Josh Baker has a thing for yellow. Fair enough. His first car was a Yellow New Edge GT back in the day. Then a Yellow ’05 after that. Then, back in the Fall of 2014, Josh Baker was looking at upgrading to a yellow Boss S197… all the way up in Maine. The new S550 generation was juuuuust starting to come out. He was interested in the S550 & the IRS, but he wasn’t necessarily ‘sold’ on it yet. One night his wife said something along the lines of, “Honey I don’t know why you wouldn’t just buy the brand new one… I mean you could totally start form scratch & do your own thing?”
…That was all the ‘green light’ Josh needed.
Plus… yellow was back as a factory color. The new S550 cars were just barely beginning to trickle into the market, and Corsa Performance was looking for a S500 for R&D. So Josh, from North Carolina, found this yellow car with all the right options up in New York. He flew to Buffalo, signed the paperwork, and then drove it straight to Corsa Performance in Ohio. Corsa had the car for a few weeks, and then returned it to Josh with a shiny new exhaust. Now Josh is no Youtube guru, but he felt compelled to record an review/detail video of the Corsa exhaust on the brand new-generation Stang. Turns out – the timing + interest level was perfect, because the vid got picked up & shared by a bunch of the Mustang forums/pages, hitting over 30,000 views in the first week. Right place… right time.
And things kind of spiraled from there. A few other aftermarket companies looking for an R&D car reached out. And Josh all the sudden had a little surge of momentum on his brand new build.
Today, everything on the car more-or-less accents or supports the Armageddon twin turbo kit. The Armageddon kit is using 2 Garrett GTX3576R turbos. Prior to the turbos, this car was supercharged – and definitely rowdy. But after riding in a friend’s twin-turbo Mustang, the thrill was too real… and Josh was a changed man.
Aesthetically – the car is running a full Cervini kit. And he’s got two sets of wheel/tire setups, depending on the mood.
The drivetrain is almost fully aftermarket. The transmission is a Ben Calimer Stage-1 TR6060, with McLeod clutch & lightweight steel flywheel. It’s got Driveshaft Shop upgraded axles, and carbon driveshaft. And 4.11 gearing
In a weird little twist, the car is running Air Lift air suspension. Drag racers say you can’t run air on a real drag car. Josh kinda says, “Watch me try.” He claims that air, gives you the ability to tweak settings on the fly, helping to dial-in weight transfer & ultimately gain traction. And I feel like, dang if you can make a functioning drag car look this good, I’ll live my life a quarter mile at a time. No problem.
ENGINE
Armageddon twin turbo kit, using Garrett GTX3576R Gen-2 turbos
NLR Systems AMS 2000 Pro boost controller
N2MB 2-step
Injector Dynamics ID 1300 fuel injectors
Fore Innovations L3 return-style fuel system – triple
UPR Products – Armageddon kit-specific catch can
MMR billet oil pump gears & crank sprocket
MMR CMCV lockouts
GT350 intake manifold
Blowfish Racing throttle body adapter
ARP head studs
EXHAUST
Corsa Performance Xtreme axle-back exhaust with black anodized tips
Kook’s forward-facing headers (standard with Armageddon turbo kit)
TUNING
Lund Racing Tune – E85/boost
N-Gauge device
Boost+ box
DRIVETRAIN
Ben Calimer Stage-1 TR6060
American Powertrain reverse lockout
Dakota Digital speedo box
Driveshaft Shop 1400hp halfshaft axles
Drivershaft Shop 1-piece carbon fiber driveshaft
MGW TR6060 swap shifter/knob
McLeod Racing RXT 1200 clutch
McLeod Racing lightened steel flywheel – 8 bolt
McLeod Racing stainless braided clutch line
ARP flywheel bolts
US Gear 4.11 gears – Lightning Series ISF treated (lightened by Strange)
BRAKES
Baer Deep Stage SS4+ drag brakes (front & rear)
Dorman brake hose banjo bolts (PN 13912) x4
Goodridge stainless steel lines (PN 12366)
WHEELS
HRE FlowForm FF04s – 20×10 front & 20×11 rear (STREET SETUP)
-Mickey Thompson Street Comps 275/35/20 front
-Mickey Thompson ET Street SS 305/25/20 rear
Weld Racing Alumistars – 15×3.5 (front) (DRAG SETUP)
-Mickey Thompson ET 27.5×4.00
Weld Racing single deadlock RTS S71Bs – 15×9 (rear) (DRAG SETUP)
-Mickey Thompson ET Drag Bias Ply 28×10.50 stiff walled slicks
ARP 1/2-20 2.5” wheel studs (Steeda)
SUSPENSION
Air Lift performance coilover – digital
Viking double-adjustable ‘Crusader’ shocks x2
Steeda S550 IRS subframe bushing support system (PN 555-4437)
Steeda S550 Rear IRS support braces (PN 555-5754)
UPR billet aluminum vertical links
Steeda S550 IRS subframe alignment kit (PN 555-4438)
EXTERIOR
Cervini’s Auto Designs stalker hood
Cervini’s stalker wing
Cervini’s stalker side scoop
Cervini’s stalker front splitter
Cervini’s stalker side skirts
Cervini’s stalker rear bumper
Cervini’s hood struts
Bullseye Retros / Diode Dynamics RGBW/demon eyes
INTERIOR
FRPP GT350R steering wheel
FRPP GT350R rear seat delete
35% tint
Text by Wooley Photos by Jaron Cole
