64
DRIVES
exhaust doesn’t bellow its intentions the way the Mustang’s
does. But get on the Kia, and Marietta is right on its tail,
and everyone within a half-mile radius knows.
We stop for a bit of poking and prodding under the
Stinger’s hood; you might expect these two to be critical
of the Stinger’s maze of plumbing, but they seem satisfied
everything is in order. We give them a quick overview of
the controls, then Marietta takes the wheel.
Marietta points out the carburetor
intake plenum and the splash guard
for the fuel cell. “We weld these up by
hand,” he says. “Nowadays, you can buy
them for $20, but that’s not how we
did it in the old days.” He moves to the
hand-flared rear fenders. “I did one side,
and Ted did the other,” he says. Are they
identical on both sides? “Of course not!”
he says with a laugh.
Before turning Marietta and Sutton
loose in the Stinger, we head into the
hills for some pacing-and-chasing shots
while the cars are still clean. Sixties-era
muscle can feel a bit tame compared
with today’s fuel-injected turbocharged wonders, but it
becomes instantly obvious the Stinger isn’t going to shake
this particular Mustang.
OVC’s GT350Rs pack a stronger punch than the originals.
The estimated 450 horsepower is about 150 better than the
original and 85 more than the Stinger. And at 2,800 pounds,
the Mustang is also more than half a ton lighter than the
Kia. Stealth is the latter’s only advantage: The Stinger’s
