2007 Mustang Saleen Parneli Jones Heritage Edition

This is the day I brought the Saleen PJ Heritage Edition home.

This year, 2024, in April the Mustang will be 60 years old! To those of us who remember its introduction in April of 1964 that seems impossible. While the other Pony cars that were introduced over the years have come and gone, the Mustang has remained in production. It has changed considerably over the years with some high points and low points. Over the years others have taken on the challenge to improve the car above and beyond what Ford produced. Most notable of these are Carroll Shelby, Jack Rouch, and Steve Saleen. Shelby was the first and most notable of the three, arguably, Rouch the least. Saleen, much like Shelby was a racer. He built Mustangs and raced them. The first Shelby Mustang hit the streets in 1965 while it took another 20 years for the first Saleen to be available and it too remains in production.

We are not going into a history of the Saleen but we are going to tell you about one of our favorite (there are many) Saleen Mustangs. Many of you will remember the very popular Fox Body Mustang Saleens. This is not one of those. In addition to being a racer, Steve Saleen also hired some of the best racers of the time as drivers for his race cars. In the late 60’s and early 70’s one of the most popular racing organizations was the Trans Am series that included the new Pony cars including the Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, Barracuda, Javelin and some foreign makes. For this series, Saleen had Parnelli Jones (PJ), George Folmer and Dan Gurney wheeling his race cars.

This is the restored 1970 Mustang Parnelli dove to the Trans Am Championship.

In 1970 the Bud Moore #15 Mustang driven by Parnelli Jones won the Trans Am series. Parnelli was recognized as a winner in NASCAR and Indy Car in addition to off road racing and Trans Am. Parnelli loved his Bud Moore 1970 Trans Am Mustang so much that in the early 2000’s he began the build of a street version of his Trans Am winning 1970 Mustang. He eventually went to Steve Saleen and asked him to help build the 70 Mustang painted in the same Grabber Orange as his race car. After hearing what Parnelli had to say, Steve suggested he had a better idea. He suggested that a new street version Saleen Mustang be modified to include the appropriate changes to make it resemble the 1970 race car but even faster.

This is an 18th scale model of one of the other Bud Moore Trans Am Boss 302 1970 Mustangs. I was able to get Parnelli Jones, George Follmer and Dan Gurney (all Bud Moore Trans Am drivers), plus Carrolle Shelby and Bob Bondurant to autograph this car at a Ford sponsored vintage race at Laguna Seca! I also have Bud Moore’s autograph but not one this model.

With that, Parnelli and Saleen began the development of what would become the 2007 Saleen Mustang Parnelli Jones Heritage Edition. Only 500 examples were produced. This car included styling hints of the 1970 street Mustang yet out perform the original race car!

What makes a Mustang into a Saleen? This will vary from model year to model year and also within the model year depending on special editions that may be built. In 2007 the Parnelli Jones Heritage Edition included a large number of modifications/upgades to the exterior and interior, suspension, and engine. Here is a partial listing of the changes on each of the 500 examples built.

Saleen bored the factory 5.0 engine to a real 302ci V8 making 400hp with a 6,500 RPM redline. This was connected to a 5-speed transmission. Other modifications to the engine included forged pistons, rods, and crankshaft, a lightweight aluminum flywheel, and high-performance exhaust. The exterior was painted Grabber Orange (the same color as Parnelli’s winning race car) with black stripes on the side and top and a true Shaker hood which was made of aluminum and included hood pins. Other modifications included chrome trim around the grille and rear facia, new fenders and front facia/bumper, a PJ exclusive rear bumper was added along with side window covers and 70’s style louvers over the rear window. The aluminum pop up racer style gas cap also added to the race car flare. The interior was modified to include new seats with Grabber Orange inserts and two extra gauges added to the top of the dash. A Watts-link suspension was installed to improve handling, improved springs, shocks, sway bars, and Saleen 14″ brakes along with Pirelli tires on custom Saleen 19″ wheels. Each of the 500 Saleens were signed on the dash by Saleen and Parnelli Jones. Oh, one more thing for the Walter Mitty owners’ thinking they are PJ, removable gumball style PJ race car #15 decals for the doors and “Parnelli Jones” name decals for over the driver’s door!

The car images shown in this article are all of car #76 (all Saleen’s are numbered). It is all original, and has just over 2,500 original miles! It is a joy to drive and is definitetly a high RPM thrill. It pulls very strong at the high end. It is comfortable with air conditioning, PS, PB, PW, Power driver’s seat, and full stereo with six disk CD. It is a very fun cruise car. I have never taken it to a track day but from vigrous street driving I am sure it would be rewarding. I did some research on old road test articles in period magazines. Parnelli received PJ Heritage Editions #1 and #2. Did they fulfill his desire to replace his original 1970 Trans Am race car on the street? He took a PJ Heritage to the Laguna Seca race track and the then current owner of his original race car brought it to the track. Parnelli took the old race car out and then proceeded to turn quicker laps in his new street car! Enough said.

Watch each of the videos below to learn even more about Saleens!