BFP 2019 Ford Mustang GT Delivers Budget Performance (Car and Driver)
Ohio's Beechmont Ford Performance advertises 750-hp Mustangs for almost $30K less than a new Shelby GT500. Can a tuned Mustang hang with Ford's factory hot rod?
In 2013, a customer walked into Lebanon Ford, just north of Cincinnati, and asked salesman Charlie Watson about buying a supercharged Mustang. Watson didn't have one and the dealership couldn't build one, and the customer left. The moment ate at Watson. He hated losing that sale, so he spent three years creating a performance program for the dealership to offer what he couldn't that day.
By 2016, Watson had built a following selling small upgrades like cold-air intakes, Roush tunes, and the occasional supercharger. He was inspired to go bigger, though, after watching Smokey and the Bandit: "Hearing that Trans Am fire up and cause trouble was just as amazing as I remembered," he wrote on the dealership's now defunct blog in April 2016. In bed that night, he couldn't shake the charge he got from that Pontiac on the screen. "It hit me that all that car was," he said, "was a chassis and a big engine." It lacked the electronic, aerodynamic, and suspension upgrades that push modern performance cars like today's Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 outside the average enthusiast's budget.
Watson wondered what would happen if he took a base Mustang GT, put a blower on it, pushed it to 700 horsepower, and sold it for something reasonable. He wrote on the blog that "after recalculating several times, pinching myself, and rubbing my eyes," he finally had his answer: a 727-hp Mustang for $39,995. He was so excited, he posted the deal around 1:00 a.m. Customers put down deposits the next day. When the news hit Yahoo's front page a few weeks later, the dealership had to hire a call center to manage all the inquiries. Watson had struck a chord with his high-horsepower, low-dollar Mustangs.
In 2017, he took his program a few miles south to another dealer and created Beechmont Ford Performance (BFP). Today, BFP will sell you a new Mustang GT with a six-speed manual and a Roush Phase 2 supercharger bellowing a claimed 750 horsepower and 670 pound-feet of torque for $44,994. The modifications can be financed with the car and are covered by a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty. And because of Roush's close relationship with Ford, you can have the car serviced at Blue Oval dealers across the country.
BFP only builds cars to order, so it sourced a 2019 Ford Mustang GT with a 10-speed automatic and a 750-hp supercharger package from customer Charles Gerhardt for us to test. At idle, the 61-decibel rumble from the Roush axle-back exhaust sounds like a warning, and the black 20-inch Niche wheels wrapped with staggered Nitto NT555 G2 rubber add to the imposing presence. This BFP-built Stang will happily smoke its rears at 60 mph, yet when shuffling through traffic, it feels like a stock Mustang GT. Barreling down on-ramps gives us an almost roller-coaster-like rush. Kick the throttle at 50 mph and 70 arrives just 2.3 seconds later. Repeat at will, laughing maniacally between stabs until the authorities hunt you down. Which won't take long because, when spurred for all it has, the BFP Mustang positively roars through that Roush exhaust.
(photo credit: Andi Hedrick - Car and Driver)
(credit: Car and Driver)
