The War Admiral – a Turbocharged 1990 Mustang Notchback – was Built for Battle
Standing out in a crowd of fast and furious Fox bodies, let alone an array of multi-branded, top-tier street machines, can be a challenging feat. Tom Schwenzer’s striking 1990 Mustang notchback, dutifully named “War Admiral,” cuts through the crowded field of contemporaries like a razor-edged machete, ready for battle with its magnetic looks and a pumped-up power curve to back it up.
Tom’s path to ownership of this powered-up Pony started in his youth, when he was thoroughly enamored by his dad’s 400c.i.-motivated Pontiac GTO. That Poncho was ground zero for Tom’s infatuation with street machines, an obsession that has stuck through the years, fanned by his late-father’s love of the car hobby. However, it was in Tom’s high school years when a chance run-in with a supercharged ’93 Mustang GT laid the groundwork for his own Fox-body fascination and his first muscle car purchase.
After buying, driving, and selling a few Fox bodies through the years and raising his own family, Tom felt the time was right to build the custom Fox Body he’d desired since he was a teen. He sought out a deal on his neighbor’s 1990 Mustang notchback and after some searching selected Blue Sky Performance and Restoration to support the “War” effort and handle the build. Proprietors Jesse Barratt and Jeff Manzella are serious Fox fans themselves and worked with Tom to devise a pathway to the pro-touring Fox body of his wildest pony dreams.
Key elements of the 1990 Mustang build include a VS Racing turbocharged Windsor small block, punched out to a healthy 363c.i. and producing 800 horsepower. A Holley Terminator X EFI setup feeds this beast the go-juice it needs, a Kooks exhaust expels the fumes, and the ride is put through the paces using a Tremec TKX five-speed transmission. An array of Detroit Speed and QA1 suspension goodies provide a road-hugging ride, aided by 18-inch BC Forged LE52 wheels wrapped in Toyo rubber.
The War Admiral is finished off in a coat of Ford Magnetic Metallic paint that’s both subtle and serious. To top it off, Gillin Auto Interiors worked out a distinctive custom cabin accented with cinnamon-flavored leather buckets and put together with modern accessories like Holley digital gauges, a Momo wheel, and all the details you’d expect in a top-notch build.
The hours of dedication and hard work are easy to see in the War Admiral, and Tom couldn’t have asked for a better outcome to this Mustang’s splendid story. The owner sums it all up this way: “The end result is more than I could have ever dreamed of. When I look at it today it almost seems unreal. And when I sit in it, and drive it, it feels like part of me.”
Words and Photos: Scotty Lachenauer
