Tag Archives: News

SALEEN DEBUTS NEWLY BADGED MUSTANG LINEUP

April 24, 2012 Betsy Beyer

By: DREW PHILLIPS on April 23, 2012 at 7:49 AM
Original Article: MUSTANGSDAILY.COM

It was only a few weeks ago that Steve Saleen announced he would once again be taking control of the Saleen brand, and already the company is making use of the familiar logo and branding. At the Fabulous Fords at Knott’s Berry Farm event this past weekend Saleen displayed their current 2012 Mustang lineup in their booth with new banners and badges to reflect the recent name change. The SMS name could still be seen on various places on the cars, although we fully expect the company will update their tooling for all future vehicles.

Currently Saleen offers three Mustang variants, starting with the base White Label ($35,540) that features basic modifications, the Yellow Label (45,540) that adds a supercharger system and 19-inch wheels and tires, and finally the Black Label ($48,000 naturally aspirated, $58,000 supercharged)) that gets a full body kit and interior upgrade.

For the future Saleen plans to revise their lineup with four new models based on the 2013 Mustang including the 302 4V, 302 SC, 302 SSC and 302 X.

2012 Saleen Automotive display at Knott's Berry Farm — 2012 Saleen Automotive display at Knott’s Berry Farm

[Source: MustangsDaily.com]

Press Release

STEVE SALEEN IS REUNITED WITH THE SALEEN BRAND

April 2, 2012 Jim Dvorak

Steve Saleen is Back in The Driver Seat of His Legacy and Heritage
Launching Several New Saleen Models

Corona, CA– (April 2, 2012) Famed racecar driver and automotive icon, Steve Saleen, announced today that the Saleen brand has been returned to its rightful place, himself. After several years of litigation, Steve Saleen has successfully regained control of the Saleen brand name and products that he created and built since 1984.

“In 2007, it was a difficult decision to resign from Saleen, Inc.”, said Steve Saleen. “But I knew it had to be done in order to preserve the Saleen brand and to ensure the authenticity and high performance that our customers had come to expect.”

That also marked the year that Steve Saleen unveiled his signature line, SMS Supercars (SMS stands for Steve Mark Saleen). SMS Supercars was the continuation of Steve’s vision for high performance automotive manufacturing. During the few short years that followed its inception, SMS Supercars and Steve Saleen successfully launched three new models, the SMS 570 Challenger, SMS 302 Mustang, and the SMS 620 Camaro. With this, SMS Supercars also launched an entire catalog of aftermarket parts, including the innovative SMS 296 Supercharger system.

Steve Saleen further added, “Although the Saleen brand is a huge part of my identity, I knew it was the vision and passion that would shine through on my signature vehicles. However, it couldn’t have been done without the support of the Saleen community. The foundation and inspiration that they gave me to move forward with my vision was what ultimately moved us to regain the Saleen branding. Most importantly the Saleen community gets their identity back as well.”

The Refacing of Saleen

The return of the Saleen brand will allow Steve Saleen to begin offering all of his current SMS Supercars products under the Saleen flag. With this move, SMS Supercars will be carefully integrated into the Saleen branded family of products.

Steve Saleen will also be launching under the Saleen brand its 4V, SC, SSC, and X Models of the 2013 Mustang, 2012 Challenger, and 2012 Camaro ranging from 425hp to over 750 horsepower. These models will have the latest technology in Aerodynamics, Suspension, Braking, and Performance starting at less than $40,000.

This is expected to provide a full range of products for all Saleen dealers, Speed Shops, Race Teams, and Automotive customers in the American Pony Car segment of the performance market. All aftermarket offerings will include: Saleen Superchargers, SMS Superchargers, Saleen Vehicle Body Component parts, SMS Challenger Body Component parts, SMS Mustang Body Component parts, SMS Camaro Body Component parts, SMS Butterfly hoods, as well as all other interior and engine parts for these vehicles.

