see side bar.) Someone had gone to the effort to steal arguably the most desirable of 5.0L Mustangs only to turn it into an $800 cobbled together jallopy. To this day we cannot understand the stupidity of this thief. For a while we at least had the lofty but plausible explanation of believing the '93 Cobra had been stolen by someone who knew and appreciated what it was, its' modern muscle car beauty and rarity. We envisioned that perhaps the car had been stolen so it could make it's way via cargo container to some collector abroad - ala Gone in 60 Seconds. In the end we had no such consolation and we're certainly left even more demoralized knowing the car was recovered in the pathetic state which you see here. Many of you will be dissapointed to learn that we choose not to purchase the car back from the insurance company. We had already settled - financially and mentally, and felt this car is now best left a part of FordMuscle history. - Ed.

May 12, 2004 will be a hard day to forget for the FordMuscle staff. Between the hour of 6 and 7pm someone stole our 1993 Cobra project car.

If you've ever had a vehicle stolen then you are likely familiar with the uneasy feeling when your gut realizes before your brain that your car has been taken. It's a combination of shock and acceptance. Eventually your brain responds with denial - perhaps you forgot where you last parked it, or perhaps it was just towed. Eventually the two are in sync and anger is the end result.

Most magazine project cars are owned by someone on the staff. The 1993 Cobra was my car. It still is my car. I used it to commute in daily, and as you read we used it to install and test new products. It was a unique car, number 3722 of under 5000 ever produced by Ford SVT and the teal color was the least produced of the three colors available. Those who knew late model Mustangs gave this car a close look. Those who simply had a taste for good looking cars stopped to give this car a second glance. All of these things of course made the car a target for thieves. I knew this the day we purchased it, 13 hours away in Washington state. As a result I never left the car out at night, usually driving another lesser valued car to the store or gym. The few times I had to park the car overnight at an airport lot I removed the rotor or coil wire, on top of arming the alarm and securing the "Club".

In the end the vehicle was stolen where and when I least expected - from a busy corporate office parking lot at the end of day. They probably had it marked for days if not weeks according to police, monitoring my habits, such as when and for how long I'd leave the car. Someone knew enough to know the car wasn't any old Mustang. These thieves weren't looking for a joy ride and this car is not likely going to get chopped and left on cinder blocks. If this car hasn't been shipped out of the country yet, I suspect it's probably going to have its VIN numbers swapped from a wrecked Cobra, making it appear to be resurrected and restored and untraceable in the DMV's paper trail.

Whomever took the car certainly picked the right car. We had just recently installed a new suspension, preparing to enter the car in local autocross events. The engine modifications were pushing out over 300 horsepower to the wheels. There wasn't a flaw to speak of. It was clearly a car to envy. While we'll replace the '93 Cobra project with something different and just as exciting their will always be an empty space inside me for SVT 3722. However they didn't get everything. The pride and purpose one puts into a project car simply cannot be stolen. They may say they built the car, but they can't believe it. I suspect the low-lifes who stole the car are simply incapable and incompetent of defining a sense of pride and purpose for themselves. They'd rather ride around in someone else's creation, believing our vision was theirs. Posers.