Some guys just won't take no for an answer. Shortly after completing our blue '66 Mustang project car, we were approached by Mr. Rick Hudson who very much wanted us to build his '67 pony along those same lines. We weren't really prepared for that, since we'd only built one customer car to that point - and it was a one-off special really done as a favor to actor Paul Walker. So, initially at least, we politely declined.

For Mr. Hudson, that just wouldn't do. He kept after us, and finally, we agreed to at least explore the possibility of building his car. After some initial meetings and getting to know Rick a little better (he's a lot of fun to be around, and very persuasive), we said why not? And the project was on with the idea of having the car done in time for the 2005 Hot Rod Power Tour.

Rick had some clear ideas of what he wanted, and all the details were sorted out when he sat down with Kevin King and Phil Brewer, our designer. The plan was to build a car that would look good, with perhaps a bit of a retro flavor, handle and stop well, and have lots of power. It had to be reliable enough to take on long trips, and cool enough to draw a crowd when it was parked. And it had to be red.

Rick liked the hood style on our blue car but wasn't crazy about the carbon fiber finish, so we molded one up in fiberglass for him. He also like the classic Cragar wheel look, so we had Billet Specialties carve out a set of 5-spokes that have a classic flavor in more modern sizes. After driving our blue car around a bit, Rick agreed the supercharged 4.6 Cobra engine with a 6-speed tranny was the way to go, along with the Martz front and rear suspension.

The car turned out great, in our humble opinion. In fact, many of us here like Rick's car better than our blue one! The car made the '05 Power Tour, and really hasn't missed a beat since then. Rick's been on multiple Power Tours with us now, and also brings the car down to our annual YearOne Experience to show it off.

Some guys just won't take no for an answer, and really, we're very glad Rick Hudson is one of them. Rick's red Mustang was our first real customer car, but it's certainly not the last. In fact, we built a really cool fiberglass Willys for his wife, seems she wouldn't take no for an answer either.