Roush 2001 Saleen SR??

wsbrigham · Jun 19, 2006

Can anyone give me the history behind this Saleen??

Jim D. · Jun 23, 2006

The SR.... there were only 8 SRs made between 1999 and 2001.

They wasn't much Mustang under the body panels, and really only shared the roofline and glass. Though it wasn't the first "WideBody" Saleen, it shared the nickname.

Though conflicting reading indicates there were possibly some built for the street, I think it was just a technicality for FIA homologation to compete at Le Mans in GT class... if I get my race-speak and history straight.

They raced elsewhere, of course, and were a used during the later years of the Saleen/Allen RRR Speedlab team, as shown in the picture here:

http://www.saleenclub.net/wallpapers.php

The Saleen Book by Brad Bowling talks a little about them, and indicates this particular car you pictured did not run.

Price tag was about $158K, and that gave you a 351 CI V8 in what is an all-out race car. Supposedly 0-60 was about 4 seconds.

Hope this helps.

wsbrigham · Jun 23, 2006

Thanks for the info.! I was beginning to think the car wasn't real......

s351rspeedster · Jun 23, 2006

wsbrigham said:
Can anyone give me the history behind this Saleen??

.....Jim hit the nail right on the head. To my knowlege, that white car was the only "street" version SR that was produced by Saleen for the 99-04 bodystyle. Just like the 97 Widebody SR that sat in the showroom for years, neither one ran under there own power (no drivetrain). The rest of the car was there: suspension, brakes, electronics, etc.....

....here's the picture of my future museum piece

Acheron315 · Jun 24, 2006

There was an ocean blue (colorchanging from blue to green) SR made with a full interior and Mach 460 stereo for the street. There are a couple of pictures of it out there. This is the only street registered, full interior SR that I have ever seen.

EDIT: Here is one picture

s351rspeedster · Jun 24, 2006

Acheron315 said:
There was an ocean blue (colorchanging from blue to green) SR made with a full interior and Mach 460 stereo for the street. There are a couple of pictures of it out there. This is the only street registered, full interior SR that I have ever seen.

EDIT: Here is one picture

....that picture was taken by SaleenMike at the Saleen show way back in September 2002. Not sure that is a street registered SR though. I rememeber that it was custom built for a customer in Texas but I don't recall it having a vin number. If you do some research through The Saleen Book, you will see that alot of the SR cars were built on chasis's from previous race cars that have no vin assigned to them simply because they were intended strickly for SCCA. That white SR was built for production figures only so the SR version race car would meet certain specs to compete in the SCCA circuit. Sort of like Nascar, although, I've never seen a two door carbereted Tauraus "in production"

.....in the case of this SR, it was built on a 95 S351 chasis. In theory, you could drop in a 95 spec 351 crate engine and take it down to the local SMOG shop and and get tags for it, LEGALLY!! Since it was built on an street legal chasis. May not get passed a state ref visually, but the emissions would pass....

Acheron315 · Jun 24, 2006

s351speedster, I remember seeing pictures of the completed car, and it had the Saleen/Recaro seats, full interior, and the Mach 460 speakers.

That is why I assumed that it was titled for street duty. I apologize if I was in error.

s351rspeedster · Jun 24, 2006

Acheron315 said:
s351speedster, I remember seeing pictures of the completed car, and it had the Saleen/Recaro seats, full interior, and the Mach 460 speakers.

That is why I assumed that it was titled for street duty. I apologize if I was in error.

....not need to apologize as I could be wrong!! That ocean painted SR could very well have a vin and be totally street legal. Before I made the post, I checked the owners registry in The Saleen Book to attempt to verify what I was saying. Since that book is 99.9999% accurate, there is room for errors and that could very well be one of the errors. I just don't remember Saleen ACTUALLY delivering a street legal widebody SR ever (of course the price tag at 150K might have scared a few people away)

.......the 97 SR Widebody also had the Saleen/Recaro sets and the full interior. I can't remember if it had a radio or not but the entire car was there minus the drivetrain. I guess the world my never know. I'm sure Liz knows but she's retired and her replacement is so busy with the new cars that she doesn't have the time to research alot of stuff for us. Besides, most of the Saleen history isn't from the Saleen archieves but from the memory of Liz. Remember, Liz has been there from the beginning and she logged basically every set of wheels that left the plant, albeit from Irvine, Long Beach, Anaheim, where ever the cars were being made at that time

Jim D. · Jun 25, 2006

It was the 1996 SEMA Show where the '97 Widebody SR made its debut... it was build on a white 1996 chassis, if I recall correctly.

One thing to add to the confusion about the '97 Widebody being a street car (and probably subsequent Widebodys) was that in the March 1997 Super Ford Magazine, the shoot was done where it appeared the car was driving on a wet skid pad -- the car was actually pushed to create motion -- so the story goes.

One thing unique about this SR: it was the first IRS car. Some engineering collaboration seemed to be going on with Ford for the '99 SVT Mustang, though I do not know that for sure.

I do know the Rainbow car had a full interior; though I don't recall a stereo, I don't recall one not being there either. See, I actually got to "drive" it within the confines of the old Whatney shop so they could position it to Steve's liking for the FIA official to take photographs for homologation process (primarily to run at Le Mans). I should clarify that by "driving" I mean I got to steer while others pushed.

