For Adam Buntley, his 2001 Ford Mustang Cobra isn’t just a car—it’s been a part of his life’s journey since the day he graduated high school. He found the legit Cobra close to home, struck a deal, and drove it back with the excitement every young enthusiast dreams about. That excitement, however, was short-lived. On the way home, the four-valve 4.6L spun a rod bearing, sidelining the freshly purchased Mustang before it had even settled into its new garage.
ABOVE: Adam Buntley has owned his 2001 Ford Mustang Cobra for eight years, buying it just after graduating high school. On the drive home, the car spun a rod bearing—but Adam repaired it with a single new piston, rod, and bearing. That same fix still holds today, even as the Cobra now runs mid-8s in the quarter-mile with the help of a homemade turbo system and a face-plated TREMEC Magnum 6-speed from Tick Performance.
Most people would have been discouraged. Adam wasn’t. Instead, he tore into the engine, replaced the damaged piston, rod, and bearing, and kept driving. Remarkably, that same repair still holds today—the engine has never gone through a full rebuild.
From there, Adam’s relationship with the Cobra only deepened. Wanting more horsepower and durability, he swapped the factory independent rear suspension for a solid axle with Viking rear shocks. The front remains largely stock aside from coilovers. In 2020, Adam decided it was time for serious power and fabricated his own turbo piping system at home, feeding boost into the four-cam V8.
ABOVE: The interior of Adam’s 2001 Ford Mustang Cobra remains mostly stock aside from the roll cage and racing seats. Despite its track-ready upgrades Adam still drives the car regularly on the street.
That increase in power meant the drivetrain needed to step up. The factory TREMEC transmission was replaced with a face-plated TREMEC Magnum 6-speed from Tick Performance, paired with a Hanlon Motorsports shifter and a Black Magic slipper clutch. As the hard parts to make more horsepower increased, the stock ECU simply couldn’t keep up, so Adam upgraded to a Holley Terminator X to take full control of the boosted DOHC engine.
ABOVE: Adam’s Cobra still runs its original 4.6L 4V engine, except for the single piston, rod, and bearing replaced the day he bought it. Boost now comes from a large turbocharger, with tuning handled by a Holley Terminator X system. Power is sent through a face-plated TREMEC Magnum 6-speed and Hanlon Motorsports shifter.
Despite the race-oriented upgrades, Adam continues to drive the Cobra on the street regularly. And when it’s time for the track, the car delivers—its best pass so far is an 8.69 at 159 mph, recorded at Sick on the Green 2025. That event also happened to be where we met Adam, as he battled his way to a runner-up finish in the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout.
ABOVE: When it was time for serious performance, Adam built his own piping system and added a 7576 turbocharger at home. The added boost transformed the Cobra into an 8-second car with room for even quicker times.
For Adam, though, the focus isn’t just on trophies. The goal is to keep pushing the Cobra into the low 8s—always with a stick-shift TREMEC gearbox in place—while continuing the story of a car and driver who’ve grown up together.
ABOVE: To handle the extra power, Adam swapped the factory independent rear suspension for a solid axle with Viking coil-over shocks. At Sick on the Green 2025, during the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout, he ran his fastest pass yet—an 8.69 @ 159 mph in the quarter-mile.