U.S. Air Force builds two crazy custom pony cars for recruiting

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Click images for their photo galleries


Mustang X-1





Challenger Vapor


We're all about the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, but they need some help in the form of new recruits, and that's where good old fashioned recruiting comes in. But it's not like the old days where a couple of uniformed officers attend a job fair in your high school gymnasium. These days, the U.S. Air Force is using a pair of radically customized pony cars to get your attention. Mission accomplished.

Built in conjunction with Galpin Auto Sports (who else?), the Mustang X-1 and Challenger Vapor land like a bomb when they hit your retinas. The X1 features a full jet cockpit with a single ejector seat placed centrally. The body has been widened at all four corners – the rear by six inches on both sides – to accommodate the largest tires you can buy today. There's a custom onboard A/C unit behind the single seat that's fed by twin NACA ducts where the rear side windows would go, and shifting the 500-hp, nitro-fed V8 comes courtesy of, what else, an actual flight stick.

The Challenger Vapor, meanwhile, is so stealth it could sneak up on KITT and make him pee his oil pan. It features an infrared thermal imaging camera combined with a true heads-up display that spans the entire windshield, solid carbon fiber disc wheels, the ability to operate with two mufflers for extra stealth and a command center cockpit with three large LCD screens.

You're going to want to explore every inch of these two cars, so check out the galleries.

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