Lock down continues and Mustang Maniac is no exception to the rules. This post is slightly different in terms of content, normally Adam will let us know what needs to go into the blog if he wants something specific, most of the time we have a lot to choose from. Over the past few weeks Adam has had some emails that have not impressed him should we say. Those who know that Adam will certainly understand his reaction to those emails. It’s also well known that Adam is a very fair man and this is reflected within his business ethics. He prides himself on being honest and values his customers very much. However, the start of this post is directly from Adam where he has wanted us to address a few of the emails in general without pointing the finger to those responsible. We have covered this recently, but it seems as though the message hasn’t gotten through.

Message From Adam:

“While we have never been the cheapest place to buy Mustang and Falcon parts, we do pride ourselves on only supplying the very best quality we can find and having them all in stock ready for when they are needed.

This carries a significant cost so…………

…..In these days of Covid-19 we are, like all other businesses, experiencing significant added supply, shipping and other costs.

So we thought it would be a really good idea to explain the costly and complex world of Mustang and Falcon car parts brought into the UK.

It all starts off with us having to guess the parts that will be needed in the future and then to order those parts from our various US/global suppliers – at which time we have to pay – not only for the parts but for shipping, taxes and duties and we are also at the mercy of the daily exchange rate ($ to £).

So the money has gone from our bank and we won’t see the parts or be able to offer them for sale for quite some time….

So the first cost to us is the use of our funds and labour costs for the time to place the orders etc.

Then the shippers, goods handlers and freight forwarders all get involved – each adding a percentage to the cost even though some may not actually handle the part but simply process pieces of paper. Great business if you can get it!

Once the cost of shipping has been agreed and added to our growing bill, we then face import duties – which are paid as a percentage of not only the cost of the part, but shipping and handling costs as well!

So the second cost to us is import duties which must be paid prior to the part being allowed into the country.

But that’s not all……..

Our third major cost is the dreaded VAT.  

Once all the costs have been added up – the part itself, the shipping, handling fees and import duties, we then have to pay VAT on the total amount…..that’s right another tax on a duty already paid!

Once the part has finally arrived in the UK and cleared customs with all duties and VAT paid, the costs simply don’t stop there.

Our fourth major cost is in providing parts storage.

We have to ship the parts from point of UK entry and into a safe place where we can store them ready for you to decide to buy and fit to your beloved Mustang or Falcon.

A part could be required straight away or remain in stock for 6 months plus.  Remember that we paid for the part when we ordered it along with all the shipping and taxes.

So that we can be one of a very few that offer all parts in stock and ready to go, the storage required for those parts is both significant and very costly – considering building costs, business rates, security, heating/lighting along with staff and equipment costs.

These costs have to be paid regardless of whether we sell a part or not.

The end result of all this is that our basic costs (not counting actual parts costs rising as they are) have risen by over 45% since the start of covid-19 and continue to rise as the global business world struggles to keep going.

But that’s not all….. we also have to keep the WebShop up to date so that it accurately shows what’s in stock every day. If we say it’s “in stock” then it is sitting on a shelf in our warehouse waiting for you.

Once you press the ‘buy it’ button we then have to pick, package and arrange shipping. While this seems to happen by magic it does involves significant time, effort and cost to have the right part in the right packaging sent out using reliable shipping companies.

So we need to not only stock Mustang and Falcon parts but also the various labellers, envelopes, boxes, wrappings to get the parts properly package for shipping.

So our fifth cost is the stock of all the packaging and labelling material which we have to buy and stock up front so we are ready to ship your part the very next day.

We want to always offer great quality parts at the best prices we can but to do that in the long term we must cover our costs and overheads along with preparing our business for an uncertain future.

Simply put, the prices of our parts are what they are, but we are always trying to keep them as competitive as we can – particularly during these very difficult times.

If someone is offering them at a lower price, chances are they are not in stock and of the same quality as our parts….but don’t take our word for it.

Stay safe and stay at home – protect our NHS“

We don’t actually have much to post about for work on customers cars, although we have a couple in. We just need to get a steer from Adam if he want’s them to post or not.

So we have had some images sent to us regarding project by others on Mustangs. We have posted a few of them here. If you have any more to add we will post them up for you so the world can also ‘admire’ them. So here we have the section:

Are You Sure!

Chopped..

Big Wheels looks great, maybe not.

Stretched

No words…

Then there is a trip to AutoZone or Halfords in the UK.

Although this is not a real Mustang as such, there has been a lot of clever work gone into this. Or a lot of drinking beer which we suspect is when this idea came to him.

Ford News

It’s called the Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 and, yes, that number stands for 1,400 horsepower. What’s different from other recent Cobra Jets, Ford’s track-only drag racing version of the Mustang, is that this one rips down the drag strip with an electric whine instead of a thundering exhaust note. The Cobra Jet 1400 is an electric vehicle, a one-off prototype that Ford says is capable of low 8-second quarter-mile times at a trap speed of more than 170 mph. When it comes to electric vehicles in motorsports, drag racing is better suited than most. With such short distances, the overall range is less of a concern than racing an EV on a road course. And dragsters are already suited to handle the big, instantaneous torque that electric motors provide: 1,100 lb-ft in the case of the Cobra Jet 1400.

The prospect of electric drag racing is one of the reasons why Ford developed this new car. According to Berj Alexanian, who handles Ford’s Mustang communications:

We decided to do this project based on the fact that the NHRA and drag racing are very open to electrification, and it was an opportunity to use what was a proven race car platform that we already had great benchmark performance numbers for, so we wanted to be able to match and beat those numbers with a new all-electric powertrain.

Revived in 2008 for the 40th anniversary of the original, the modern Cobra Jet is a turnkey racer based on stock Mustang bodywork but built with a full roll cage and NHRA-compliant safety gear, much like like the Chevrolet COPO Camaro and Dodge Challenger Drag Pak. Those cars are often built with partner suppliers, and the Cobra Jet 1400 is no exception, only instead of a Ford Racing engine under the hood the Ford Performance team turned to Cascadia motion for the electric motor and inverter. AEM EV supplied the software control systems. The roll cage and chassis development came from Watson Engineering, veterans of previous Cobra Jet programs and the Boss Mustang 302S race car. MLe Racecars is credited with the build and design of the Cobra Jet 1400.

It has been noted that the Cobra Jet 1400 is quicker than Chevrolet’s 2018 eCOPO concept, which made 700 hp and could do 9-second runs. While both of these cars are prototypes with no immediate details on production, surely this means that the age of the electric dragster is close at hand.

Before we sign off, we would just like to echo Adam’s final note:

Stay safe and stay at home – protect our NHS