(Translate this site) Search this site Search the bookstore ONE MINUTE SITE TOUR

Sponsor this page This page last updated on or about 11-15-07 a - j m o o n e y h a m . c o m - o r i g i n a l

Site map Latest site updates Site web log(s) Site author

I once owned one of the mightiest supercars on the planet.

It may also have been the most economical supercar of its era. Or close to it. With a total cash investment of well under $10,000-- maybe as little as half that or less. And it got 24 miles per gallon!

In cornering and endurance competitions its Shelby Mustang peers of the time couldn't come close.

It was a true street warrior which integrated the best of Detroit's pony cars with Bond-car and Batmobile-like tricks designed to work in the real world.

Above is my 2005 artistic rendition of Shadowfast in his 1970s prime.
CLICK HERE to see RARE PHOTOS.

In its prime, someone of unlimited resources wishing to outdo it in a combative race across the continental USA with a single standalone competitor may have needed to dispense with automobiles altogether and brought in a state-of-the-art US military attack helicopter with full permission to use all weapons and options at its disposal to win.

And even then victory would have by no means been a sure thing for the helicopter! If he'd failed to put us out of action in the first several hundred miles or so he'd likely have gotten no further chances! Ha, ha.

I guess the A-10 Warthog tank-killer might have been a better warcraft to put up against Shadow. In that case I suppose I would have had to just forfeit the contest altogether. An A-10 would have been scary stuff even for me and Shadow! But I'm not sure if even a real life James Bond villain could have procured an A-10 back in Shadow's prime.

To my knowledge nothing like this particular supercar ever existed before, or since.

It was a bonafide outlaw car. Which made its share of escapes from hairy situations. But I (the builder/driver) was never arrested, or the car impounded. For we were never caught.

Furthermore, this supercar never once failed to get its driver and passengers back to safety again regardless of its battle damage.

And aren't these the best accolades an outlaw supercar could ever get? At least one that was actually driven? The real world is no place for a show car the owner's afraid to get scratched, or a million dollar street racer which would literally break into pieces the first time it traversed too deep a dip in the road. Even the much maligned Ford Pinto of the seventies could take lots more hard knocks than some of the prissy things being sold as ultra high end sports cars today. But of course with US interstates circa 2006 more often resembling parking lots rather than high speed roadways, modern owners of so-called supercars have legitimate excuses for not proving their mettle.

Today, 'trailer queens' rule the western automotive world. How much you paid for your ride means more than what it can actually do on real world streets.

But the seventies were different.

Many of today's expensive sports cars which look fantastic in glossy photos and on showroom floors wouldn't have survived five minutes of the most intense road action many grass roots hot rodders were routinely engaged in during that time in America.

But there's sure to be some skeptics out there. After all, plain old street performance supercars are fairly rare: and true Batmobile-like machines (with practical tricks and gadgets) basically non-existent.

Alas, my own supercar is no more either. Our adventures took place decades ago. And no street vehicle built of late 20th century technology could withstand indefinitely the punishment of regular supercar feats (it was hard on me the driver too). After only a few years of such action we could simply do no more.

But Shadowfast surely did have his glory days.

Want more details on this rarest of the rare breed of automobile? Want to know just how and why he may have been the mightiest all-around supercar of the 20th century?

He began life as a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach One. So he already possessed the essence of a supercar.

But I took him well beyond stock Mach 1 status. Then into and past Shelby GT-350 specs, too. Truly made him one-of-kind. At least in all the ways I could on a shoe-string budget.

Then I took him still further. Bestowing upon him his own array of special tricks and gadgets.

If you want to see how he got from factory stock to supercar-- and the adventures we had along the way-- check out The Shadowfast supercar driver logs.