Peppy bright red, two doors, drop top with a leaping horse on its nose – nope not a Ford Mustang. We’re talking about a Maruti 800 modified into a Ford Mustang, well, a baby Mustang if you will. The Maruti 800 Convertible is the brainchild of a man in Shillong and the end result of the mad scientist experiment is giving me mixed feelings – a part of me says ‘aww, it’s cute’ and the other screams ‘what is that thing!’ Whatever you decide to feel about it, the Maruti Mustang 8000 will grab your attention, like it or not.
So, the Shillong man’s modified Maruti 800 only has two doors and is a soft drop-top convertible. The front end has been added with a custom grille that has the only one bit which compels me to call it a baby Mustang – the Ford Mustang badge. The bumper is also new.
The bonnet has a faux air scoop, but the multi-spoke alloys sure look good. The door handles are chrome plated. The car’s roof has to be taken up or down manually. On the inside, the Maruti 800 is mostly the same except for the all-black theme and a better steering wheel. At the back, it gets custom tail lamps, a spoiler, and a new bumper.
While it isn’t known if the little Mustang was given ant performance upgrades, but a stock Maruti 800 is powered by a 796cc, three-cylinder, petrol engine that makes 37 bhp and 59 Nm of torque.
Not sure what objective does it serve as even the extensively deranged will not be convinced that it is a real Ford Mustang, nor will it go any faster or sound better. And for all that matters, the missing B- and C- pillars will have affected rigidity and hence safety. But it does stand out. Your thoughts?
