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Friday delivered the centerpiece of Mustang Week 2025, presented by CELSIUS and Hardee’s — the official car show. Hosted by Southeastern ’Stangs, the show ran from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Myrtle Beach Mall, and it attracted thousands of Mustangs and fans for fabulous Friday festivities.
This event is the highlight of the week for many participants, featuring Mustangs of every generation lined up for judging and display. From pristine stockers to heavily modded builds, the variety of cars on hand delivered something for every enthusiast to enjoy.
CELSIUS and Hardee’s took advantage of their presenting sponsorships to reward Mustang Week 2025 attendees with some free goodies. Hardee’s offered up free hamburgers to those joining its rewards program, while CELSIUS handed out free, ice-cold cans of its energy drink.
Adding to the excitement, the Mustang Week Dyno Challenge presented by AMSOIL, powered by VMP Performance, kept engines roaring and rollers spinning all day long. Registered participants put their cars to the test to see what their combinations could deliver at the rear wheels.
The car show also features a full range of vendors, music, food, and Mustang Week merchandise. It’s not just about the competition — it’s also the largest gathering of the week, bringing together enthusiasts from across the country.
Vinny Giglio brought his 2025 Mustang GTD and 2022 Shelby GT500 Heritage Edition to Mustang Week 2025, and this is just the beginning of the ride for his new supercar, which already had over 800 miles on the clock. “We’re going to livery up the car, and on October 5th, we’ll launch from Caffeine & Octane on a U.S. cross-country tour. The whole intent is to share it with the community, and we’ll do daily blogs,” Giglio said. “We’re going to document the whole journey, and each day we’ll release a vlog of the previous day on every day of the trip. At the end, we are planning to stop and Ford and we’re trying to line up a meeting with Jim Farley and the engineers and stuff like that.”
Tomorrow, Mustang Week 2025 returns to the Myrtle Beach Mall for the Mustang Week All Ford Cruise-In, a free-form gathering for all Blue Oval machines. The Mustang Week Dyno Challenge, presented by AMSOIL and powered by VMP Performance, continues tomorrow as well.
It is only fitting with a beach town as the setting for Mustang Week 2025, presented by CELSIUS and Hardee's, and hosted by Southeastern ’Stangs, wearing surfboards. Heath Gleaton’s low-slung 1989 Mustang GT was one such example. Sporting plaid seat inserts inside and a Vortech-boosted, pushrod 5.0-liter under the hood, it was ready to Hang 10.
Speaking of period correct, Jason Chamberlain’s 2003 Mustang GT gave us those vibes thanks to the Kenne Bell 2.1-liter twin-screw supercharger atop its 11,600-mile Two-Valve 4.6-liter engine. Letting the boosted Modular engine breathe is a set of American Racing Headers long-tube headers feeding a Borla S-type Cat-Back exhaust.
There were some clean classics in the Mustang Week 2025 Official Car Show, as exemplified by Yaniv Sananes’ 1968 Mustang fastback. This mean and clean restomod is motivated by a Coyote 5.0-liter V8 boosted by an Edelbrock supercharger.
RTR Vehicles was on hand at the Official Car Show with a full display of vehicles and merchandise. In the early afternoon, the Funhaver himself, Vaughn Gittin Jr., and team driver Ben Hobson signed autographs and took photos with a long line of fans.
While the S550 and newer crowd gets a lot of attention, let’s not forget that the engine debuted in the Mustang way back in 2011. George Smith, who made the trip from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, has pushed the performance of his Gen 1 Coyote into the stratosphere. The 5.0-liter under the hood of his 2014 Mustang GT inhales boost from an intercooled ProCharger and a whiff of Nitrous Express laughing gas. The result is a stout 810.3 horsepower and 572.3 lb-ft of torque.
Another nicely turned-out restomod in the Official Car Show was Christopher Boykin’s 1965 Mustang coupe. Jim Thompson modded the transmission tunnel, moved back the firewall, installed the Coyote 5.0-liter engine, and more to give this ride some performance street cred. Its ’70s-inspired interior is business in the front and party in the back with what looks like a center console bar that would make the Mad Men jealous.
We told you surfboards were a thing this year, and Kathleen Wooldridge’s 1965 Shelby GT500 droptop kept that mini trend going. One of only 402 convertibles built that year, and one of only 16 with a black top, it is powered by a 428 big-block backed by a C-6 automatic transmission. The Candy Apple Red convertible struck quite a pose on the showfield with a surfboard atop its lightbar and a Shelby flag billowing over its hindquarters.
