Mike Knowles' Blown Money Mob Edition '67 Mustang Pro Mod
First Look: Mike Knowles’ Mob Edition ’67 Mustang Pro Mod
Written by Jason Reiss / DragZine
Watch Mob Edition’s Track Debut
There are “race car shops”, and then there are race car builders, and we think our friends over at Tim McAmis Race Cars fall into the latter category. Our observation was proven true when we received these incredible photographs of Mike Knowles’ brand-spankin’-new, absolutely un-freakin’-believable ’67 Mustang destined to compete in the NHRA’s Pro Mod category. These are the first photographs of this car found anywhere in the world, as the car has been kept under tight wraps up until now. That’s right – you’re reading a scoop, one that only we here at Dragzine are capable of bringing to you.
We spoke with Tim McAmis himself, who was happy to detail some of the incredible features found on the car. “We built the entire car, fabricated all of the custom parts, and even handled everything down to the lettering on the car, Mike’s new uniforms and hero cards. He had one point of contact on the entire build and he didn’t have to go anywhere else. We even handled the concept for the wrap on his hauler,” McAmis explained.
The custom touches on this machine are simply unreal – all centered around Mike’s fascination with the Mob. See, Knowles is a businessman, and there’s perhaps no more successful group of businessmen than the old-time Mafia. Despite their not-so-pure intentions, it’s impossible to discount the fact that they were definitely good at their craft, and Mike’s fascination of the five famous mob families documented throughout the car’s paint scheme is a central point of the car’s build.
The TMRC lightweight carbon-fiber ’67 Mustang body rests atop one of their state-of-the-art Blown Pro Modified chassis, and features a custom CFH 14-71 supercharger atop a 526 cubic inch Brad Anderson HEMI engine making approximately 3,000 horsepower, while the power runs through a B&J three-speed transmission with a Quick Drive converter unit. The chassis has been powdercoated with a “rusted” look, and houses some of the trickest components known to man, including a Tim McAmis Performance Parts billet rearend housing and dozens of other custom touches. We spent nearly an hour perusing the photos and still don’t think we’ve found everything they’ve designed. The steering column has been drilled to give the appearance of a custom gun barrel, there’ss a CNC’d and airbrushed knife parachute handle, CNC brass knuckle on-off switch, dynamite-airbrushed fire bottles to go with the CNC’d/airbrushed razor fire bottle handle, and even Tommy Gun handbrake grips to complement the Tommy Gun wing struts.
TMRC’s on-site marketing and production division, Tyrant Productions, headed by noted motorsports artist Justin Spencer, took care of the design process for Knowles. Spencer handled dozens of hours of consultation with Mike throughout the course of the build. Much time was spent researching the design, including a trip to Chicago with Mike to see the historical sites and learn all about the events and activities of the old-time Chicago Mob. This research enabled Spencer to come up with period-correct images and scenes featuring Mike’s top five mobsters – Al Capone, John Gotti, Lucky Luciano, Joe Banano, and Meyer Lansky. The driver’s side of the car depicts the Prohibition Era-mobsters, with images of Luciano, Capone, whiskey barrels, Tommy Guns, and more. On the passenger side, Mob-run “Old Vegas” takes center stage, with a historical Vegas skyline, gambling, and guns found throughout the design.
But there are more than two sides to a car – and Spencer put even more time into designing the decklid, trunk, and hood area. There, the “Mob’s Greatest Hits” depicts the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Joe “The Boss” Masseria, “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, and Albert Anastasia, sourced from newspaper photos of the day. Famous mobster quotes are also painted on all surfaces of the car, while the interior features custom airbrushed bullet holes, and there’s even a Tommy Gun shooter mural on the wheel tub.
Before you ask – yes, that is real paint. The murals and quite a bit of the airbrushing were done by one of the best in the business, Chuck Buckler. Jeff Hoskins also assisted with the airbrush work, including the bullet-holes and much of the other detailing, along with performing the finish-painting. Those $100 bills are real, and reside underneath the clearcoat – Spencer says you can’t even feel them if you run your hand over the paint. As you can see, no expense was spared (literally!) and the end result is nothing short of one of the most incredible cars we’ve ever seen.
The “Blown Money” theme has run throughout Knowles’ two previous Pro Mod machines, as this is his third TMRC-built car; he most recently competed in his ’68 Camaro whose design was also conceived by Spencer and the team at TMRC, and he’s also owned and competed in a ’63 McAmis Corvette a few years back. Each of these cars has had TMRC’s legendary attention to detail, but this is Mike’s best build yet…
