New Toy: 1985 Mustang Predator GT-302/Twister 2

[02pnygt]

I purchased this car about a month ago. Not alot of folks in our area(the northeast) seem to know much about these cars. The Predator's, Twister II's, and even Dominators were some special models that were marketed in the Mid-West(mostly Kansas and Missouri). Will try to give some history on the vehicle without dragging it out too much. This car is Predator #5S-0149. It actually started life as a Twister II model. Ford built 90 Twister II's in 85 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the original Twister's in 1970. This Twister II was 1 of 8(1 hatch, 1 red vert, and 6 white verts)(of the white verts 3 were auto/cfi and 3 were 4bbl/5spd)that got sent to Soloman American in Topeka, KS to be converted to a Predator model. Tom Soloman was the owner of Soloman American. He at one time worked with Carroll Shelby in the 60's. He went to Ford in 83 with the idea to build these cars. Ford did not want to them internally, but gave Tom the go ahead. Predators were built 83-86 with most production being in 84-85. In 1985 they built 135. Car numbers started at 100 so this is car #49. This particular car breaks down to 1 of 3 that is a predator/twister II, white, vert, 302 4bbl, 5spd. When these cars went to Soloman they basically removed all the twister graphics(that was the only thing really special about a twister II) and did the predator coversion. The GT-302 got the shelby scoop, shelby style striped, rocker stripes, serial number badging, GT-302 badges, chrome air cleaner, predator badged valve covers, monte carlo bar, walnut shift knob, body colored moldings, 8 spoke wheel with shelby tri bar spinner, and roll bar. They also built gt-302r's and gt-302h's which got more engine and suspension mods. Here are a few pics.







With my 80 Cobra

[02pnygt]

This picture is from the gentleman i bought the car from. The vert is of course my car now. The blue car is a 1985 Predator gt-302r. It happens to be car 50 which was the car built after mine(49). He restored this car for a gentleman in Texas. The black is a 1984 and belongs to the gentleman i bought my car from. It is a GT-302H model.

[Silverhatch]

Badass. Learn something new every day!

[PaxtonShelby]

Dang that's very cool! I had no idea the Twister resurfaced in the 1980's. Post up some links to some online info/documentation when you get a chance.

[Darren]

That is really cool!! I loved the 1970 twister and like Ron said I never knew they brought the name back!

[Martin0660]

Was following this on FEP, nice car for sure.

[GOT SVT]

nice pick up

thanks for the details

[02pnygt]

Thanks everyone, appreciate the compliments. The previous owner basically did a restoration as far as body and paint. He added the twister graphic back to the rear quarter to pay tribute to it originaly being a twister.

[02pnygt]

Dang that's very cool! I had no idea the Twister resurfaced in the 1980's. Post up some links to some online info/documentation when you get a chance.

There is not alot of information about there on these cars which is rather unfortunate. I will post a few links to some of the info i have found online. I do have a certificate from a gentleman name Orland Haywood who runs the Predator Registry and has all the information on them confirming that the car was a predator. It also still wears it's original tag on the inner fender with it's serial number. There is/was also a twister/twister II registry which was ran by a gentleman named Terry Fritts. Unfortunately he passed away a couple years ago and it seems no one else has really taken over th at registry. The previous owner of the car had been emailing back and forth with him with the vin number of this car to verify it as a twister II before he passed away and had confirmed the car as a twister II vin. I have copies of all the email discussion between them on the car. Orlando(predator registry) also has a list of twister II vins that were converted to predators and also confimed the vin number on the car. It has a pretty good paper trail with it. Here are a couple links to various online sites with information on both models.

http://www.twisterspecialregistry.com/default.asp

http://mustangtimes.net/19-12/pg12-16.pdf

[02pnygt]

Here is a pic of the Soloman American fender tag with Predator serial number. This is an older pic from before the car was restored. I need to get some current pictures of this stuff. Also Marti Report which shows the Twister II option.

predtwist marti report.pdf

[Donstang86]

Thumbs up for a four eyed guy!