Whether it’s wheels-up at the drag strip or ordering ice cream from their local drive-in
parlor, Matt and Charla Keiser can’t get enough of their ’68 Cobra Jet-powered Mustang. A fan of everything Cobra Jet, Matt always wanted a ’68 428 CJ, but one that suited his flavor. In this case, it’s
the red fastback that the Keiser family has transformed into its ultimate example.
Knowing he’d want to go beyond stock, Matt found a small-block, fastback Mustang for
the project and then it was go time, literally.
Matt Kaiser goes wheels-up in his 482 stroker-powered ’68 Mustang GT, but it is equally at home cruising with his wife for an ice cream cone. (Photo by Evan J. Smith)
I grew up around Mustangs; they’ve been part of our family for as long as I can
remember, and the first opportunity I had to buy a fastback was this car,”
Car owner Matt Kaiser
“I was in college — that was back in 1993,” Matt recalled. ”We bought this car and probably spent money that should have gone towards tuition, but I had the opportunity. I was working for my
uncle and cousin at a car dealership at the time while I was working my way through
school.”
Stuffing an FE into an early Mustang was not an easy task, not even from the factory. (Photo by Evan J. Smith)
Matt continued, “The car sat under tarps. It had been a project started years before, and
just kind of got pushed to the wayside. The family that had it were gracious enough to
sell it to me, and then it went in storage for a while. It was an absolute basket case. The car was basically a bare shell. It had no drivetrain, but it was solid. And, you know, at that time, I was a young guy, didn’t care. It was a ’68 fastback and that’s all that mattered.
Ah, the joy of youth.
At the drag strip, the car runs in the 9s at 133, but is docile enough to drive on the street. (Photo by Evan J. Smith)
“So, it went in storage for a lot of years and Charla and I got married, started a family, and
that obviously took priority. Then around 2000, we made a honest effort to get the car
put together. It’s originally a Candy Apple red car that had a small-block. With the dollar
value of the real R-code cars, [being a small block] made it an affordable start for us. But I’m a big-block guy. Everything we own is FE-powered, so it had to be FE. We never try to claim the car as being original, but we wanted to do an honest tribute to the Cobra Jets,” he stated.
The red interior is so period perfect for 1968. The factory seats are good for street cruising. The Auto Meter tach is large and prominent for letting the owner know when to move the Cheetah SCS shifter at exactly the right time. (Photos by Evan J. Smith)
Matt got the ’68 running with a 428 CJ engine, which motivated the Mustang for several
years. He bracket raced at local northern Indiana tracks, along with racing in the now-
defunct NMCA (National Muscle Car Association), along with cruising the streets at home on the
weekends.
“We enjoyed doing the Index class and Nostalgia Super Stock, and just fell in
love with it, but eventually we broke the stock block and decided to upgrade,” Matt said.
A Trick Flow specialties intake and cylinder heads comprise the top end of the 482-inch FE. A iron Bear Block Motors block is stuffed with a stroker crank and regularly spins to 7,000 rpm. (Photos by Evan J. Smith)
While Matt started with a legit 428 Cobra Jet, he wanted more power and reliability. He
arrived at a 482-inch FE with and aftermarket block and stroker crank. Amazingly, he retained a flat-tappet cam and kept the compression at 12:1 so he could continue to drive the Mustang on
the street (albeit with race gas).
“Over the years we made more and more power. With the old engine, the car was
running 10.50s consistently, but we finally busted the block. So. I knew we were at the
limits of what the vintage iron was going to be able to take. So, we chose a Bear Block
Motors (BBM) iron block; it’s a super stout piece,“ said Matt. ”We also decided to bring the cubic
inches up a little bit, so it’s got a stroker crank, too, and Trick Flow heads. It also has an
SP four-barrel carburetor and a TFS intake. We turn 7,000 rpm — that’s the beauty of
having all the cubes, you don’t have to rev very high.”
Matt told us the 482 has not been on a dyno, but the pretty red pony has run 9.95 at 133 mph in the quarter-mile — and that was at 3,485 lbs. with the driver.
Matt found that the 482 likes a 3.89 gearset best after experimenting with other ratios. (Photo by Evan J. Smith)
With years of racing and street driving under his belt, Matt has the Ford dialed in. “The
car, the suspension, really everything, has taken a lot of time,” Matt explained. The
drivetrain consists of a C-4 three-speed automatic for lighter weight with a low first-gear for improved acceleration. The transmission is fully rollarized and was built by Joel’s On Joy.
Matt and Charla enjoy going to races together. The fold-down rear seat leaves lots of room for groceries, tools, and coolers, among other things. (Photos by Evan J. Smith)
The rear is a built Ford 9-inch with 3.89:1 gearing, but Matt’s experimented with as high
as a 4.30. “With the torque that this 482 makes, it really likes that 3.89 gear,” he added.
To improve performance and structural integrity, Matt added a strut tower brace system
from Competition Engineering. This came because of doing monster wheelies repeatedly. It also has a six-point roll bar tied into the frame.
“The body’s good and solid structurally, but it was coming down pretty hard,” Matt said.
“We got Caltracs on the rear, with the Calvert Racing split mono leaf springs. Everything
on the front’s been fully rollarized, including the upper and lower control arms, and we
still use stock spring perches. After the big wheelstands came, we finally put some
money towards adjustable shocks, so we’re able to tune it now.
“I wanted a stock appearing car, not something that just stood out as an all-out race car,
you know, just bad-to-the-bone streetcar. But it still screams that it has that Cobra Jet
feel to it,” Matt said.
This car has been a family effort since the beginning. Matt and his dad worked on it a lot
together. There are bits and pieces his father fabricated, like the gauge cluster. He assembled
the original 428 back in the day and Matt built the new one. This paint is 20-plus years old, but still looks great.
Mickey Thompson ET Streets measuring P275/60R15 put all that FE horsepower to the pavement. Wilwood brakes ensure the pony car stops on the street and from 133 mph drag strip passes. (Photo by Evan J. Smith)
“My uncle and I painted this car together. And this is the first time I ever went in the booth and sprayed. We took turns putting base coats down and then putting the clear down. And then, as we started our family, our boys have now gotten older, and they are a part of it. Charla and I do this together. She’s absolutely my partner in this, and she’s become a real integral part of our racing. I couldn’t do it without her.”
The Mustang is a crowd pleaser. It leaves smooth and beautiful and Matt has learned to
control the big wheelies. It’s a classic, so you don’t want to scuff the paint on this thing
While Matt has dipped in the 9s, he’s mainly limited to 10.0 in the quarter because he
doesn’t have a full cage.
“Obviously, it’s got a lot more in it,” he said, “but it’s only legal to run 10.0. We like that performance level. I think it’s got some 9.70s in it somewhere down the road, if we got some good weather.”
The Mustang draws a crowd at the track or on the street, but its biggest fan is Charla.
“I’ve driven it, too,” said Charla. “We like to take it to the local cruise nights and car shows. The kids love it and we love it. I mostly love Matt’s passion. He’s put his heart and soul into this car; it’s a part of our family. But hands down I love the headers and the exhaust (when we run it with pipes on the street. I mean, it’s got the big block FE sound. They are so unique,” she stated. And I love the reaction when we take it out; it’s a head turner. Everybody stops. Everybody pays attention.
