“In retirement” aptly describes both Mike
Callahan and his ’99 Crown Victoria, though both Mike and his Crown Vic defy
the characteristics commonly associated with retirement. Instead of a donning a
robe and slippers in the old-folks home, Mike and his car are seeing as much
action in retirement that they did when they were working. For Mike, at least,
retirement is a lot more fun.
Cobra
Vic front
Reading the title, you may be thinking,
“What’s a Cobra Vic?” Good question. The answer is: Maybe the coolest by Roush
Specifically for the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in
Chandler, Arizona. At the time, Ford supplied all the vehicles for the school,
and students drove Roush-prepared Mustangs. The instructors, needing cars that
could carry up to three passengers while demonstrating on-track techniques,
drove Taurus SHOs. But around 1998, the SHOs were getting tired, and Bod
Bondurant want to Ford and Roush to discuss other options. Among the list of
desired criteria were four doors, room for four adults, and a manual
transmission (to demonstrate heel-and-toe down-shifting techniques).
We spoke with Bondurant’s assistant chief
driving instructor, Danny Bullock, who was around at the time, and he says they
used Ford Contours for a short period, but those cars didn’t suit the school’s
needs. That’s when Bondurant began to consider the Crown Victoria. Being
offered only with an automatic transmission was a liability, but being a V8
rear-wheel-drive sedan was a strong positive. The decision was made to build a
run of 18 Crown Victorias, replacing the SOHC 4.6 and 4R70W transmission with
the current-model Mustang Cobra’s DOHC 4.6 and T-45 five-speed manual.
Cobra
Vic side
Roush performed the swap and prepped the
cars for track duty. We have a photocopy of the build sheet, and step number
one reads: “Remove 4.6L 2V engine, assemble to automatic trans, and palletize.”
We wish that had been an option available at the dealer-ship when buying one of
these cars! Among other work Roush performed was installing an F-250 radiator
and a pulley driven clutch fan (for hot Phoenix summers), a Cobra R oil cooler,
modified exhaust down tubes (minus catalytic converters), Eibach springs,
Monroe shocks, Performance Friction brake pads, stainless brake lines, Cobra
wheels and tires, 3.73:1 gears in the Crow Vic’s stock 8.8-inch rear axle, a
Fuel Safe fuel cell in the trunk, a fire suppression system, and a six-point
rollcage.
Fast-forward several years, and now the
Bondurant School has a relationship with General Motors. Most of the Fords were
sold, and several of them ended up on eBay, including this particular car. Mike
Callahan was shopping for a new car at the time. Being a Ford guy, he just
typed Ford into an eBay search, and this was one of the returns. He was getting
close to his own retirement and wanted a car that would allow him to compete in
the variety of events he’d been watching. “I came up with a bucket list of
things I wanted to do,” he says, adding that he’s not a mechanic, so he didn’t
want a car he’d have to build. Bondurant’s Cobra Vic was a perfect fit. “It was
already built as a track car. The ‘cage is certified to 160 mph at Bonneville
and 175 mph at the Ohio Mile, and it had a maintenance log about an inch thick,
so I know it was taken care of at the school. I bought it sight unseen,” he
says.
Cobra
Vic back
Now retired, Mike has driven the car
everywhere, including four of Hot Rod’s Power Tour events (he was a Long Hauler
last year), twice to Speed Week at the Bonneville salt flats. The Optima
Challenge stop at Eagles Canyon Race-way in Decatur, Texas; the Silver Springs
Ford show in Florida; and the Car Craft Summer Nationals in Minnesota, where he
competed in our Real Street Eliminator competition. “It’s not a trailer queen,
but I’m having fun,” says the Cincinnati, Ohio, native. He’s hone as fast as
142 mph at Bonneville and reached 131 at the Ohio Mile, where he’s the D/Gas
Super Stock class record holder. “It’s been reliable, too,” Mike adds. Nothing
has broken, and Mike averages 22 mpg on the highway while crisscrossing the
country. “It’s unreal what I’ve been able to do with this car, considering what
little amount of money I have into it,” he says. That’s the benefit of buying a
pro-built, ex-race car that’s still suitable for street use. You get the best
of all worlds.
