What If: 2022 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R (Abimelec Design)
What if … Street-Legal, Race-Ready 2022 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R.
The high-performance versions were always regarded as flagship Mustangs at the time, and thus came slotted inside the range above the GTs and Mach 1s of the era. Additionally, there was also a trio of ultimate SVT Mustangs, the Cobra Rs. Race-ready yet street-legal, “somewhat crude yet effective (as a) track car.”
That’s according to Abimelec Arellano, the virtual artist behind the Abimelec Design account on social media, who fondly reminisces of the second Cobra R apparition from back in 2000. The iteration was powered by a “monster” 5.4-liter V8, which had its roots in Blue Oval’s truck engines of the time. As such, it was “a bit of sledgehammer in the track toy segment,” complete with 385 horsepower.
The memory serves a purpose, though. It’s the latest entry for the pixel master’s “What-If” series, and the CGI expert decides to virtually wander around in search of a current application of the philosophy on the modern S550 Mustang.
It’s entirely wishful thinking, of course, since Ford has already devised a track weapon in the guise of the Shelby GT350R. But that model is now gone, so it’s not hard to imagine that some fans might want to see another creation slot above the current Mach 1 and better fill the void up to the modern GT500 flagship.
This digital reinvention of the SVT Cobra R into a 2022 Ford Mustang equivalent comes with its line of thinking: “if the GT350 is a surgical scalpel, the Cobra R was a shovel.” This new one follows the crude guidelines, complete with bare-bones amenities. Those include an EcoBoost interior trim, plastic aero bits, aluminum wheels, and possibly some more.
But the important thing is what powers it. So, we are dealing with an “ancient behemoth” 7.3-liter OHV truck engine, mated to a manual Tremec transmission, as well as a limited-slip differential! Cool, right?
(image credit: Abimelec Design)
