Saleen 435S Mustang Debuts With 435 HP, Without Steve

We're tired of keeping up with the drama between Steve Saleen and the company bearing his name, but this Saleen 435S Mustang is the first all-new offering from the Steve-less 'Stang customizer. More »

Fast And Furious Saleen Mustangs And Ford GT

If you watch the film you'll notice a lot of Saleen vehicles running around. Not only are these "extra cars" from the Saleen family of products, they're actually the Saleen family's personal vehicles. The white GT is Steve's personal vehicle. The orange Saleen S302 PJ, designed to pay homage to Parnelli Jones, is actually Parnelli Jones' personal S302. More »

SMS 25th Anniversary Mustang Concept Has 720 Candle-Extinguishing Horsepower

Though no longer head of Saleen, Inc., you can't keep Steve Saleen from making Mustangs. In this case, his new company, SMS Limited, has built a very Saleen, Inc-looking concept to celebrate 25 years in the industry. In addition to the 720 HP engine and extreme body kit, this concept has the "Red Butterfly Induction System," which may explain the KITT-esque hood scoop. More details from the man himself, who says it has performance almost on par with the Saleen S7, below the jump More »

Midnight Club: Los Angeles Gets Pushed Back; Saleen Sheds A Tear

The latest addition to the Midnight Club series, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, is getting its previously announced release date pushed back a month, to October 7 in North America and October 10 in Europe. That's the bad news. The good news is what you get to drive once it finally shows up in stores. More »

Saleen Developing Gibbs Aquada And Quadski For American Market

Saleen will be conducting manufacturing design and engineering work required to bring the Gibbs Aquada and Quadski to the North American market. Gibbs plans to introduce the models here late in 2009 or early in 2010. In addition to working on production processes for the amphibians, Saleen is also looking at ways to improve their performance. More »

Saleen-Modified Th!nk Is The Only Way To Tour Pit Lane

If you've brought a trailer full of Saleen wares to hawk during the Ford Racing weekend at Milan Dragway, you don't just walk around the pit area; you ride in style with a hotted-up Th!nk Neighbor. This bad boy is sporting dual exhausts to keep the electric motor breathing freely, a set of Minilite wheels to drop the unsprung weight, a Mustang steering wheel, bucket seats and an extra gauge pod, plus it's festooned with some rad Saleen decals. Bet this thing flies on the quarter mile. More »

Lonely And Pathetic? Buy A Saleen Mustang From These Guys

When we were 11 we had a bachelor uncle who proudly displayed a poster in his bedroom of a woman wearing soap and little else cleaning off a Corvette. We thought it was hot at the time but, thankfully, grew enough over the next two years to understand the difference between things that are sexy and things that are merely unpoetic attempts to allude to sex. Though not everyone, particularly people who own car dealerships, have the evolved taste we developed at age 13, we're guessing you all can see this local advertisement for a Saleen mustang for what it is: two unimpressed bottle-blondes in bikinis doing what they have to do to scrape together enough funds for that final semester of beautician's school. Though it may have helped sell a few more cars, this is only because the dealership is from a northern Dallas suburb, meaning it is even closer to Oklahoma. (SFW, not safe for epileptics) [Motorpasion via CarScoop]

Saleen S5S Heading To Production?

When we first saw the Saleen S5S at the New York Auto Show, we thought, "That's nice, but it's got concept only written all over it." Well, apparently there's a greater degree of possibility there than we'd initially thought. Saleen Vice Chairman and Chief Technical Officer Chris Theodore dropped in to the offices of Automobile magazine to talk S5S. Seems they're feeling out the market by touring the car around their dealers right now and thanks to an overwhelmingly positive response, the company no longer related in any way to Steve is considering sending it into production. Our favorite part of the whole discussion is about how they decided on the design: More »

New Screenshots Appear of Midnight Club: Los Angeles

We heard about the release date yesterday, but today we've stumbled upon some of the screenshots from the latest addition to the Midnight Club series. These screenshots feature the likes of the Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R, Saleen S302 Extreme and S7, Dodge Challenger SRT8, 2010 Chevy Camaro and a 2008 Cadillac CTS even appears blurry in the background. Wow, that's quite the repertoire of drivable vehicles in the open-world racing game. More »

Saleen-gasmic Midnight Club: Los Angeles Gets A Release Date

Remember GT5 Prologue? Old news now that another big racing video game for 2008 has finally gotten a release date. Midnight Club: Los Angeles will be available September 9 for the United States and September 12 for Europe. This is the game that features a DUB-customized Saleen S302 Extreme among other vehicles (including motorcycles). Sure, GT5 Prologue may be a more "real" driving simulator, but you can't deny the fun that is had with more arcade-y titles like the Midnight Club series. Click through to see the full release. [Kotaku] More »

