1976 Ford Mustang Cobra II - Low-Buck Bully

Magazines are full of ultra high-dollar rides splashed across their pages. These automotive works of art give us ideas of things to do to our own humble rides and in many cases provide aesthetic inspiration. Nevertheless, for most of us the real world is not composed of hundred-thousand-dollar rides, but made up of affordable cars that we can actually drive on a regular basis. Such a car was discovered while putting together a recent Hometown Hot Rodding segment; it was a picture of a Mustang II eating up the apex of a road course. We knew this car needed to be featured. A phone call was made to Alcino Azevedo Jr. of Lakeside, California, and we set up a photo shoot and, more importantly, some track testing.

The little Mustang II Cobra was bought new by Alcino's uncle Alberto and sold the next year to Alcino's father. A few years later Alcino was born and he grew up with the '76 Cobra as the family transporter. Alcino says, "I can still remember being small enough to not see over the dash while riding shotgun." As the years went on, the engine in the tired Cobra finally gave up the ghost and his father Alcino was ready to send the Ford to the scrap yard. Even though Alcino had his eye on a '69 Boss 302 clone as his first car, he just couldn't let the family heirloom go to the trash. After some convincing, his father fixed the car, and when Alcino turned 16, he got the keys. But the years had not been kind to the neglected Cobra. As Alcino stated, "The paint was faded, the body dented, the engine, along with the rest of the car, was painfully stock. Because of the 'uncoolness' factor of the car and my lack of money, I started to learn how to do body work, engine maintenance, performance upgrades, and welding to modify the car into something that could compete and beat that Boss Mustang I used to have my eye on." Alcino gives a lot of credit to his uncle Alzarino for not only teaching him to weld and fabricate, but not to be afraid if something wasn't made for the car. "Just get the torch and welder and make it fit," relates Alcino.

Alcino knew that the Mustang needed some help in the looks department. He also realized that he wanted some wider tires on the car for better handling. With this in mind, he started fabricating some metal rear fender flares to accommodate wider rollers. As a side benefit, this gave the Mustang II a more aggressive stance. He also customized the front and rear bumpers to clean up the body lines a bit. When all was done he shot the car in a cool shade of Bahama Blue that he saw on a '91 Chevy truck. The paintwork wouldn't win any car shows, but then again, going to car shows was not what this car was about. Instead, Alcino was focused on putting the hurt to the competition at the local road course.