2008 Ford Mustang Saleen Dan Gurney H281SC Signature Edition

How much is this thing, anyway? Fifty grand? Fifty-five grand? [Actually, it's $57,000--Ed.] I guess it doesn't much matter: the Mustang fans out there who are forever on the hunt for the newest, latest, greatest, most different Mustang variant will love it, and enough of them will pony up (pardon the pun) whatever it takes to have one of these over-the-top pony cars in their garage to make the exercise worthwhile for Ford to have undertaken. It's kind of refreshing to drive a raw, muscular, high-horsepower car like this, knowing that, if one chooses to prod the rear tires (nineteen-inch Pirelli PZero Corsas) to a lack of adhesion, one has only one's own wits and driving skill to call upon to keep the car from the ditch: no electronic stability control here, thank you very much. This car reminds me a lot of the Roush Mustang that we recently had in the office, in the way the Saleen has been tarted up with racing-inspired body trim and interior accents, plus of course the beefed-up brakes, the firmer chassis tuning, and the supercharged V-8 engine. I preferred the much more precise, shorter-throw aftermarket shifter in the Roush car, though. The fact that people will pay a huge premium for the privilege of driving a car simply because one of these two old guys (Jack Roush is 66; Dan Gurney, 77) has signed off on it is an apt testament to the power of American celebrity, racing division. Joe DeMatio, Executive Editor