Jalopnik Plays Midnight Club Los Angeles

After checking out the new S5S Raptor and the Dan Gurney Mustang at the Saleen stand, we decided to get behind the wheel controller and a have a test drive of a DUB-customized S302 Extreme— in the upcoming Midnight Club Los Angeles video game. We thought it was a good opportunity let our oldest most life-experienced Jalop, Matt DeBord, have a hand at the game. He knows LA pretty well, so we figured he'd have an advantage driving through the virtual city of angels. We soon found that while Matt may have life experience, he doesn't have so much experience with modern video games. Maybe we should have someone else here give the game a proper review. More »

Full Iron Man Trailer Debuts, Makes Us Want One of Those Suits

After months of Ironman teaser shots and Ironman Super Bowl commercials and all kinds of other nonsense, the full trailer is now live and it's looking pretty good. Convenient for our Leap Day Celebration, Ironman appears to be able to jump right into the suit with some sort of Jetsons style automatic clothes putter-onner then bound around from explosion to explosion. It also looks like the evil-doers get a hold of... oh, we don't want to be a spoiler - watch it yourself. Be forewarned though, the destruction of the Cobra is explained here so be sure you can stomach it after lunch. [also playing at Gizmodo and io9]

Texas Twister: 2008 Saleen S331 Sport Truck Debuts at Texas State Fair

In a world, where $50,000 pickup trucks are for po' folks, and pigskins are for both throwin' and eatin', there's a truck. It's the Saleen S331 for 2008, and it combines Ford's 5.4-liter three-valve V8 with a twin-screw supercharger for 450 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque. Underneath, the stock Ford running gear gets support from Saleen's RaceCraft suspension, with N2 struts with linear-rate coil-over springs, a tubular anti-roll stabilizing bar and urethane pivot bushings Saleen's showing it off this week at the Texas State Fair. More »

And Speaking Of Transformers...The Saleen Display Appears To Be Hiding A Decepticon

Over in Birmingham, across from the GM-obsessive "Triangle," the Saleen display appears to be hiding a very, very naughty Mustang. Not to cast aspersions on an auto custom shop, but Barricade's one bad Saleen. Luckily, we didn't piss him off as badly as we pissed off Ironhide yesterday. More »

The 2008 Dodge Viper Paint Job, By Steve Saleen

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Saleen Retires from Saleen

Founder and Vice-Chairman of Saleen Motorsports Steve Saleen has officially retired from the company's executive team. Steve Saleen is shown here with Carrol Shelby, and series sweeping SCCA Mustang driver Rick Titus. Mr. Saleen himself will continue on as the Ambassador of the Saleen brand in order to help prevent any possible spins. Press release after the jump. – Mike Bumbeck More »

Saleen Slashing Jobs: Performance Vehicle Company Cutting 40 Jobs In Irvine, CA And Troy, MI?

We received the following tip from a very reliable source about the specialty vehicle manufacturer, Saleen:

"The investor group Hancock Park Associates that owns Saleen, Inc. last week laid off 40 people from Saleen's two facilities in Irvine, CA and Troy, MI.

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Transformers Toys For Tots: Barricade, Brawl, Jazz And...Wreckage?

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Pony Express: Saleen to Build Special-Edition Mustangs for Road Rally

Cannonball Run Europe, one of the many high-profile road rally events making the world's idle rich just slightly less idle, is expanding to the US. The founders are inaugurating a new event in mid-2007 called the Great American Run. But more newsworthy than that is its confirmed partner in crime, as it were. That is, motorsports shop Saleen. The winner of the don't-call-it-a-race will receive one of 25 special-edition Saleen Mustangs to be built for the event. According to rally site GT Spirit, the cars — 11 of which have been sold to rally entrants — will be tuned to produce 600 hp. The cars reportedly do zero to 60 mph in under four seconds, with a top speed of 200 mph. They're no TransCom ambulance, but well, Jack Elam's no longer with us anyway. – Mike Spinelli More »

Transformers Toys For Tots: Slot Cars And An Old And Busted Camaro Named Bumblebee

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Transformers In Detroit: More Than Meets Our Eyes?

We woke up this morning at 5:30, intent on finding a good parking spot downtown to see if we could catch some hot stylized Saleen Camaro on stylized Saleen Mustang action, and maybe even catch some shots of celebs (what can we say — Megan Fox is just that) downtown in the dirty D. So we made it down there found a parking spot, and other than the above shot, we found jack squat. We couldn't get anywhere near the action — police and security were on every corner, and although we're more than happy to get a jaywalking ticket on behalf of the job, we certainly weren't looking for a trespassing charge. But, lucky for us — reader Eric found a way to get us some information on what's going on: More »

In General, Steve Saleen Is Open To Experimentation, Transforming Other Automakers

Steve Saleen, founder of Saleen, Inc. and customizer of all things FoMoCo since 1984, says that the niche vehicle maker is, "open to building specialty cars for automakers in addition to Ford Motor Co." In a recent interview with Ward's Auto, the sassy Saleen said, "It has to make business sense and fit in with our philosophy and appropriate branding, but we're looking at other opportunities and only time will tell." Hmm, we're wondering who or what he'd be looking at customizing next? You know Steve, just quit the bumblebee-ing around, and tell us who you're thinking about partnering with. [Hat tip to Zerin!] More »

Exclusive Transformers Movie Update: Barricade's A Bad Saleen, Yes He Is!

