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Filed under: Aftermarket, Coupe, Performance
There are many names you could associate with
Mustang tuning, but few are as iconic as Steve
Saleen. The American tuner extraordinaire made a name for himself tweaking the
Ford muscle coupe under the Saleen brand until he left his own company to start
SMS Supercars. But now that the two have been
reunited, word has it that Saleen is moving ahead with plans to produce a new mid-engine exotic to follow in the footsteps of the famed
S7.
Saleen, as you may recall, branched out of tuning pony cars with the S7 in 2000. The car packed a 7.0-liter V8 that was later twin-turbocharged up to 750 horsepower to make it good for a 0-60 run in under three seconds and a top speed of nearly 250 mph. The car endures as an American performance icon, but while an
S5S Raptor concept (pictured above) was showcased four years ago at the
New York Auto Show, the schism between the two Saleen companies kept it from ever seeing the light of day.
With that ugliness now behind us, however,
Autoweek reports that Steve Saleen is intent on picking up where the S7 and S5S left off. Getting to that point is expected to take Saleen a while, but in the meantime, he's working at integrating the two operations. The SMS facility in California will continue building the cars - White Label for mild upgrades, Yellow Label for supercharged models and Black Label for the works - while his Saleen facility in Michigan will distribute the parts. Look for a tuned
Chevrolet Camaro to come rumbling around the corner in the near future.
Saleen still keen to resurrect S5S supercar originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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April 9th, 2012
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Steve Saleen
Filed under: Aftermarket, Coupe, Performance, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Celebrities
Steve Saleen is back to feeling himself again. That's because he's once again at the helm of the the marque that bears his name. As you may recall, the racer and performance part guru
walked away from the
Saleen brand empire he nurtured for 23 years back in 2007. The Saleen brand was then sold to MJ Acquisitions, along with the right to produce S Line and Racecraft
Ford Mustang models. Saleen himself, meanwhile, went on to create
SMS Supercars, which produced notable creations like the
SMS 570 Dodge Challenger,
302 Ford Mustang and
620 Chevrolet Camaro.
But when MJ Acquisitions and Saleen, Inc. refused to honor warranties for vehicles purchased before the company took control of the Saleen brand, SMS Supercars stepped in to
take on that burden, even without any legal obligation to do so. Steve Saleen and SMS Supercars then sued MJ Acquisitions to get the company to stop using the Saleen name in order to protect the brand's reputatoin.
Today's announcement means Saleen was successful in his quest. Moving forward, all of the products sold under SMS Supercars will be available under the Saleen banner.
Hit the jump for the full press release.
Continue reading Steve Saleen reacquires Saleen name and brand
Steve Saleen reacquires Saleen name and brand originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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April 2nd, 2012
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Steve Saleen
Nope, it's not an April Fool's Day joke. Steve Saleen announced today that he's regained control of the Saleen brand, five years after "
retiring" (a move seen by many as more like "pushed out") from the eponymous company he founded and which filed for bankruptcy protection just a few years later.
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April 2nd, 2012
Filed under: Aftermarket, Coupe, Performance, Auctions, Chevrolet, Misc. Auto Shows, Specialty
When
Steve Saleen launched his new company,
SMS Supercars, back in 2008, he announced that he would be expanding his portfolio of vehicles to include the muscle car offerings from
Chevrolet and
Dodge. First up was the
570 and 570X Challenger, followed soon after by the
302 Mustang.
Now, Steve Saleen's muscle car trifecta is finally complete, as SMS officially unveiled the 620 Camaro at
Barrett-Jackson this week. The car maintains the styling cues featured on both the Challenger and Mustang with an aggressive front splitter, side skirts, rear diffuser, butterfly hood and chrome 20-inch wheels. Inside is a custom leather interior, and under the hood, the 6.2-liter V8 has been supercharged to 620 horsepower and 570 pound-feet torque.
In addition to unveiling the car at Barrett-Jackson this week, SMS actually auctioned off the first production example last night. This particular car was also a special "Bondurant Edition" in honor of Steve Saleen's former racing teammate, Bob Bondurant, and the two decided to donate the proceeds from the sale to two charities:
Cox Charities and the
Make A Wish Foundation of Arizona.
So, how did the car do? Bidding for the SMS 620 Camaro eventually reached the $100,000 mark, meaning the two charities will be getting a significant donation and the lucky new owner just got a nice tax write-off. Did we mention a Bondurant three-day performance driving school is included with the car?
You can see photos of the 2012 SMS 620 Camaro in the gallery above, and check out a video of the car being auctioned off at Barrett-Jackson in the video
after the jump.
Continue reading SMS Supercars unveils 620 Camaro, auctions first example for charity at Barrett-Jackson
SMS Supercars unveils 620 Camaro, auctions first example for charity at Barrett-Jackson originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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January 20th, 2012
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Steve Saleen
The era of tuner Mustangs that began when racer Steve Saleen set up shop in the 1980s ended today, when the owner of Saleen Performance Vehicles announced it will end production of vehicles to focus on aftermarket parts. Carpocalypse: Tuner.
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March 8th, 2011
Filed under: Classics, Auctions
A sample from Gooding's 2011 Scottsdale Auction - Click above for high-res image gallery
We're coming up on big time auction season again, and Gooding & Co have a few highlighted entries for its 2011 Scottsdale auctions, including two cars being offered for public consumption for the first time. Those would be the 1953 Fiat 8V Supersonic (pictured), and a 1948 Tucker with chassis #1010. The Fiat was a Ghia creation, the first of 12 Supersonics produced and kept in the collection of a single owner for the last 55 years. The Tucker has spent 50 years in a barn, which explains why it has but 10,000 miles on the odo.
Three other notables from the gaggle of metal crossing the stage will include a 1930 Duesenberg Model J Dual Cowl Phaeton with coachwork by LeBaron - this done before the LeBaron name became irrevocably associated with a very different kind of car - a 1933 Stutz DV-32 Dual Cowl Phaeton, and bringing up the 21st century, a 2005 Saleen S7 from
Iron Man.
As far as price goes, the Saleen looks to be the least expensive of the collection with a pre-auction estimate of $300,000. So unless you're on the angelic list, you might want to put your call into Santa now if you wish to have any hope of carting something home.
[Source: Gooding & Co]
Continue reading Gooding & Co's 2011 Scottsdale Auction has something old, new and blue
Gooding & Co's 2011 Scottsdale Auction has something old, new and blue originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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November 11th, 2010
