After graduating from Cal Poly, SLO, I started my career in flight test at Edwards AFB in the desert north of LA. My co-workers were a great bunch and it wasn't long before I was good friends with one who had a 1979 Turbo Cobra - the old suck-thru carburator kind, with the big spider decal on the hood! The car was cool and I drove it on some long trips through the mountains. It had those TRX wheels also. So I was hooked and the next year I bought a new 1984 SVO right off the showroom floor. The dealer had painted a stripe down the side - it was the showroom beauty. The picture shows the SVO, still with dealer plate, meeting up with my brother Bob with his turbo Daytona. That was a special time.
I kept it stock for a couple of years but the 1985 roller cam 5.0 EFI Mustang GT was the hot thing and the SVO was not king - except for the suspension and tire combo. So I found a wrecked 86 GT and took out the whole drive train, with the 8.8 axle and V-8 T5, the EFI also. I used the EFI with a lot of creative wiring but it worked and I even got the smog certificate for the swap. Very proud of that.
I had started going the the Fabulous Fords Forever meet at Knotts Berry Farm, first as a spectator, but I showed the SVO there both before and after the engine swap. I also showed it at the Steve Saleen show down near the old Orange County International Raceway. There I won a third place trophy. In this picture you can see that the 5.0 engine is in there. To my kids the SVO was called "Hot Car" and it had the license plate SVO V8.
By the end of the year 2000 I had worked my ass off on the X-35 program and found that I had a lot of overtime money so I was able to huy a 1969 Boss 302 and I had them both in the garage for quite some time. That was a great feeling! But in 2003 I was rebuilding the Boss engine and had taken the heads and rotating assembly to Valley Head Service in Northridge for their special handywork I picked up the finished parts in the SVO and drove them back to Palmdale. Not two miles from home I was stopped at an intersection. When the light turned green I started into the intersection and got T-boned in the passenger's door by a kid running the stop light! Well, the SVO did almost a complete 360 with me and all those Boss 302 parts, I mean like crankshaft, heads, pistons and rods, all flying around inside the car along with me.
The SVO looked like a bannana. The transmission tunnel was even caved in. I got the insurance write off and also the title (salvage) but I was not going to drive my SVO again. My friend Walter, my body shop guy, convinced me to sell the SVO to him and he would make it right - and he did. He then sold it to the father of a guy I knew who was very glad to have it. We even wound up side by side at a local car show, the SVO and the Boss. So I guess that was a happy ending. And I still have the turbo four and T5 transmission out of my SVO. Someday that engine will live again. Next time, 9GSTEED, my 1969 Boss 302.
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