Oooh, we love it when we get one of those hot n' exclusive tips from an insider in the know. Like these pictures right he-yeah of Decepticon baddie Barricade — the Saleen Mustang who's all about his "enslave and protect" job. Yes, we've seen him before — but not from these many angles, baby. Oh my god, we think we just spewed fan-boy love all over the screen...does anyone have a squeegee? By the way, our tipster sent us some more pictures you'll be able to see here tomorrow afternoon (just follow along at our mini-site) — but we apologize, we don't think our fragile hearts can take any more today! More »

Shop Saleen: Tuner Opens Store in Irvine

Steve Saleen and his Ford-tuning and supercar-building boyz have gone retail. Following in the footsteps of Ferrari Roma and Tony Roma (a Place for Ribs), the company opened the doors to its first retail outlet — The Saleen Store — in Irvine, California this past weekend. The store sells an array of Saleen-branded chatchkes — sorry, lifestyle merch — as well as technical displays on the company's 750-hp S7 supercar and 435 hp Supercharged Saleen Mustang, and S7 racing simulators. For enthusiasts ready to lay out the cash for one of Saleen's vehicles, the store handles purchasing, financing, and trade-in judging, and will sell and install Saleen Speedlab aftermarket parts. More »

The Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang: Yeah, We've Got an East Bay Punk Ref for This One, Too

Back in 1996, we were in a band with noted off-road guru (and Parnelli Jones' Baja co-winner) Bill Stroppe's grandson. Actually, it wasn't much of a band. It was just the two of us in a hallway in the performing arts building at Saint Mary's bashing out Jawbreaker cult classics and punk-kid mixtape staples like "Ache," "The Boat Dreams From the Hill" and "Sea Foam Green," the latter of which Jawbreaker frontman Blake Schwarzenbach himself explained to us how to play properly. Predictibly, the rock unit imploded when the two of us eventually had a bust-up over a girl. More »

Chris Rock-in' It Hard...On...The Auto Show Floor

The auto show floor was all a-twitter yesterday about rumors of Chris Rock sightings here at the Javitz Center. Luckily, a coupla enterprising young lads (hat tip: Jamshid Mousavinezhad and Daniel McDermon) snagged some video of Mr. Rock as he gets a handful of a coupla rock-hard ladies from the Saleen booth. Hit it, yo! More »

Car and Driver On the Saleen S7 Twin Turbo

10.9-second time in the quarter? Naught to sixty in 3.4 seconds? 427 cubic inches of aluminum Ford V-8 huffed by a couple of turbochargers? Hey, it's only 589 large. Csaba takes it for a spin and comes away impressed, but somehow, not as impressed as one should be when those specs are accounted for. Is The Csere just getting jaded? Or is there something at the S7 that's just not quite right? Because for nigh-on six-hundred-thousand dollars, it seems like it should inspire more spastically awesome prose from C/D's EIC. More »

Forbes Runs Down the World's Most Expensive Cars

The Forbeses rock out with an overview of the most expensive cars in the world. Interestingly enough, less than half of the list is taken up by major manufacturers, and Lambo, Ferrari, Rolls and Bentley are conspicuously absent. Also, two American cars made the list: the SSC Ultimate Aero and the Saleen S7 Twin Turbo. If there were different prices listed for the same model, we chose the American price, 'cuz we're all isolationist and crap. Click through for the list. More »

Saleen Hails Satan, Premiers the S331 in LA, Announces Ueber-S7

Steve Saleen "had a little fun" (his words, not ours) at SVT's expense when he unveiled the S331 Thunder pickup at Ford's display this morning. While we didn't find his speech particularly rousing or amusing (The biggest wheels on a production truck! 23 inches!) we do like the side exhaust. More »

Forbes Ranks America's Fastest Cars

Dan Lienert breaks down the answer to the question burning in the collective mind of 12 year-old boys across the nation: What are the darn-tootin'est high-speed rides built in the US of A today? Some of the cars that made the list are motoring icons to even the most casual auto enthusiast the Ford GT, Dodge Viper and Corvette Z06, for example. Topping the roster, however, is the banzai-nuts SSC Ultimate Aero, with a Veyron-fingering estimated top speed of 273 MPH. Eep. Other high-speed obscura? The extra-ugly-with-a-side-of-hideous Mullen M-11 V-8 and the GTP-car-with-chromosomal non-disjuncture Evans 387 and 487. Click through for the list. More »