Saleen Club of America
Featured Car of the Month
Robert Cutler's S351-R #97-01 ~ April 2004
This month we feature Robert Cutler's S351-R Speedster, number 97-01. The story of this special car is best told by the owner, so please enjoy, as we let Robert tell us about it in his own words. - The Saleen Club of America
Every teenagers dream is to own a mustang when they turn sixteen and I was no different. You could understand my disappointment when my parents had other ideas of what a sophomore in high school should drive. So as an 18 year old freshman in college on my own for the first time, you could only imagine what I did with my first paycheck: bought a mustang. However, it was not your typical early sixties coupe that I had envisioned. One of my best friends had turned me on to a specialized form of mustang: a Saleen Mustang to be exact. He had worked at Saleen Performance for nearly four years and was actually selling his Saleen that he had intended on restoring. It only took one quick drive in his 85 Saleen and I feel in love. My obsession with Saleen began on April 1st 1998, when I purchased my first Saleen, a white 1985 Hatchback #0140. The obsession continued to grow three years later when I purchased my second Saleen, a white 1998 N/A S281 Speedster #0032. One would think that owning one Saleen would be fulfilling enough, a second Saleen overboard, but a third would be ludicrous?? My personal belief would be obsessed!
Excited to show off my first Saleen, I attended the 2nd annual Saleen Performance Car show in September 1998. On display were three of Saleen’s current model cars: a blue S281 coupe, a red S281 speedster and a white S351 speedster. Having the need for speed and the love of white mustangs, I was naturally drawn to the S351 Speedster. Leaving the show that day, I jokingly said to my family and friends that I would own that speedster some day. With a price tag just over $63,000, the joke was on me as to how I could ever afford a car like that. The odds of that happening, both financially and with availability was slim to none or so we thought. Who would have guessed that the same car I was drooling over that day would come up for sale on ebay four years later. The car was for sale by the original owner with just over 16,500 miles on the clock. I wasted no time on the pursuit to own my dream car. Within a week of seeing the original auction on ebay, I jumped on the opportunity and added a third Saleen to the collection.
I began research on the history of the newly acquired Saleen. Liz Summar at Saleen Performance was very helpful in locating and explaining the rare and interesting history of this particular Saleen. These S351 happened to be the personal car of Tony Johnson (major business owner of Saleen at this time), as well as the cover car for the 1998 S351 sales brochure. Further more, this Saleen was used for the 1998 Saleen Media Guide and was featured in a number of Magazine articles including Sports Car International Aug/Sep 1998 Issue and AmCar Magazine August 1998 (Swedish publication) to name a few. Although the car is 1997 S351 #0001, it was built alongside all the 98 model year S351’s and was built to 98 specifications. It was temporarily numbered 1998 S351 #0001 while it served as the press/media car for Saleen Performance. When the car was sold to the original owner in March 2000, the 97 ID badges were placed back on the vehicle and sold as 1997 #0001. To my knowledge, there was no 1998 #0001 built to replace it.
The car remains 99% stock to this day with a Bassani X-pipe as the only modification so far. Plans are to keep the car as close to stock as possible with just a few more mods planned for the future. The last dyno run, the car pulled 470rwhp and 510rwtq. A complete fuel system and a 15 psi pulley are the only future upgrades planned that should lay the car well into the 500rwhp / 500 rwtq club. The price tag was a mere $63,000 with every option available added to the car except power seats and the $10,000 IRS upgrade. Since the purchase of the S351 Speedster, the S281 speedster was sold and replaced with another version of the S351 a 1995 Coupe #0011. All three Saleens (AKA The Three White Horsemen) are taken to shows whenever possible but the speedster gets all the attention. One show patron asked if I was obsessed with these cars?? I smiled and laughed, “Obsessed! That would be an understatement.
Dyno Results
Please click any of the pictures below for the full size image.
Sales Brochure featuring 97-01
Promotional Images featuring 97-01
