The Rocket Speedster concept was unveiled at Pebble Beach
Open-top Speedster concept is based on the sixth-generation Ford Mustang, as Henrik Fisker teams up with the world’s largest Ford dealer
The Fisker-Galpin Rocket Speedster concept car has made its global debut at the Pebble Beach Concours, and is expected to enter production alongside the Rocket Coupé revealed at last year’s LA Motor show.
Like the Rocket Coupé, the Speedster is based on a highly modified version of the latest Ford Mustang, and has been dubbed “the ultimate muscle car” by its creators. For the Speedster concept, the rear seats of the original Rocket concept have been removed.
The Rocket was conceived by former Aston chief designer Henrik Fisker and Beau Boeckmann, boss of LA-based Galpin Motors, the world’s biggest Ford dealer.
Featuring a Fisker designed all-carbon body, the Rocket is reportedly already in low volume production at Galpin Auto Sports, the dealership’s customising arm. It’s understood that three Rocket Coupés have already been made. The Speedster is expected to join the Coupé in limited production.
The car will have a specially built, supercharged version of Ford’s quad-cam V8, with performance “right up there” with the quickest road-going Mustangs of all time. The price is expected to be around £80,000 to £100,000, depending on spec and body style, and the partners would like to make around 100 cars a year.
The project came to life early last year when Fisker, who as design director of Aston Martin between 2001 and 2005 designed the DB9 and V8 Vantage, met Galpin boss Boeckmann at 2014’s Pebble Beach Concours and showed him sketches for the proposed super-Mustang.
Boeckmann, who was part of Ford’s development for the latest production Mustang and rates the iconic Ford as his favourite car of all time, jumped at the chance to “do something really special”.
Both parties decided to do the car the right way – etching it first, then producing Alias models and a full-size clay replica, so as to produce a car whose quality would please £100k car buyers
The Rocket, inspired by famous Mustang originals of the ’60s and ’70s, especially the famous Shelby GT500 of 1968, has its body almost entirely hand-made in carbon fibre with a long bonnet above a set of radical flared arches and special side-skirts, a race-style front splitter and a special hexagonal carbon grille.
Its lines, highly original but unmistakably Mustang, flow back past a pair of brake scoops ahead of the rear wheels to an integrated boot spoiler with an enlarged aero diffuser beneath.
The brakes are 15-inch Brembos, and the wheels are uniquely styled and the much modified. All the car’s independent suspension is fully adjustable to allow owners to “tune” their cars’ handing and ride to taste.
Speaking at the launch of the Rocket late last year, Fisker and Galpin said the car is meant to respect Moray Callum’s standard production Mustang, which they believe is “an amazing job”. Fisker said: “It’s so good, I think the design additions and power upgrades we’re making can help it play in a higher league, even against much more powerful supercars.”
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Source: Autocar Online