1995 Mustang – Rival Son

Joey Keown’s ‘Stang has come a long way from its v-6 beginnings

Rarely do any of us have a pristine ’85 GT, ’93 Cobra, Terminator, or Boss 302 as a first car. Most of the time we’re like a baseball player at the World Series – just happy to be there. With our first set of wheels, we’re stoked to simply have a car so we can get out of the house, and out from under our parents for a little while. After that BMX bike we rode as a kid, a car is our true taste of freedom, and as long as it starts and runs, the majority of us didn’t need much more than that.

For Joey Keown, he didn’t have to wait too long after pedaling around the neighborhood before he had his first Mustang, this ’95. His parents bought the then-wrecked car when Joey was just 12. Since his dad, Jim (“Bonded by Boost,” June ’10, p.90), was always in the garage working on his own Mustang, that’s where Joey was as well. Since Dad’s car was nice enough to get it on these pages, Joey wanted to follow suit with his Mustang. “I wanted to make my car just like his – clean and fast,” Joey tells us.

Unfortunately, at the age of 12, money isn’t exactly falling out of the sky, as if it ever does. But at 12, most of us are only worried about which sport we’re going to play, or our next pair of shoes. Little Joey, though, wasn’t interested in his next toy or normal kid stuff, he wanted pasts for his Mustang. Over the years, he was able to acquire a Cobra front bumper cover, FR500 wheels, a Saleen S281 rear spoiler, Summit Racing seats, and a Kaenen cowl hood.

Once all the exterior parts were in place, Joey had Jeremy “Golden Fingers” Dewitt mix and apply the paint scheme you see here. It features black with blue pearl over Lamborghini Candy Apple Blue, and the FR500 wheels are painted to match, of course.

With the paint sprayed, Joey had to work on getting that puny little V-6 out from under the hood. Joey and his parents made a deal that if he made it through high school with good grades – and without getting in trouble – a 5.0-liter would make its way under the hood. (That’s the kind of deal your author needed back in the day, but that’s another story.) Joey was able to keep up his end of the deal, so for his senior year, he got his V-8. Instead of going to Florida or Myrtle Beach like all his friends, Joey spent Spring Break wrenching. “After the long hours in the garage with my dad, I finally had a V-8 in my car,” Joey says.\

Just having more power under the hood made Joey’s year, until his dad drug him down the track with his car.”Then I knew it was time for something new to raise the horsepower,” Joey explained. “That’s where the turbo came into play”. Using that winter as build time, the car received an On 3 Performance single turbo, Ford Racing 42-lb/hr injectors, a Walbro fuel pump, and an SCT Big Air BA3000 mass air meter. Speedy Dyno in Owensboro, Kentucky, tuned the car to get Joey up and running right.

Just because Joey’s young, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t show his gratitude toward those that helped make the car possible. Of course, Speedy Dyno’s Greg Mayton gets a big nod for enabling the car to run smooth and safely. Jeremy Dewitt and Barry Wood get a mention as well.

And, of course, Joey extends a big thanks to Mom and Dad, “Mom for putting up with me, and Dad for helping me every step of the way,” Joey says. “I couldn’t have done it without any of them.”