2010 Saleen S281

Right off the top I must say that I’ve never seen a better looking Mustang conversion in my life. The Saleen S281 just yells new age muscle car and looks like it’s chiseled out of rock with huge bolstering lines and curves.

Muscular looks aside, the 2010 Saleen S281 delivers a smooth and sophisticated driving experience. Adding to that is Saleen’s Racecraft fully adjustable dampening coil over suspension providing precise and agile handling characteristics. Included also is a Saleen Racecraft front sway bar held in by performance bushings. Optionally you may add a Saleen Racecraft front strut tower brace. The S281 is a well 54/46 balanced 3401 lbs.

Regarding the powertrain, you’re looking at a  twin screw supercharged 4.6L SOHC V8 churning out 485HP at 6000 rpm and 460 lb-ft. of torque at 4250 rpm. A short-throw 5 speed manual transmission and 3.73/3.31 (coupe/cabrio) limited slip differential delivers the grunt to the rear wheels.

The Saleen S281 comes standard with prominent looking staggered 7-spoke Speed Star silver wheels (also available in chrome and 5-spoke) 20×9 fronts and 20×10 rears with 275/35ZR20, 275/40ZR20 front and rear Pirelli P-Zero Rosso tires. Braking performance is provided by front only 14” slotted rotors hugged by 4-piston calipers which can be factory upgraded to 15” slotted rotors with 6-piston calipers the rears get an upgraded 11.8” slotted rotor at the same time.

No Shortage of Interior And Exterior Features

Inside the beast we have illuminated door sill plates, Saleen S281 logos all over the place, custom ambient lighting colors, black faced dash gauges with the speedometer showing the magic 200 mph number, short shifter and aluminum knob, boost pressure and air intake temperature gauge, and an 8 speaker Shaker 500 in-dash 6 CD changer, MP3 enabled audio system for the audiophile in all of us topping off the list. Whew that was a long sentence!

Under the huge Saleen Design Super-Flo hood is a serialized engine bay plaque. Outside we see a number of Saleen marked custom injection-molded body pieces with a windshield graphic and a Saleen S281 Supercharged fender badge providing the finishing touches.