NAJA's the name, cruisin's the game.
Quite possibly the oldest replica in the Gateway Cobra Club's snakepit, NAJA was christened in November, 2000. The result of 13 months of effort and long evenings in the garage of Keith and Debbie Mueller promptly escalated into a show and go venture. The car was entered into numerous cruises and car shows as well as the 2001 St. Louis SCCA Autocross Series (sponsored by Bradford and Galt).
The 1st Place A Prepared win in the Auto_x was secondary to Keith's getting familiar with the strange handling charactertistics of a hybridization of Carrol Shelby's hot rod AC and Ford's 1989 Mustang LX 5.0 orchestrated through the genius engineers at Factory Five Racing. This car is really a Mk I, but they were not calling them by that moniker back then! The first rendition of NAJA actually had catalytic converters installed!
The Show wins and the Auto-X championship pale in comparison to the personal satisfaction the Mueller's found by taking the car to the Double Venom Spring Fling Cystic Fibrosis Foundation fundraisers I, II, III, and IV in the remarkable town of London, Ohio!!
The last visit there, in 2004, led to the demise of the original drivetrain. In 2005, a DSS Racing Pro Bullet 306, Tremec 3550, and 3.55 gears went in to replace the stock block (5800rpm redline) mangled by a top end featuring Trick Flow heads, 1993 Cobra R induction and EEC-IV, E303 camshaft, roller rockers, and other goodies that could push the rotating assemblies beyond their breaking point! At tear down the original engine had all mains spun/burnt, flywheel radial cracking, same on the pressure plate, harmonic balancer delaminated, and T-5 output shaft bent.
The HiPo goodies transferred well to the new engine, with its stud girdle, windage tray, and Boss 302 style screw in freeze plugs enabling an easy excursion to the 6200 rpm range. Also added were SFI clutch, flywheel, and balancer. Backed by the Tremec 3550, it is much more fun!
But, you know? It would've been nice to see what the new combo could do at the strip. Before the meltdown NAJA turned a best mph of 104+ and an ET of 12.88 at MAR. That was with 2.73 rear ratio and crossing the line in 3rd gear! But, alas, MAR is long gone. About all the Mueller's do with NAJA now is cruise. So, we may never know what it can now do at the drag strip.
But, we do know it gets where it needs to go!
Quite possibly the oldest replica in the Gateway Cobra Club's snakepit, NAJA was christened in November, 2000. The result of 13 months of effort and long evenings in the garage of Keith and Debbie Mueller promptly escalated into a show and go venture. The car was entered into numerous cruises and car shows as well as the 2001 St. Louis SCCA Autocross Series (sponsored by Bradford and Galt).
The 1st Place A Prepared win in the Auto_x was secondary to Keith's getting familiar with the strange handling charactertistics of a hybridization of Carrol Shelby's hot rod AC and Ford's 1989 Mustang LX 5.0 orchestrated through the genius engineers at Factory Five Racing. This car is really a Mk I, but they were not calling them by that moniker back then! The first rendition of NAJA actually had catalytic converters installed!
The Show wins and the Auto-X championship pale in comparison to the personal satisfaction the Mueller's found by taking the car to the Double Venom Spring Fling Cystic Fibrosis Foundation fundraisers I, II, III, and IV in the remarkable town of London, Ohio!!
The last visit there, in 2004, led to the demise of the original drivetrain. In 2005, a DSS Racing Pro Bullet 306, Tremec 3550, and 3.55 gears went in to replace the stock block (5800rpm redline) mangled by a top end featuring Trick Flow heads, 1993 Cobra R induction and EEC-IV, E303 camshaft, roller rockers, and other goodies that could push the rotating assemblies beyond their breaking point! At tear down the original engine had all mains spun/burnt, flywheel radial cracking, same on the pressure plate, harmonic balancer delaminated, and T-5 output shaft bent.
The HiPo goodies transferred well to the new engine, with its stud girdle, windage tray, and Boss 302 style screw in freeze plugs enabling an easy excursion to the 6200 rpm range. Also added were SFI clutch, flywheel, and balancer. Backed by the Tremec 3550, it is much more fun!
But, you know? It would've been nice to see what the new combo could do at the strip. Before the meltdown NAJA turned a best mph of 104+ and an ET of 12.88 at MAR. That was with 2.73 rear ratio and crossing the line in 3rd gear! But, alas, MAR is long gone. About all the Mueller's do with NAJA now is cruise. So, we may never know what it can now do at the drag strip.
But, we do know it gets where it needs to go!
. Sadly, I was also there to assist in pulling the original motor that balmy day and assist with the autopsy. So glad it's all working well these days and look forward to cruising with you some more in the future.
Took Steve Whitlow for a ride in unpainted LePew and while hitting a curve to the left, Steve's door popped open while he was leaning on it and was nearly close and personal with the quickly moving asphalt below. He was sold then, lol. Awaiting the next sneaky snaky visit from Naja and his handlers.