Afermarket(?) car manufactuers?

[Countrypolitan]

@postcards

@Boyo_Jim

…Interestingly, none of their seven “authorized centers” even say what sate it is in, let alone a city. Presumably these are the places where your Saleen can be serviced, because it appears most of their dealers are regular Ford dealerships.

Following the links to the service centers brings me to a website with allthat information. (I only did the first three, the other four are up to you.)

Former Saleen owner (and current tender of the car) here. When the car is registered, it registers and insures as a Ford Mustang GT, which is what it started life as.

I got mine from Performance Autosport, the last link in the above post. The guy who owns PAS is super-nice, really knows his cars, and has probably bought and sold every model of Saleen ever made. He also does servicing, but most owners either do service themselves or get a trusted speed shop to do it.

A little Saleen history: Saleen was started by Steve Saleen back in the 80s. Saleen has modified not only Mustangs, but Explorers, Focuses, and Rangers. The modifications range from body kits, wheels, and dash gauges, up to superchargers, nitrous, and custom Saleen colors. The taken off parts were sold to whoever wanted them. Each auto was given a Saleen number, which is displayed on the dash, front left bumper, and engine bay. There are “Faleens” (fake Saleens) out there, it depends on how good a job you’ve done if you’ll be mocked or not.

However, Saleen was sold to a group of investors, and now Steve Saleen has his own company, SMS Supercars http://www.smssupercars.com/. He’s a really nice guy, too, I got to meet him at the 45th anniversary celebration for the Mustang in 2009.

A great resource is Brad Bowling’s Saleen Book. It has tons of information about the cars, and has a listing in the back of all the Saleens built in the first 20 years.

Also, the Saleen Club of America has guys who can get super-pedantic about what is and is not correct on your car.

I could post all night about this–anything else you want to know, just ask!

[sisu]

HSV take bare Holden cars in Australia and turn them into fire breathing dragons. They are considered a manufacturer and have to have specific compliance plates and go through all the crash tests etc.

[Balthisar]

In the case of Roush, I can state affirmatively that my employer partners with Roush to a high degree. As a body in white engineer, I just happen to know that we do things for Roush that we won’t do for just anyone off the the street.

[leftfield6]

Panoz is another company with a slightly different approach. Rather than take a basic structure like a Mustang chassis, and go from there, Panoz uses Ford-derived engines put into a completely in-house developed chassis and body. They manufacture both street legal cars, and wickedly fast track-specific cars.

[D.E.S.K.Top668]

@crazyjoe

@SanDiegoTim

There are several companies that modify otherwise stock vehicles. Calloway is famous for Corvettes, Saleen for Mustangs, Steeda for Mustangs, Rousch for Ford cars/trucks, etc. The vehicles themselves are referred to as “Tuner Cars.” The modifications they make generally do not void factory warranties. Some of these tuner packages are appearance only, some include braking/suspension and the most expensive include engine mods (usually with superchargers). You can either bring the tuner a vehicle you have purchased or buy one through them. Some, like Saleen, used to be available directly from the dealers. In my humble opinion, you can make the mechanical modifications outside these tuners for far less money.

Indeed, you can make the mods for far less money yourself, but in many cases these tuner cars (Saleen, Calloway) will also come with a warranty, which you definitely won’t get if you do all the work yourself (or even just have a shop do them for you, depending on which shop you go to).

Also, buying and installing the parts is easy, making them work their best is hard. For example, shock absorbers with multiple settings are simple to buy; setting them for optimal use takes lots of time and testing. An after-market tuner probably has more experience optimizing the parts then the average person. If they add a turbo-charger (for example,) they know how much boost they can add safely. They know what range to set the shocks at for performance AND reliability.
Tuner cars are production cars that are modified, possibly extensively, before selling. Some tuner shops are so good and respected that the original manufacturer is willing to warranty their modifications.

Peace - DESK

[Starbury]

As someone mentioned up above, AMG does something similar with Mercedes-Benz, though about 10 years ago Daimler-Benz bought majority ownership in them so they don’t currently have quite the same level of independence as Saleen had with Ford. The AMG models are considered an “official” part of MB’s line of cars, so you can buy them at regular Benz dealerships and have them serviced there by the regular mechanics. The parts cost more to replace but labor is billed at the same rate.

Their big selling point is the engines that they make by hand (each individual engine has the tag of whoever built it) in a plant that is independent from the rest of MB. AMG makes a v12 for Pagani, but other than that all of their work is on Benzes as far as I know.

I have a c55, which is the AMG version of MB’s C Class (entry level) car. I don’t know a whole lot about other types of AMGs but to give you some idea of the mods that they put in this one:

[ul]
[li]The engine is a 360hp v8 instead of the stock 230hp v6[/li][li]The front end of the car is slightly extended vs. the regular version, using a different model’s hood, due to safety regulations for the bigger engine. [/li][li]Larger wheels with custom rims[/li][li]The suspension is significantly tighter[/li][li]Quad exhaust vs. stock single exhaust[/li][li]“Racing” seat upgrades for driver and front passenger[/li][li]A few minor body mods, like a small tail on the back, a different grill and headlights on the front[/li][/ul]

To be honest, unless you’re someone that’s really into cars you’d be hard pressed to tell that the car has any significant upgrades over the stock version but there is a noticeable difference once you actually drive it.

[Fotheringay-Phipps]

It’s very commonly done in the case of “conversion vans” which are full size commercial vans (e.g. Ford E-150) modified by aftermarket shops. They buy commercial versus passenger vans so that they can cut their own windows. (Probably cheaper as well.)