The V8 Mustang GT modelled was purchased new in December 2019 by Nottinghamshire-based motoring TV presenter and journalist Paul Cowland, who has always loved American muscle cars. Despite growing up in a family that ran a car dealership and working in the motor trade himself for over thirty years, it’s the only car he has ever bought new as a retail customer.

He ordered it from Sandicliffe Ford, on Nottingham’s ‘motor mile’, and it was available at a favourable price because it enabled the dealership to hit their bonus targets for the year. Had Paul waited to register it on a new 2020 number plate, it would have cost considerably more. Paul wanted an orange manual V8 with a rear wing and Recaro seats, so Sandicliffe located this car in the Ford dealership network, then fitted a strut brace, gearbox quick-shift and subframe alignment kit.

He also wanted a passive suspension example so he could fit Bilstein B16 coilover units, which he did shortly after taking delivery. He has since added a Milltek performance exhaust and had the engine remapped by V8 tuning wizard Paul Spinks at Wortec, which added around 25bhp but, importantly on a road car, vastly improved the low-end torque making the DOHC unit feel more like a traditional OHV V8. Paul describes this Mustang as his ‘forever car’ as it is very much the fulfilment of a childhood dream.