1988 Mildly sort of rare Shotgun Custom

[Franken5liter]

Hey All, been awhile since my last login and longer for a post. But skipping the emotional and into the juicy bits. I recently scored what could be a 1 of 1 supposedly done by Kenny Brown sometime back in the late 80’s. My research has turned up zero on him ever building a ranger and haven’t reached out to his current shop in Indy yet as I wanted to get some feedback from the crowd here first. I was on a hunt for a 1st gen 4x4 for about 6 months to do a resto-mod of sorts and could not find anything not rotted to hell or beat to death for under $3500 and of course thousands of miles away. Anyways I found this gem on OfferUp out in GA for essentially a $ong. Drove 9 hours out there with a buddy to tow it back as it was listed as non-running. We about flipped when we saw it. Practically zero rust, super straight body with a nice GA patina over the original YY paint and a weird “Shotgun Customs” plaque in the dash cubbie/pocket. The owner let it sit for a few years and finally wanted it gone being he was not a car buff as he ended up with it after original owner passed. Anyways tell me what you guys think it is. 1988 touch drive 4x4 std cab SB 4.10 LS axle code I believe it has the high-rider option. The pin striping is super cool love the rims!!! Hoping to hear more info about it if theres any out there. Thanks folks

 

[sgtsandman]

I don’t know enough about the builder to comment one way or another but the truck looks to be in great shape. I think it’s a good find.

 

[Ramcharger90]

agreed.... never heard of him. But its still a unique truck for today. Clean it up and run it

 

[Snoranger]

Who??

I agree... It looks like it’s in great shape.

 

[Ramcharger90]

I can ask my friend who use to work for George Barris and with Chip Foose. But thats all I can really offer.

 

[sheep herder]

I'm not really seeing anything "custom" about it. Has anything been done to the interior?

 

[Franken5liter]

I can ask my friend who use to work for George Barris and with Chip Foose. But thats all I can really offer.

Thanks appreciate it!

 

[Franken5liter]

I'm not really seeing anything "custom" about it. Has anything been done to the interior?

Yeah nothin looks “custom” other than the graphics and the plaque but the engine has color matched accents and some cool stamped steel heat shields over the exhaust manifolds. Might be able to make ‘em out in the photo.

 

[Franken5liter]

agreed.... never heard of him. But its still a unique truck for today. Clean it up and run it

Yeah I have a nice 4r70w 5.0 swap in store for it. Interior is gutted waiting weatherstripping and window seals.

 

[Franken5liter]

Who??

I agree... It looks like it’s in great shape.

Kenny Brown Performance Handling Cars

Our passion is building and driving well-balanced, exhilarating, fun-to-drive high-performance sports cars, track cars, and race cars. Our focus is delivering you a very personalized and unparalleled driving and customer experience by making your car dreams and driving ambitions a reality.

kennybrown.com

This is his current ahop but not a whole lot of historical info about him.

 

[Franken5liter]

I don’t know enough about the builder to comment one way or another but the truck looks to be in great shape. I think it’s a good find.

Thanks Sarg, I’ll keep a running build thread on it. Lots of time consuming clean up but all in all definitely in great shape.

 

[Franken5liter]

agreed.... never heard of him. But its still a unique truck for today. Clean it up and run it

Some minor info floating around the mustang forums. Seems like they were mainly appearance packages.

Shotgun Customs????? - MustangForums.com

5.0L General Discussion - Shotgun Customs????? - Anybody ever heard of Shotgun Customs and what type of mods they did to mustangs besides the ground effects packages? I bought a 1990 LX 5.0 about a year ago and it has a Shotgun Custom sticker on the deck lid and a Boss Fuel Injected 302 sticker...

mustangforums.com

 

[RobbieD]

Looks like you made a nice score.

What I'm seeing as aftermarket (or as dealer-installed) parts are the cab visor, hood scoop and tailgate trim cap, and the pin stripe side graphics. All of these look likely as being originally installed when the truck was new. There may have been some interior bits, like cup holders or wood trim pieces. Rarely did I see engine parts or engine bay upgrades in conversions at the time.

I worked around conversions in the '80s. I remember the name Shotgun Customs, and remember the plaque and logo, but no other details. There were a lot of converters back then, but only a few of them had any real name recognition.

Your plans for the truck sound really good. Would love to see more of it as you go along, and after you're done.

Nice score, and good luck!

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Hey All, been awhile since my last login and longer for a post. But skipping the emotional and into the juicy bits. I recently scored what could be a 1 of 1 supposedly done by Kenny Brown sometime back in the late 80’s. My research has turned up zero on him ever building a ranger and haven’t reached out to his current shop in Indy yet as I wanted to get some feedback from the crowd here first. I was on a hunt for a 1st gen 4x4 for about 6 months to do a resto-mod of sorts and could not find anything not rotted to hell or beat to death for under $3500 and of course thousands of miles away. Anyways I found this gem on OfferUp out in GA for essentially a $ong. Drove 9 hours out there with a buddy to tow it back as it was listed as non-running. We about flipped when we saw it. Practically zero rust, super straight body with a nice GA patina over the original YY paint and a weird “Shotgun Customs” plaque in the dash cubbie/pocket. The owner let it sit for a few years and finally wanted it gone being he was not a car buff as he ended up with it after original owner passed. Anyways tell me what you guys think it is. 1988 touch drive 4x4 std cab SB 4.10 LS axle code I believe it has the high-rider option. The pin striping is super cool love the rims!!! Hoping to hear more info about it if theres any out there. Thanks folksView attachment 45065View attachment 45062View attachment 45061
View attachment 45060View attachment 45066

Whats going on with the extra heat sinks on the valve covers, braces on the exhaust manifolds, and extra fuel pressure regulator?

Just for posterity sake, could you post a photo of the codes on the labels on your pcm? They did some work to the engine that almost looks like FI prep...

 

[Uncle Gump]

Something smells like it's burning... you OK PJ?

Could those louvered things on the valve covers be some fancy ignition wire looms?