Tech notes
Who: Mike
Callahan
What: ’99
Ford Crown Victoria
Where:
Cincinnati, OH. Home of the Bearcats!
Engine: A
stock Mustang Cobra, dual-overhead cam, 4.6L engine was dropped in place of the
single-over-head-cam engine Ford’s Panther Plat-form originally came with.
Roush Performance in Plymouth Township, Michigan, performed the swap and
further modified the engine for improved cooling, adding a larger radiator from
a V10 F-250, an engine-driven clutch fan, an additional electric pusher fan
mounted in from of the radiator/AC condenser, and a larger oil cooler. To make
room, the battery was moved to the trunk, and the coolant reservoir from a ’93
Crown Victoria was installed. The Cobra engines were rated at 320 hp compared
with the Crown Vic’s 230 hp.
Transmission: A full-size Ford hasn’t come from the factory with a manual
transmission since the ‘60s, so the Cobra Vic’s T-45 five-speed is one of the
most intriguing aspects of this car. There’s just something so satisfying about
a stick-shift transmission in a big car. To improve shift feel and durability,
Roush rebuilt each transmission with carbon-fiber synchronizer blocker rings.
They grafted a clutch pedal onto the Crown Vic’s stock brake-pedal assembly and
ran the clutch cable through the firewall, just like a Mustang. A B&M
Ripper shifter for a Mustang pokers up through a Ford Contour center console
modified to fit the transmission tunnel.
Exhaust: The
stock manifolds were left in place. Crown Victoria Police Interceptors came
with dual exhaust, which is a good start. Roush built catalyst-delete mid-popes
and connected them to a custom Borla exhaust system, which included an H-pie.
Rearend: All
the Panther platform cars (Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, Town Car) came with
Ford’s stout 8.8-inch rear axle. Roush just changed the ring-and-pinion from
3.55:1 to 3.73:1 with a Traction Lok differential. Mike recently and 4.10:1
gears installed.
Suspension:
For serious cornering, the stock spring and shocks were way too soft. Roush
scrapped them for Eibach lowering spring with a much higher rate (we’ve heard
as much as 1,200 in/lf for the front springs) and Monroe shock absorbers. The
front and rear sway bars also got tossed in favor of much bigger ones. After
buying the car, Mike further modified it by adding rear control arms from
Carriage House Engineering and an even bigger rear bar. Equipped with Delrin
bushings, the control arms have eliminated wheel hop issues Mike was getting with
the sock arms.
Brakes:
surprisingly, the braking system on these cars was good right from the factory.
Roush just upgraded the brake pads with a set from Performance Friction and
added cooling ducts to the backside of the front rotors. In addition, the rubber
flex hoses were replaced with braided stainless-steel hoses.
Wheels/Tires: The skinny, steel wheels were replaced with a set of 17x9 1995
Cobra R wheels. Roush also installed 3-inch-long wheel studs, front and rear,
because the wheels needed
-inch spacers, rear, to achieve the correct backspacing. Currently,
Mike uses 285/40 ZR-17 Goodyear Eagle F1 tires.
The
skinny, steel wheels were replaced with a set of 17x9 1995 Cobra R wheels
Safety:
Rouch built and installed a six-point roll cage complete with window nets for
all four windows and a Halon fire suppression system with discharge nozzles
located in the passenger compartment and near the fuel cell. The stock gas tank
was removed, and a Fuel Safe 22-gallon fuel cell was installed in the trunk. It
houses a Mustang Cobra fuel pump, which feeds the injectors through braided
fuel lines. A set of Recaro front buckets with five-point safety harnesses keep
Mike both comfy on the freeway and track-legal.
Interior:
The center console from a Ford Contour looks as if it were made for the Crow
Vic, and we love seeing the five-speed shifter instead of an
automatic-transmission gear selector. The stock speedo/idiot-light dash was
replaced with Cobra instruments, which include a tachometer as well as gauges for
water temperature, volts, and oil pressure.
Cool Trivia:
Only 18 cars were built, but they were numbered 1 through 19, skipping the
number 13. Bob Bondurant kept one Cobra Vic, which is on display at the school.