Sadly, the '97 Widebody sat in the showroom most of the time. Liz had tried to get Steve to make it his daily driver after he sold his '95 SR, but it seemed the Rainbow paint wasn't quite stealth enough. I will say that the color was considered a tad on the "pretty" side for most people's taste, and attracted a lot of attention on the Rainbow S281 Speedster that was at the LA Auto Show shortly after.

One thing about the white later model SR is the car does appear to be street worthy, since it's on the street. But also, to me, the photo quality is such that they look a little fake.

s351rspeedster · Jun 25, 2006

Jim D. said:
It was the 1996 SEMA Show where the '97 Widebody SR made its debut... it was build on a white 1996 chassis, if I recall correctly.

...you are very close, it was built on 95 S351 #05 chasis accroding to The Saleen Book. Like I said early, technically, it could be street legal as far as emissions testing would go, but it might not pass the visual from a state rep...

Jim D. said:
One thing to add to the confusion about the '97 Widebody being a street car (and probably subsequent Widebodys) was that in the March 1997 Super Ford Magazine, the shoot was done where it appeared the car was driving on a wet skid pad -- the car was actually pushed to create motion -- so the story goes

.....I believe this is one of the pictures from that magazine shoot:

Jim D. said:
One thing about the white later model SR is the car does appear to be street worthy, since it's on the street. But also, to me, the photo quality is such that they look a little fake.

I agree : +1

Acheron315 · Jun 25, 2006

I remember reading on Saleen's site that you could order the SR with dual A-arm front (I am assuming from HPM/Bart's works?) and independent rear.

Saleen311 · Jun 26, 2006

There was a race used 99+ SR on ebay not too long ago.

tbrodzeller · Jun 27, 2006

My experience...

Well, I don't know nearly as much as Mr. Cutler. As far as I am concerned, he is "the man" when it comes to SR information.

I was lucky enough to have some personal, hands-on experience with the 99 SR pictured on the lift above.

I was living in Irvine at the time, and spending a great deal of time volunteering at the plant. I got to watch them doing the interior assembly on that car and I was lucky enough to do the final detailing on the exterior of the car myself. (11:00 PM the day before the annual SALEEN open house!)

The car did not have a drive train – and know it wasn’t the correct rear-end or front suspension attached to the car at the time.

I got to meet the owner, the following day, who had "several" other SR's in his collection. He was a very personal able, down-to-earth guy.

I never saw that car after the show - so I don't know how/when/what it was all finished with.

I just know it was awesome to get to spend a few hours around that car! It was incredible...

Tony Brodzeller
1999 S281-SC Speedster
Laser Red - #008

racer_inboston · Dec 23, 2006

does anyone make an SR 1999-2002 replica wide body panels?

Saleen Mike · Dec 23, 2006

racer_inboston said:
does anyone make an SR 1999-2002 replica wide body panels?

They are out there.

$14,000 for the kit, then countless hours trying to get them mounted, as they were not true production. Then there is the "fit and finish" that is up to race car specs...

Saleen Mike · Dec 23, 2006

BTW the "Ocean" car above had an '02 "E" motor in it so it could run on the street legally since Saleen lost (street) certification on the 351 motor December 31, 1999.

racer_inboston · Dec 23, 2006

and where can one get this kit?

2000xp8 · Dec 24, 2006

My buddy actually had a real saleen widebody race car, very similar to the one in the first post. He raced it in that class that was popular on speedvision for a while.
Then it burned to the ground, on tv no less.
I'm pretty sure it was leased through saleen, and supposidly at one time tim allen borrowed it for practice.

I used to see it at his shop, nothing more than a tube chasis, fiberglass body panels, a carbed 351, and i think a richmond trans.

JLM · Dec 27, 2006

There is a body kit available from ACS Motorsoports in Huntington Beach CA. Mike Davis, the owner of Applied Computer Sciences (ACS), has been a Mustang guy for a long time and raced an SR in the old Trans-Am series. He also ran a pair of SR's in the SCCA World Challenge.

I was lucky enough to visit his shop and saw the chassis as well as the body molds for his cars. Not sure if the molds were the "real deal" from Saleen but the finished body looked very close to what Saleen were running when they were racing. I know Davis had a good relationship with Saleen.

As others have mentioned, the SR's that were raced were just a body on a tube chassis with a 351 motor.

Anyway, the body kit is still being advertised on the ACS web site under Mustang parts (www.acsexpress.com). The whole kit is listed for $13,500 and is all carbon fiber. It is listed for a 2003 Mustang so should fit all 1999 - 2004 cars. It has the roof, hood, doors, rear bumper, rear deck and front splitter. The parts are available separately as well. I would assume these parts don't just bolt up to a car but will require some fabrication & fitting.

Davis had some really cool cars in his shop when I was there. An original Ford GT, a Cobra R, several original Shelby Cobras (427, 289, 427 SOHC), several Shelby GT-350's, a few Boss 302's and one Boss 429, a Mustang Probe GT endurance racer, Tommy Kendalls Trans-Am Mustang, a Lola Indy car and two Winston Cup cars. All the cars were "exercised" regularly by Mike, his wife and their two sons.

Larry
97-0183

marcus95 · Dec 27, 2006

Thanks for the info Larry.

Looks like I need to go over and visit his shop, break into the place and "exercise" some of his cars for him

Roush 2001 Saleen SR??

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