Joe Ruggirello 81 Mustang
 

Ruggirello's silver Mustang II is pretty well known (pretty sure the current owner posts here occasionally) but I'm interested in the car he built next. It was a dark blue 81 hatch bought new by Joe and like the II it was screwed together by Roush. It was equipped with a 395" Cleveland based on what had to have been one of the first Motorsport A4 blocks and was reputed to be even quicked than the 460-motivated Mustang II.

Anyone know anything more about this car? Original equipment as delivered from Roush (what cam, heads, etc.)? Current whereabouts? Anything?

I know nothing about the 81 hatch you referred to but, I have seen pictures of the Mustang II after it's restoration. The person who owns it did an amazing job of bringing it back to life.
I would be interested in seeing anything about the 81; wasn't aware of that car.

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BIN Mag on eBoy...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HOT-ROD-198...-/382306697559

:beers:
~ Pete

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I've heard of this car too, and really want to know what it looks like.

Man, I had totally forgotten that Ruggirello had Jack Roush build a sequel car to Sudden Death! I had to go digging to find it but here it is and now I remember it mostly because of the big n' little TRX wheels. BTW, anybody that doesn't know the full story on those crazy metric-sized Ford wheels, it's worth a Google search and we'll just leave it at that because they certainly weren't one of Ford's better ideas. The 395-inch Cleveland in this car also had those crazy-cool Ford Motorsports valve covers that serve double duty as stud girdles utilizing very long rocker studs & acorn nuts. Love that idea! Talk about a car that was ahead of its time, this car pre-dated a whole lotta fast Fox-body street racers and it would be cool to know if it's still around.

Pg2

Pg3

Pg4

Thank you for posting these! Finally, my curiosity is satisfied!