03-03-2025
Car of the Week: This Mustang Restomod Has One of Mario Andretti's Race Engines. Now It's up for Grabs.
There's a little bit of Mario Andretti in this one-of-a-kind Mustang. Back in 1969, the team at North Carolina–based Holman Moody developed 10 massively powerful 494 cubic-inch, big-block Ford V-8 motors for Andretti's McLaren M6B Can-Am-series racer.
Fast forward to 2010, when California hot-rod enthusiast Tom Fry commissioned famed Los Angeles–based custom-car builder Bodie Stroud to create a uniquely reimagined 1969 Ford Mustang Fastback. One caveat was that he'd like to incorporate a special V-8 sitting in his garage. It was one of the 10 Holman Moody motors.
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Stroud's creation, which was dubbed 'the Real Thing' and revealed at the 2010 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, went on to became one of the most-celebrated custom Mustangs ever. In addition to appearing on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine, it featured on the TV show Jay Leno's Garage, and was the subject of a documentary film by director Julian King, called, not surprisingly, The Real Thing.
Now, the renowned 1969 Ford Mustang Fastback, with its equally famous engine, will be offered at the upcoming Mecum Auctions sale in Glendale, Calif., on March 22. While there's no official estimate, word is that, because of that iconic engine, the vehicle might fetch as much as $1 million.
'I remember being at SEMA in 2010 and seeing my dad's face as the car was unveiled, and watching as Mario Andretti himself signed the valve cover of the engine. It was a special day,' Tom Fry Jr., the car's current owner, tells Robb Report.
'Why am I selling? My dad passed away a couple of years ago and the car has become so precious to us that it's just not driven. And that's a waste,' says Fry. 'The car is such an amazing piece of artistry and craftsmanship that it needs to be exercised and shown.'
Fry explains that it was the engine's Can-Am connection that got his father's attention back in the mid-nineties. Drivers who competed in the beloved Can-Am series from 1966 to 1974, and again from 1977 to 1987, included such racing heroes as Phil Hill, Mark Donohue, Bruce McLaren, AJ Foyt, Jackie Stewart, Dan Gurney, and Mario Andretti. They drove insanely fast race cars powered by engines delivering up to 1,500 hp.
'My father somehow persuaded Holman Moody to sell him one of the last remaining 494s built for Mario's McLaren Can-Am car,' says Fry. 'It sat forever in a corner of his race shop before he asked Bodie to build a car around it.' According to Fry, only two of the 10 V-8s still exist, with his father's engine being serial No. 002, which is stamped on its cylinder block.
As for the car's design, it seems Tom Fry Sr. was a fan of the iconic 1969 Ford Mustang Fastback, so had that model variant be the starting point. Yet he also admired the so-called 'funny car' dragsters, especially the 1969 Blue Max Mustang, so elements of that machine had to be included in the styling as well.
'I found a '69 Mustang body up in Oregon to experiment on, and just started chopping it up,' explains Stroud. 'Tom wanted a lower roofline, so we made a whole new roof from a jigsaw puzzle of metal. We made it around two-and-a-half inches lower than stock, with a more angled windshield. The entire body was widened too.'
During the design process, Stroud quickly concluded that the stock Mustang chassis was not going to be able to contain the 777 hp produced by the Holman Moody V-8. His solution was to design and build a completely new I-beam-stiff, ladder-frame chassis. The car also features four-wheel air suspension, a four-link rear end, Brembo brakes, and Rushforth polished-aluminum rims. The rears are 15 inches wide.
During construction of the body, the Holman Moody V-8 was shipped off to Los Angeles–based tuner QMP Racing Engines for a full rebuild. The work included fitting such go-fast components as a Crower billet crankshaft, Manley titanium valves, an LSM custom camshaft, Kaase Boss cylinder heads, and a McLeod clutch and flywheel for the Tremec T56 Magnum six-speed manual transmission.
Inside, the car was given a completely new interior loosely based on the design of the latest-at-the-time 2011 Mustang. It came with ubiquitous black leather, modern Mustang gauges, an aftermarket steering wheel, and a cue-ball-style shifter knob.
How does it drive? Take a look at Julian King's The Real Thing video to see Stroud hammering the car along the canyon roads around Los Angeles, accompanied by that throaty, big-bore exhaust soundtrack. As for Fry, his experience with piloting the car has been admittedly limited. 'I've driven it only a few times—the car has less than 250 miles on the clock. But it sounds amazing, and experiencing that 777 hp, you can't help but grin,' he says. 'There were definitely ghosts of Mario in his Can-Am McLaren swirling around my head. This really is the Real Thing.'Best of Robb Report
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