Monster Garage - Switchblade Lawnmower - 1990 Ford Mustang
Monday, June 20th 2011
Ah summertime chores. Time to bake in the hot sun while pushing a four wheeled cart with a motor and rotating blade. Inching yourself closer to a cold refreshing drink that awaits. What if it could be done easier? Most people would say getting a riding model would do the trick. "Why push when you can ride?" For some that's just not enough. The folks on Monster Garage took that idea one step further and said why not ride in style? Then through magic of television one of the world's fastest and if not flashest lawnmower was built. The Switchblade!
You may recall this beast from the very first episode of Monster Garage. Chopper builder and host Jessie James assembles a team of fabricators and offers them the challenge of building the world's fastest lawnmower. The goal was to build a car that appears stock and the could mow a field at nearly 100 mph. The team was issued a vehicle and a few select parts. The rest will have to come from a budget of just $3000 dollars. Not to mention they will only have a few days to complete the build.
The base car the team started with was a 1990 Ford Mustang GT convertible. The GT that year came with the infamous 302 ci, 5.0 Liter V8 with an automatic transmission. The car did look like it had seen better days. The gas tank was yanked out, relocated and upgraded with a racing fuel cell. In the factory gas tank location was outfitted with a 48 inch triangular mowing deck built by Delta. In the trunk a 10hp Briggs and Stratton lawnmower powered the giant blades. Three additional cylindrical rotating blades were placed strategically through out the car to help cut the grass while moving at high speeds.
Looks a little dangerous for the driver huh?
With everything packed away the car looked stock. However that doesn't mean it wasn't styling and profiling. A candy lime green metal flake paint job with a flame job and new convertible top really set it off. The crew put some nice looking 20 inch gold Enzo wire wheels. With it all put together they completed their challenge and won the tools. By the way, this wouldn't be the last project to use these wheels. See our article about the Mobile Donut Shop. Another successful Monster Garage episode! That wasn't end of fame for the car. Reports show the car was later featured and sold on Barret-Jackson for a sum of $7300 dollars (a steal!). We did some more research and found the car is now part of the Volo Auto Museum in Volo IL. Don't work too hard and checkout some of the great Monster Garage products below.
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