If your favorite recipe involves crème fraîche or truffle butter, you’re doing it wrong. For a more zesty concoction, try mixing carbon fiber with supercharged V8s, but don’t forget to chop the top.
Galpin Motors and famed designer Henrik Fisker have followed that blueprint to a T with the Rocket Speedster Concept, which was just unveiled at the 2015 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance event. Based on the 2015 Mustang GT, the vehicle’s exterior has been completely redone with carbon fiber body panels, including a vented hood, custom front splitter, and a “speedster cover” that effectively eliminates the rear seats for a truly unique look.
The carbon fiber tonneau doesn’t just look slick; it’s been carefully designed to reduce drag. Its exposed outlets feature integrated mesh behind the driver and passenger seats to allow a smooth, nonturbulent flow of air — and better yet, the Mustang’s convertible soft top is still functional if you remove the cover.
With a name like Rocket, the performance had better stack up, and it certainly does here. The Speedster equips the same 5.0-liter V8 as the base GT, but it’s been equipped with a Whipple supercharger and produces a whopping 725 horsepower. To help slow the car down, the Concept wears 15-inch Brembo brakes, 21-inch alloy wheels, and fully adjustable suspension.
“When I worked on the Rocket Speedster project with [Galpin Motors President Beau Boeckmann], the creativity sparks were constantly in the air,” said Henrik Fisker. “When I was designing the speedster cover, I gave it extreme sculpture and dynamic lines that flows with the muscular body of the Rocket and created a new interior graphic to go with it. I’m very excited to unveil the Rocket Speedster at the Pebble Beach concept lawn with Beau.”
The coupe version of the “super Mustang” was previewed back in 2014, and a production version was unveiled in March of this year. While the Rocket Speedster you see above is also a conceptual model, a road-going version is planned to be built in low volumes, however no arrival date has been announced at this time.
As far as price goes, Galpin and Fisker did not reveal an MSRP for the convertible. The coupe starts at $109,100 though, so you can expect a noticeable premium for the drop-top model.