With the reuniting of Steve Saleen and the Saleen brand, Mr. Saleen is currently planning to make available all 1984 – Current Saleen vehicle aftermarket, replacement and warranty parts. All parts will be available through the Saleen.com website, by contacting Saleen at 800-888-8945 (formerly SMS Supercars) directly, or through the nearest Saleen authorized dealer.

Moving forward, Mr. Saleen detailed that the Saleen registry will be updated to include all SMS branded vehicles. By including the SMS branded vehicles in the registry they will gain their rightful place in the Saleen family. The Saleen Registry is the official record established to maintain the authenticity and exclusivity of all Saleen signature vehicles.

Additionally, any current owners or dealers of SMS branded vehicles will be provided with replacement badging for their vehicles, if they so desire. They can contact the customer service division of Saleen (formerly SMS Supercars) directly, provide the details on their vehicle, and the replacement Saleen badging will be sent out immediately.

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[Source: Saleen Automotive]

Lifestyle

VIDEO: 1992 PROJECT INDUSTRIES PROMO VIDEO WITH KENNY BROWN

March 22, 2012 David Bruno

From our friends at Kenny Brown Performance.

Published on Mar 21, 2012

[Source: Kenny Brown Performance]

Lifestyle

FOUND: SALEEN/ALLEN RRR PRACTICE MULE

March 4, 2012 Greg Wackett

PHOTOS & TEXT: JEFF CANNON

This Mustang was shipped to the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving back in 1987. From everything that I can tell and have found out it was a school car. Sometime in the early 90’s Bondurant was going to do a driver search series, that I have been told never got off the ground. I also know that Bondurant’s contract with Ford from the start, was that all School cars are to be destroyed, or crushed at the end of their use. This is what got Ford and Bondurant fighting in the late 90’s. He saw that there was a market for semi prepped race cars, so if they were not to torn up he sold them. This upset Ford because VIN numbered chassis can be titled, even if they were not titled when new. Ford did not like the idea of ex race cars being titled for the street, seeing as some of these cars have been wrecked and fixed, it makes them more of a liability. 2001 was the last year that Bondurant got cars from Ford, then they switched over to Chevrolet.

So, back to the fox body cars. In 1994 Bob Bondurant, along with Tim Allen became Saleen’s celebrity drivers. When Bondurant came to Saleen he brought three fox body Mustang GT’s from the defunct race series and school. All three were further race prepped by Saleen, with 351W, and updated to look like Saleens. These three cars were used to teach, or get Allen used to the Mustang platform, they were also used by the other drivers to practice. Saleen also took these cars to different race tracks and used them for testing, so that they were not beating up the new SN-95 chassis. These cars were kept around Saleen from 1994 until 2002 when they were sold through the Saleen Speedlab parts department by Doug Nagy and forgotten.

About four months ago this car came up for sale and of course Allen never raced a fox body, so the owner was just getting waylaid by people thinking that he was nuts. Then at the beginning of January the car came up for sale again, this time on Racing Junk. This was the first time that I called the guy selling and asked the most obvious thing. Do you have any paperwork? Answer nope. So that’s where I started digging and pretty quickly the history of this car started to come together. This was the most modified of the three Mustangs, it is the only one with the SR style wing. The cool part is that I have been in contact with Doug Nagy and he has told me that he has pictures of this car, and the others when they were at Saleen being used. This car came out of Indiana, there was one in Texas a couple of years ago, and the other one was in California a couple years ago as well. I also have gotten a few pics of this car and the Texas car when they were still at Saleen in Irvine CA. This car is not numbered Saleen, it was owned by Saleen, and was just another lost part of Saleens history, until a month ago.

The first four pics are of the car I bought, and the last pic is the car from CA a few years back.

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Enthusiast News

STEVE SALEEN’S #001 SMS-BONDURANT CAMARO UNVEILED: AUCTIONED FOR CHARITY AT B-J SCOTT

January 19, 2012 Jim Dvorak

Steve Saleen’s #001 SMS-Bondurant Camaro Unveiled:
Auctioned for Charity at B-J Scottsdale Tonight

The first SMS 620 Camaro has been completed at Steve Saleen’s SMS Supercars in Corona, California, and it is now getting ready to go across the block at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is a special SMS-Bondurant edition, and the mission for this bright yellow Camaro is a noble one. In a joint effort with Saleen’s former racing teammate Bob Bondurant and the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, it will be auctioned to raise money for Cox Charities and Make-a-Wish Foundation of Arizona.

