Anyone remember "Charlie's Mustangs"?

Stangar · Jul 17, 2005

I was cleaning my '89 Mustang GT (293,000 original miles), that I purchased new, and remember Charlie Bruno of "Charlie's Mustangs" in San Jose installing my Global West subframe connectors. I took a day off from work and drove from Sacremento to San Jose (about 2.5 hours or so) to have him install them, in 1991, as he was considered the best with the best products. He even let me have his Ford Fiesta? (I think that was the car, can't remember) for the day to go to the mall and waste some time. The connectors are still keeping my Fox Mustang glued together. I know he is smiling down from above every week when I crawl under my car and wash and wax those things. LOL GREAT GUY. Great welder. If people like him still exist, I don't know of any.

steveso007 · Sep 20, 2007

He was a very helpful person. I remember calling him up many times asking him many questions and he'd always return my calls. He always had this look in his, and you could tell he was speaking the truth from his heart about Mustangs. Truly an inspiration to my life... Thanks Charlie... if you are reading this from above.

Stangar · Sep 20, 2007

steveso007 said:
He was a very helpful person. I remember calling him up many times asking him many questions and he'd always return my calls. He always had this look in his, and you could tell he was speaking the truth from his heart about Mustangs. Truly an inspiration to my life... Thanks Charlie... if you are reading this from above.

Nice post.

Flavadave4 · Sep 20, 2007

Sounds like a cool guy

4G-KDMP · Sep 20, 2007

Flavadave4 said:
Sounds like a cool guy

i was thinking the same thing.

st5150 · Jan 16, 2008

Just bumping this post up again. Yes, Charlie was an excellent mechanic and changed the California 5.O scene durring his time. In the 90's, all the local mustang shops and tuners were decendents of him, or had something to do with him. Anyone still have any of those copies of MM&FF where Edelbrock quoted him in their ads?

Mustang5L5 · Jan 17, 2008

What is with all the non-tech posts in 5.0 tech lately??

BK_CAULEY · Jan 17, 2008

Mustang5L5 said:
What is with all the non-tech posts in 5.0 tech lately??

5.0Droptop · Jan 17, 2008

I have read about this man on other forums. He must have been a great guy!

7-UP BILL · Jan 20, 2008

st5150 said:
Just bumping this post up again. Yes, Charlie was an excellent mechanic and changed the California 5.O scene durring his time. In the 90's, all the local mustang shops and tuners were decendents of him, or had something to do with him. Anyone still have any of those copies of MM&FF where Edelbrock quoted him in their ads?

I have every copy from Feb '90 to present. Anybody need an old issue? They are stored and in pretty good condition.

7-UP BILL · Jan 20, 2008

st5150 said:
Just bumping this post up again. Yes, Charlie was an excellent mechanic and changed the California 5.O scene durring his time. In the 90's, all the local mustang shops and tuners were decendents of him, or had something to do with him. Anyone still have any of those copies of MM&FF where Edelbrock quoted him in their ads?

I have every copy of MM&FF from Feb. '91 to present. Anybody need an old issue?

st5150 · Jan 26, 2008

Impressive collection Bill. I remember seeing the ad in MM&FF summer and fall of 1997. If you have the time, it would be cool if you could scan it and post it. It's a little piece of Bay Area Mustang history. The 5.O mustang scene in northern california can really trace its roots back to Charlie's Mustangs.

7-UP BILL · Jan 26, 2008

As you have requested. Sprry if scan is not to great. I tried to get it smaller, but couldn't. I'll try something else.

st5150 · Jan 28, 2008

I don't see the scan for some reason.

nandoGdog · May 15, 2008

Charlie Bruno

Yeah actually I google his name quite often but I've only managed to find a couple of magazine articles. I had the pleasure of meeting him in the late nineties when the 5.0 scene was going really strong, great guy he took time out of his busy schedule to advise me on future mods for my car he even test drove my car with me in the passenger seat and that's when I got an idea of how to drive a fox body. I also remember his personal fox body it was a maroon coupe had a extrude honed stock intake 65mm throttle body edelbrock heads which he painted to look stock this thing was a sleeper in the true sence of the word, the only thing that gave away the true potential of this car were the aftermarket brakes seen through the stock ponys and the color of his injectors. I'm trying to find a copy of "Street speed" it was a type of brochure he gave out which has alot of good info.

fiveofanatic · Jul 18, 2008

I googled his name for some reason tonight & wound up back here @ SN, what are the odds.

I worked for Charlie from 1997 until he closed his doors in '00. He was a bit of a nutjob, but in a good way.

Still representin':

cobramanphil · Aug 21, 2008

Sorry for bringing this post up...I somehow ended back here looking for something else so it must be fate. I remember Charlie back in the old 5.0 days. To be honest I was still in junior college and had little money left for my stang since I had to pay for school myself when I transfered to UCSC. We talked for a while whenever I would stop by on my way home from school and one of the most memorable discussions was on supercharging(back then the vortech a-trim was the cream of the crop and the S-trim was barely coming out). An interesting idea he harped on was how there would be supercharger for the new 4.6 liter (even though they were dogs at the time and there was little aftermarket stuff for them). I always argued back that ford missed the boat going for a smaller displacement motor that had a seriously weak bottom end and supercharging would be good, but not great for these motors. I remember distinctly him telling me that the motors would improve and superchargers would be a big factor in making them faster then anything chevy could come up with when only slightly modded. I guess we were both right (look at the terminators and the new gt500!).

Charlie Bruno = definitely one the original pioneers for the late model mustang

FZRacer · Jul 24, 2016

I remember Charlie well and he was such a great guy. He built up my 93 Cobra and it rocked. He was the most knowledgeable person I have ever known when it comes to Mustangs. He had mine pushing about 600hp and I literally could burn every gear but the overdrive. I ended up selling the car to Cassabian Motors out in Pleasanton for a pretty penny. I still have two of his Charlies Mustang teeshirts in the wrappers that I never open as a keepsake of his friendship. I loved him and he is missed. RIP Charlie. ...Kevin Byrns

krazedstang · Jul 27, 2016

Well this was a good read, he sounded like a real cool dude.

Anyone remember "Charlie's Mustangs"?

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