Hot Rod magazine’s Gray Baskerville visited Roush’s boutique generally to see what was up, photographing the Ruggirello-Roush Mustang II as it came to activity and assuredly active the affection in the April 1977 affair of the magazine, allotment the car Sudden Death because that’s the appulse it had on any car that faced off adjoin it.
The car bound became the a lot of acclaimed Mustang II of the day and has remained that way anytime since, including getting called in 2009 to Hot Rod’ s account of Top 100 Hot Rods That Changed the World. It had aswell been featured assorted times in Super Stock & Drag Illustrated and Car & Driver magazines, abacus to its fame.Ruggirello was appear to accept spent $12,000 to accept G&R physique the car—huge money in 1975—and accurate to the physique he street-raced it about Detroit afore sending the car aback to G&R a year after for added ability and bargain weight. In 1980 or 1981, he beatific it aback afresh for the accession of accompanying turbochargers, afresh authoritative it a attenuate bird for the time. Afresh the car affectionate of fell off the alarm and out of sight, admitting it remained absolutely in the minds of abounding hot rodders about the world, including the author.
One of those who remembered the car and Baskerville’s commodity affectionately was Tom Tate, who aboriginal saw Sudden Death in being in 1995 during a Fun Ford Weekend appearance at Gainesville Raceway. It was afresh white with dejected stripes and had the accompanying turbos on the big-block, searching annihilation like the 1977 adaptation of Sudden Death, but Tate accomplished that it was the aforementioned car.
He says, “The affair that gave it abroad was the alveolate cowl. Gapp & Roush confused the engine aback 10 inches and congenital an absolute new firewall and torque boxes.”
He larboard to see the blow of the appearance and by the time he came aback the car was gone, bidding a 15-year online seek to acquisition out who endemic it.
Tate says, “After about 15 years, in January 2010 I begin a brace of guys talking on a Ford appointment about accepting apparent it on eBay for sale. The bargain advertisement had already bankrupt with the assets not accepting been met, but eBay had not yet bankrupt the listing, so I was able to acquaintance the buyer to see if the car was still for sale. The car had been sitting in a accumulator lot in New Jersey for about 10 years. Turns out it was still for sale, with a brace of others aswell aggravating to buy it. We accomplished an acceding on a bargain and he delivered the car to me the afterward week.”
After sitting alfresco in Jersey for a decade, the car was in appealing bad appearance if Tate got it. It array of ran, but not well, and bare a lot of work. Tate says, “I spent the aboriginal six months accomplishing research, accomplishing plan bare to get the car safe to drive, and cerebration about how to go about the restoration.
Even admitting the turbo plan was done by Roush, I bogus the accommodation to abolish them to yield the car aback to its aboriginal agreement in that April 1977 affair of Hot Rod. This is how anybody remembers the car, so that was the ambition for the restoration.”
He removed the turbos, had new headers built, and anchored some added baby things to accomplish the car drivable again, and afresh began to plan on the base and researching the details, including the rear suspension. Originally, Roush had tubbed the car to fit fat tires and confused the blade springs inboard for room, but about forth the band the car got ladder confined and coilovers. Photos dug out of the Hot Rod /TEN athenaeum and a few conversations with Wayne Gapp (through his son Jeff Gapp) helped Tate yield the rear abeyance aback to 1977 specs.
The physique appropriate absolutely a bit of work, abnormally the cowl, quarter-panels, and engine compartment. Tate says, “The cowl had been cut to bright a ample air beanie for the turbos. I sourced addition cowl breadth that provided adjustment pieces for the damaged area.
Portions of the close aprons had been cut abroad for turbo downpipes and bankrupt manifolds, so all of that had to be bogus and repaired. The rear attic breadth had been formed in to bright the ladder confined until the metal ripped open, so I sourced a rear attic breadth that provided adjustment pieces for those areas.”
The rear bear was decayed and bare to be replaced, but Tate transferred the aboriginal bottle to the new part. He aswell had a lot of plan to do on the opened-up caster wells. Once the physique was all done, he sprayed it the aboriginal 1975 Mustang argent and the repaired G&R fiberglass bumpers were corrective in a gray carefully assuming the aboriginal gel-coat accomplishment if originally installed.
The engine retains the acidity of 1977 and some of the aboriginal parts, but has been adapted to added avant-garde internals in some cases. Tate installed a added avant-garde Comp Cams solid roller cam and had Powered by Ford in Orlando, Florida, anchorage the Dejected Thunder heads—otherwise it is the aforementioned as it was in 1977. “I anticipate Joe, Wayne, and Jack would approve!” says Tate.
He goes on to say, “The added I got into this car the added I accomplished what was done in the aboriginal build. Just the engine installation, anatomy setback, firewall fabrication, new auto tunnel, aback halving of the anatomy . . . Lots of plan in 1975 for a artery car!
Tate is the fifth buyer of the car aback it was aboriginal built. He has a archetype of the aboriginal Ford Motor Credit appellation in Joe Ruggirello’s Mother’s name (Josephine Ruggirello, just as Baskerville’s “Sudden Death” commodity stated), and the added owners were Russell Hobson, William Thayer, Peter Magner, and afresh Tate. But even admitting he says the car has been the toughest apology he has done to date, with all the studying, research, digging, and activity Tate doesn’t feel like he owns Sudden Death. He says, “I’m blessed to be its babysitter until he next buyer is found.”
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