The Mustang has faced its executioners at Ford more than a couple of times and been saved by raw determination. In 1990, it was saved by the perseverance of a tough East Detroiter named John Coletti.
It can be easily be said retired Ford executive and engineer John Coletti walks with the kick of Woodward Avenue and the smell of burning rubber in his stride. He is credited with not only saving Mustang, but supplying the rocket fuel that kept Ford's Special Vehicle Team (SVT) running for many years with exciting products like Mustang Cobra, F150 Lightning, Contour SVT, Focus SVT, and the legendary Ford GT supercar.
Coletti grew up at a time in American history when the post-war first baby boomers were coming of age. They loved and wanted hot cars, and Coletti was among them. What's more, he grew up along Gratiot Avenue where teenagers were laying down rubber along Detroit's east side at the cusp of the 1960s. He's a man with the spirit of Motown still bubbling in his arteries. Today, as he nears 60, he has a proud past on which to reflect.
When Coletti was running Ford's SVT, his business philosophy was, "lets have fun..." and so it went with exciting hardware. He was a tough task master who was fair and who would always listen. He empowered his people, inspiring them to greatness. Coletti had an outlaw spirit as a Ford executive. He did things his own way, yet he was fiercely loyal to Ford. When word hit the corridors Ford was considering discontinuing Mustang due to sagging sales around 1990, Coletti was front and center with a proposition Ford management couldn't refuse - don't kill Mustang, it can be saved.
Could you say no to John Coletti?
Coletti amassed a small, focused, committed team of engineers and stylists to reinvent Mustang from the platform up on a shoestring budget. It was called the SN-95 project, which would ultimately become the 1994 Mustang. Coletti and his team assembled at an old closed Montgomery-Ward auto service center in Dearborn, Michigan and created their own little stink works designing the next Mustang - the car and the team who would save the name.
As true car enthusiasts Team Coletti looked at what they liked about Mustang and what they didn't like. The FOX-4 platform was born - a stiffer, more predictable Fox body chassis that would gain weight, but make the car more solid. This turn of events eliminated cowl shake and annoying rattles. It made the car more predictable. With the new platform would come a more advanced 5.0L High Output V-8 along with a computer controlled AODE transmission for those who wanted both hands on the steering wheek. Team Mustang would also kick quality control up a few notches to conceive the best Mustang Ford had ever done for 1994. It would be known as a zero fit car - the perfect body where every unit would fit together exactly the same way, which was something that had never been done before at Ford.
John Coletti is also the man who brought the Cobra name back to Ford Division with the 1993 SVT Mustang Cobra hatchback, which was great fun to drive. SVT Cobra would evolve to a hugely advanced 4.6L DOHC V-8 for 1996. By 2003, Cobra would have a supercharger and an unwieldy amount of power. Thanks to Coletti's perseverance nearly two decades ago, Mustang would only get better with time. And, Coletti would take the Mustang's success to other Ford Division carlines - F150 Lightning, Contour SVT, Focus SVT, and the stand alone Ford GT.
Although John Coletti retired from Ford several years ago, his spirit never left the place. As witness a great line-up of Ford powerhouses in the years since, Coletti's followers never lost sight of his priorities and winning spirit.
John Coletti - we salute you at Mustang Monthly. Thanks for keeping the spirit of hot pony cars alive.