Cervini's Stalker Ford Mustang

Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords magazine was born out of the fast-paced Mustang movement that called New Jersey-and Englishtown's Raceway Park, in particular-home. Guys like Jim LaRocca, Dwayne "Big Daddy" Gutridge, Nitrous Pete Misinsky, Craig Radovich, and Anthony Briante spearheaded the development of the EFI Mustang, eventually cracking the nines, then the eights. Meanwhile, about two hours south of E-town, in Vineland, New Jersey, a shop called Cervini's Auto Designs (800/488-6057; www.cervinis.com) was developing those hot hoods covering all that horsepower.

From the Stormin' Normin Mach 1-style hood and cowl-induction bonnet came the first Stalker-type Mustang kit in 1993. While the majority of the body kit included Cervini's own '93 Cobra side skirts and rear bumper cover, the front fascia was an all-new design that set the Fox-body apart from the rest. Even today, Fox-body parts remain the second-highest moving items out of the Cervini's catalog.

Looking for a design he could call his own, Danny Cervini came up with one for the brand-new '94 Mustang-he called it the Stalker. This eventually led to a Stalker body kit for the New-Edge '99-up Mustangs, which is what we installed on our '01 Project Ice Box several years ago.

The '05-and-newer S197 Mustang body style posed a couple of questions for the Cervini's design team. On one hand, there was certainly a market for a nostalgic-styled body kit, but as proven with the Saleen and Roush Mustangs, people wanted a modern interpretation of the ponycar as well.

With that in mind, the team decided to create the nostalgic version first. We broke the story on Cervini's C-500 in our Dec. '05 issue. It has been a popular option for S197 owners, and you can find the C-500 body kit at road courses or on show grounds.

The company always planned to update the S197 Mustang with a Stalker body kit, and that process began in 2006, when the design team took cues from the C-500, earlier Stalker models, and vintage Mustangs to create the latest Stalker concept.

According to Cervini's Marketing Director, Jim Frie, the Stalker began as a few different renderings, which were then voted on by the Cervini's design team. Once a common opinion was narrowed down, the concept moved into the mock-up prototype stage. "We mock up proto-type parts to optimize things like installation, look, cost, fit and finish," Frie says. "This could continue several times until we get it just right."

Once the design was "right," an unveiling deadline was set. Cervini's favorite place to do this is at the Fords at Carlisle meet in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. From there, the company puts the parts on a one-month backorder to produce a supply of parts and make any last-minute changes that might need to be addressed.

Cervini's has always been known for its high-quality products, and the latest Stalker Mustang carries on this tradition. "It started with the first hood," Frie says. "Danny's (Cervini) very meticulous and has great attention to detail. Anything less than perfect is not good enough and unacceptable." This pays off in the end for the consumer, as the products require little prep work.