20 Years Ago
November 2003: 114 pages, $3.99
“Ford’s Baddest V-8 Ever” was the 5.4-liter supercharged alloy engine developed for the upcoming Ford GT. Senior Editor Matt King and photographer Randy Lorentzen (who shot the cover images) put together a six-page, component-by-component examination of the 500hp, 500 lb-ft mill. Stories about readers’ rides are typically newsstand winners, which is why that blurb took the prime top-of-page location. Technical Editor Steve Magnante profiled 10 reader cars that had been and . And there was a full-page ad with a wheelstanding Fox-body Mustang. Under it was the question, “What if we had a drag race and no one brought a trailer?” Below that teased, “The most legit street car race, coming soon in HOT ROD.” Spoiler alert: Freiburger announced the first Pump Gas Drags two issues later.
