Rare Lava Red ’12 Mustang GT Sports Laudable American Muscle Mods

By Brett Foote - October 13, 2020

S197 Mustang GT build started out as a GT500-inspired ride, but then took on a personality all its own.

Recently, the folks over at American Muscle decided to start highlighting some of their many customers’ builds, and in the time since, we’ve been treated to some pretty awesome Mustangs. The latest featured build certainly falls into that category, as it’s a rather rare Lava Red 2012 Mustang GT that’s somewhat of a GT500-inspired creation. But the color of this car is perhaps its most interesting quality, and one that had its owner, Carl, quite confused from the get-go.

“I’ll be honest with you – when I first bought my car, I though I had bought a black car,” Carl said. “I ended up purchasing the car and driving it home, put it in my garage. I pulled it out the next day and I could have sworn someone switched the cars. And I knew it was a special car because of the two-tone interior. The Lava Red is known for the two-tone seating and the door panels.”

Despite its rarity, Carl still wanted to give this S197 Mustang GT his own personal touch. So he navigated over to American Muscle’s extensive online catalog and began working on his curated list of mods. His first purchase was a set of Gloss Black GT500-like wheels, then some larger tires.

Next, Carl attacked the suspension with Koni adjustable shocks, BMR sway bars, and a PowerStop brake kit with slotted rotors. He rounded out this solid foundation with a Steeda crossmember and a Watts link before installing a GT500 exhaust with a cat delete.

Carl even went so far as to install a Super Snake hood on his Mustang GT. But after slapping some Shelby badges on his car, he caught a little flack from his GT500-owning friends, who called it “the thing.” Regardless, that didn’t sway him, as Carl was quite enamored with the way his new ride was looking and driving, though he did wind up putting the 5.0 badges back on there.

Carl then rounded out the appearance mods on his GT with MMD louvers, a GT500 tail, and Lava Red mirrors to replace the original black pieces. He then turned his attention to power, starting with a set of headers, followed by a Roush supercharger. The quest for more continued with a 75 mm pulley and a tune, which has already led to around 650 horsepower. But Carl thinks that the car can easily make 700 after upgrading the fuel system.

Add it all up, and Carl’s GT is one cool, comprehensive build that perfectly personifies what Mustang ownership is all about. We all start with the model we love, then slowly piece together our own personal vision of the perfect car. And in this case, Carl’s vision led to one of the cooler S197s we’ve seen in a while.