Mustangs Across America - Los Angeles is the starting point

April 9th the folks over at Saleen Supercars hosted a pre-drive rally for the participants of the Mustangs Across America.  Mustangs Across America is a drive from Los Angeles to Charlotte NC that will take place over the course of April 10-16.

There are 550 registered participants from around the globe.  Quite an accomplishment for a car never officially sold outside the United States.  Among the countries represented were Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.  One Mustang in the drive across the US is an original Mustang from the UK!

 A few from the Australian Mustang Club

 The tour route and stops on a participants back

 A car from the U.K.

 One of 6 cars from the Slovakia Mustang Club cars

Tour route on the rear quarter of a new 'stang

Of course its appropriate that the kick off for the Rally took place here in So Cal...I mean if stats are correct there are more Mustangs from 1964 to today registered here than anywhere else in the country. Doing it at the Saleen factory in Corona makes sense as that manufacturer does more with the raw Mustang than any tuner could ever hope to achieve.

And while we are on the topic of the Saleen Mustang, they even had tours of their factory that night.  From start to finish there are 8 critical steps in transforming a Mustang into a Saleen Mustang.  first step it taking the raw car, stripping it of suspension and rearend and then putting on the bits and pieces ordered to transform the car.  The last and final step is where they take the car on a test drive to ensure it will perform as a Saleen should.  When it all checks out, Steve Saleen himself signs the car!

Ceiling flags announcing the steps at each station

 Overview of the factory at work

 Car in station 2 

Saleen Mustang in the final station waiting for its signature

I knew that Saleen is a full manufacturer.  I didn't know that they had to crash test and CARB certify their cars.  Even more intriguing is that that have records on every Saleen Mustang ever made and can certify for an owner if the car in the used market is legit or a clone by simply contacting them.

After this evening was over I really wished we still had my wife's old Mustang LX from when we were first married.  I'd love to join all these great old 'stangs in the Mustangs Across America rally.

All pics by me and they get bigger with a click.  If you want to see truly huge images check on the flickr set where I have well over 100 from the night.  FLICKR Mustangs Across America