In a phone interview given to SOEC shortly after the completion of SMS 620 Camaro #001, Steve Saleen proudly stated, “at SMS Supercars, we now design and build performance lifestyle vehicles on all three American Musclecar platforms — the Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang, and Chevrolet Camaro — not too many others can say that!”

This SMS-Bondurant 620 Camaro features a 6.2 Liter V8 engine with over 620hp and 525ft/lb of torque will be auctioned at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale. All proceeds to benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Arizona and Cox Charities, and it will be sold at approximately 8pm Thursday January 19, 2012.

Cox Charities has awarded more than $3.4 million in grants to local non-profits focused on youth, education and technology. Funds are raised through Cox employee contributions, customer donations, and community partnerships with organizations like Barrett-Jackson. Every dollar raised goes directly back into the community.

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/

The Mothers Polish wheel cleaner commercial featuring HRE Wheels, SMS Supercars and Pirelli Tire will be airing during the SPEED Channel broadcast of the auction.

Both the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and SMS Supercars are marketing partners of Mothers. Each Black Label SMS vehicle gets a Mothers Detail Kit. Mothers is the sponsor of SOEC’s Detailing Forum.

Click here to participate in the discussion.

Automotive News

DEALERSHIP OWNER DIVERSIFIES BUSINESS

January 18, 2012 David Bruno

By: MICHAEL HALL on January 18, 2012
Original Article: BRUNSWICK NEWS, THE (GA)

Jan. 18 – Mike Murphy is something like a parent who is asked which is his favorite child. He loves his Kia dealership in Glynn County, but he always wanted a Ford dealership, too.

Now, like a parent with a son and daughter, he has both.

“I have always wanted to be a Ford dealer, I just never thought I would actually be a Ford dealer,” Murphy said while walking across the parking lot of his new store, Mike Murphy Ford at Darien.

He likes trucks — which Kia does not have — and has always been impressed with the cars Ford makes, so when the opportunity developed to buy Lilliston Ford, he jumped at the chance.

“Ford is a great brand. The best. I love the technology and the quality of the cars they make,” Murphy said.

In addition to offering the cars and trucks he has longed to sell, Murphy’s wife Delores, a former commercial real estate agent, saw the property where Lilliston Ford sat as a jewel. She liked its visibility from Interstate 95 at exit 49, the ample space on the lot and the building on it. For her, it was the logical next step for a growing business.

Buying a well-established business also had its perks, Murphy said. A full staff of employees was on hand, with more knowledge of the product than he had.

“At Kia, we have seven models. Ford has 14 models and an almost infinite number of options. These guys already know everything they need to know,” Murphy said.

Expanding the product line further is the high-performance Saleen Mustang his Ford store is certified to sell. Each sales person and mechanic at Mike Murphy Ford is qualified to sell or service the super car, a carryover from the Lilliston Ford days.

Don’t expect to see any new Kia models on the lot in Darien, Murphy said, but pre-owned cars from both brands will be available at both locations.

He hopes that by diversifying his product line and expanding his business to be able to fill a niche for discounted automobiles.

“I plan on being a price leader with Ford, just like I have been with Kia,” Murphy said.

Event Coverage

SPV DISPLAYS COMPETITION MODEL IN HRE BOOTH FOR PRI SHOW

December 6, 2011 Greg Wackett

From our friends at Saleen Performance Vehicles.

A huge thanks goes out to the guys at HRE Performance Wheels for having the SALEEN SPEEDLAB, Performance Autosport, Ford Racing American Iron race car in their booth at the PRI Show last week!! It was great to see everyone that stopped by and said hi! Look for more updates and improvements made to the car in the coming weeks and months before the season opener next year!