Why Even A New Camaro Z/28 Won't Escape This 2024 Mustang Terminator's Wrath

Neither the 1,025-HP Demon 170 nor the imaginary 2025 Camaro Z/28 can escape this Restomod Mustang Terminator Cobra's venomous bite.

We recently covered a story about a mysterious new camouflaged Mustang being tested by Shelby America. All rumors on it suggest that a wilder Mustang Dark Hose is in the making. This got us excited and impatient, which is why we took matters into our hands to create the perfect blueprint for a 2024 Ford Mustang Shelby Dark Horse.

Enter the 2024 Ford Mustang Terminator Restomod, the result of our quest to create the ultimate Pony Car. A creation by our in-house artist, Timothy Adry Emmanuel, this is a 1,000+ HP all-American muscle car that transcends into supercar territory. Using parts from the Shelby GT500 and the humbler 500-HP Dark Horse, we have created a monster that can topple the sub-9-Second Demon 170 and even shame Chevrolet if they were ever to change their mind and send off its muscle car with the wickedly powerful Camaro Z/28.

Related: This Beastly Twin-Turbo Ford Mustang SVT Cobra Wakes The Dead As It Hits The Dyno

The 2003 Ford Mustang Terminator Cobra was the most powerful muscle car of its time. In fact, it was the only muscle car available during this time period. There was no Dodge Challenger, and Chevy had discontinued the production of the fourth-gen Camaro due to sluggish sales.

Despite having no major threat, Ford and SVT went all in with the creation of the Terminator Mustang. Its 4.6-Liter supercharged V8 was rated at 390 hp and 390 lb-ft of torque. But various independent dyno runs proved that Ford had downplayed the performance figures of its Terminator SVT Mustang. It was reported that the actual power figures were around 420 hp which was insane for the early 2000s.

For reference, the iconic Ferrari Enzo churned out 650 hp, and the first-ever Koenigsegg CC8S packed in 655 hp. Just below these two "hypercars" of the time, we have a muscle car from Ford with over 400 hp and a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds.

Now in 2023, the Ford Dark Horse Mustang has already transcended all expectations with a naturally aspirated Coyote V8. Imagine what a supercharger on this 5.0-Liter V8 motor can do! The 2003 Mustang Terminator was the desperate result of Ford and SVT being shamed for overplaying the power figures on the 1999 SVT Mustang. But now, there is no need for Ford to prove anything!

Our Mustang SVT Cobra Terminator Restomod has the brawn and the exotic appeal to snatch attention from exotic supercars and hypercars of today. It is exactly what the Dark Hose Shelby Mustang needs to shine bright among the new wave of hybrid supercars.

Ford, with its 5.2-Liter Predator V8 in the Mustang Shelby GT500, raised the bar to 760 hp. Hennessey Performance took it even further by squeezing out a whopping 1,204 hp from the Shelby GT500 engine. Ford has also slowly been trickling down the Shelby GT 500 engine parts into the Ford Performance Catalog. This means that you and I can buy the Shelby GT500's engine components and retrofit it into the tamer Coyote V8s found in the 2024 Mustang line-up.

And we did just that. We injected the 5.0-Liter Coyote V8 with forged internals from the Predator V8 and slapped on a 3.8-Liter supercharger with beefier internals to pack this Mustang Terminator Restomod with 1,050 hp and close to 1000 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a recalibrated ten-speed DCT gearbox from the Dark Horse. We would have loved to pack in the standard six-speed manual Tremec TR 3160 transmission from the Dark Horse, but that gearbox isn't quite cut to handle the insane torque from this Terminator's monster engine.

The result of all this is a sinister-looking Frankenstein Mustang Terminator that can shame the 1,025-HP Dodge Challenger Demon 170 and the last proposed high-performance 2025 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 that we muscle heads dearly crave. While a new Camaro Z/28 looks too good to be true, it would have greatly contributed to the creation of the Holy Trinity of muscle cars - the Demon 170, the Shelby Dark Horse, and the Camaro Z/28.

Related: The 2000 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R Was The Ultimate Performance Car To End The '90s

The seventh-gen 2024 Ford Mustang is now more of a sports car than a muscle car. While many purists consider this as a dent in the Mustang's all-muscle heritage, we think otherwise. Ford has cleverly evolved its pony car into an American fighting force against the "exotics" from Europe and the "precision machines" from the East. In this quest, the Mustang has still managed to hold onto its root formula of packing a brutish front-mounted V8 coupled with a tire-smoking RWD setup. Our 2024 Mustang Terminator SVT takes things further into the supercar realm. And what better way to showcase this than a wild exterior transformation?

The original 2003 Mustang Terminator was a distinctive-looking Pony car, thanks to the design tweaks done by Camilo Pardo, the chief designer of the 2005-2006 Ford GT. We have tweaked things further and added more "supercar" touches to the SVT Cobra Restomod. It gets a sick widebody kit and an even wilder rear diffuser setup. The fixed rear wing is not just for show but to keep this 1,000+ HP Mustang glued to the tarmac at all times. The pixel LED tail lamps and the cool split LED headlamps add further to this Mustang's aggression.

Our Restomod is based on the 2003 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra Terminator that sells for an average of $34,000 today. The Terminator Mustangs are very rare as only 12,162 coupes and 6,978 convertibles were made in a span of two years (2003 and 2004).

The 2004 MY is rarer as so is also priced higher in the used market, with the last ever Cobra-badged Mustang selling for an average of close to $45,000. The Terminator Mustangs are certified future classics and are sure to breach the six-figure mark in no time.

Tijo is an engineer, mechanic, and an avid content creator. He is a grease-monkey who loves tinkering with automobiles every now and then, when not busy penning down his passion for them. He has always had a soft spot for JDM and is keen on diving deep in for anything that involves wheels and engines.