It’s not often that we run across a father-and-son combo as passionate about their Mustangs as Troy and Adam Raby. However, they aren’t enthralled with just any Mustangs. These gentlemen are passionate about their Saleen Mustangs — and the culture surrounding them.

A longtime fixture on the Fox Mustang scene, Troy is one of the leaders of the Southeastern Foxbodies club, first started getting his feet wet in the Saleen world with the purchase and build of a 1989 Saleen. From there, it snowballed into a love affair with the Saleen brand and its people, more specifically the Saleen Club Of America, of which Troy is now the Southeast Regional Director.

Troy’s Saleen

While the 1989 Saleen moved on to a friend and fellow club member, Troy’s current Saleen is a unique and special car — a 2000 Saleen S281-SC. That is the year his son Adam was born, so the car automatically held a bit of sentimental value for Troy. It is painted in the one-year-only Sunburst Gold Metallic, a hue that Ford mainly used on V6 cars.

Steve Saleen sometimes picked rare and odd colors for limited-run cars. In the case of Sunburst Gold Metallic, only 13 were built, making this car rare right off the bat. But the low production number didn’t keep Troy from improving the car’s performance with a few modifications. This New Edge already has a nice list of upgrades and many more are planned along the way.

The “SC” in S281-SC stands for supercharged, meaning this car came equipped with a 4.6 liter Two-Valve topped by a Saleen supercharger. The Two-Valve is currently putting out 370 horsepower at the rear tires courtesy of eight pounds of supercharged boost. Performance mods include a Powercurve Motorsports custom tune and a Chicane Motorsports cold air intake.

While it makes for a nice driver, its simply just not enough power for Troy. He plans on swapping the Two-Valve out in favor of a fully built Four-Valve 4.6-liter engine with a 2.8-liter liquid-cooled Kenne Bell supercharger and a Snow Performance water-meth kit. Troy hopes to make somewhere around 800 at the rear tires on 93-octane pump gas.

There are a few supporting modifications already in place on the Saleen in preparation for the new engine combination. A T56 Tremec six speed transmission replaced the stock five-speed and Troy rebuilt and upgraded the rearend with a 3.55 gears. A full Maximum Motorsports suspension keeps the power in planted to the ground in the curves, while Baer brakes rein in that power.

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The interior and exterior of the car are basically as Saleen designed it. Inside, it features the rare Saleen Recaro seats, a highly sought after option in the Saleen world. The exterior remains stock for now except for some window tint and a set of aftermarket black Saleen wheels, 18×9-inch in the front and 19×10-inch in the rear.

A fresh coat on Sunburst Gold Metallic is planned in the future, at which time Troy has the Saleen Extreme hood, wing, and center-exit exhaust ready to go on the car. But for now, the Saleen is headed to Colorado in August for the Saleen Nationals, where Troy will get a chance to drive it up the legendary Pikes Peak. Hopefully, we can get this car in front of our camera again for you once the build is finished!

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Do not let that serious look fool you, there were lots of smiles and enjoyment during the day as we shot this father-son duo!

Adam’s Saleen

With Troy being fully involved and into the Saleen world, its no surprise that when it became time to search for Adam’s first Mustang, a Saleen was at the top of the list. They soon settled on a black, 2005 Saleen S281-SC for Adam’s first Mustang. Like Troy’s car, this one came from Saleen with a factory supercharger atop its Three-Valve 4.6-liter V8. The car was also optioned with the larger 14-inch Saleen brakes the Max Grip rear differential.

Just like dad, Adam could not leave the car stock for long. The first upgrades came to the sound system. Audio Master in Pineville, North Carolina, gave the car a touchscreen head unit with a back up camera, a JL Audio 13-inch speaker in a Stealth Box mounted in the trunk, dual amps, and Memphis Audio speakers inside the car.

A Brenspeed Stage 3 kit which includes a smaller pulley, JLT Performance cold air intake and custom calibration livened up the supercharged Three-Valve to the tune of 460 horsepower at the rear tires. The engine exhales through a Pypes high-flow H-pipe, upgraded over the axle pipes ran to the factory Saleen center-exit muffler system, giving the car a unique, crisp sound that is pleasing to the ears.

Just like Dad, Adam has a list of modifications planned in the future including a built Three-Valve and fresh paint, among other things. Like most of our projects, they are never done. With big goals in the future, the plan now is simple — just to enjoy the cars and enjoy them together.

We could not think of sharing a better father-son hobby.

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A Barton short-throw shifter replaced the stock unit and Adam added a JL Audio subwoofer.

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Just a week removed from our photoshoot with Troy and Adam, every Mustang owner and every father’s worst nightmare happened! Adam was involved in an accident out of his control (not his own fault) in his Saleen. While the car is most likely totalled, Adam is OK. The jury is still out on what is next for this father-son duo, but at some point, another Mustang will surely be in Adam’s future!