Knowledgeable enthusiasts know the impact that Gale Halderman, the principal designer of the original Mustang, had on the success of Ford’s iconic pony car during his 40-year career at Ford Design. Although Halderman passed away on April 29, 2020, his legacy continues to be experienced through the Halderman Museum in Tipp City, Ohio, just outside of Dayton. It was there where Edward Walker from nearby Fairborn, Ohio, got the chance to meet Gale and talk Mustangs with the man himself. The time Walker had spent at the museum with Halderman had inspired him so much that he’s since turned his own 2006 Mustang V-6 into a “Gale Halderman Tribute” car. In fact, Walker’s car pays tribute to other aspects of Mustang history as well, which he explains in his email to us below:

“Hi, Ford Performance! Here is the story behind my 2006 Ford Mustang: I bought the car in March of 2018, and it was not what I went to the dealership to buy. The salesman offered the Mustang to me in place of what I originally went after. I was at first against it, as it did not have the horsepower I was looking for. After almost two hours of my girlfriend and my daughter talking to me about it, I went for it. I bought a 2006 Satan Silver V-6 Ford Mustang. 

“Once I got it home and started messing around with it, I looked on the internet and started to tinker with the car. In looking at what could and has been done to these V-6 cars, I realized that they were pretty much maxed-out by today's standards. So I decided to take old-school mechanics and intertwine them with some new-school technology. Although the motor internals are still stock, the transmission is stock and the rear differential is stock, the following are the modifications I have done to the car since I have owned it:”

Exhaust: Shorty headers, high-flow cats, 2.5-inch dual exhaust with X-pipe and muffler delete

Intake Manifold: Ported and matched

Throttle body: Inner-side port matched to intake manifold; 68mm outer side ported to 69mm

Air intake: Installed a 2.5-inch cold-air intake, coned to match the intake tube connector (like a velocity stack) at the throttle body side. This is to create a draw area between the tube and the connector. The intake tube itself is snaked behind the driver’s-side headlamp to the front bumper area, and the cone filter is placed under the headlamp with air inlets put into the bumper for a ram-air setup, directly behind the headlamp where the stock filter would be located. Not only does this create a ram air system, but with four layers of heat insulation applied, it’s a true cold-air intake. This also allows for an average air temp of 76 degrees in the summer while driving the car! The open area behind the headlamp had to be opened up wider so that the intake tube could go to the front bumper.
EGR: The small extension tube going to the intake manifold had been eliminated

Catch Can: A special-make oil catch can has been added

Thermostat: An aluminum thermostat housing has been installed in place of the stock plastic one.

Engine Bay: Heat wrap and specially made heater covers have been applied. The hood had been modified with three custom-made heat vents that can help lower the engine bay temp by up to 100 degrees

Custom Tune: A special 93 Octane race tune has been done on the car for all the applications and modifications that have been made. 

“All of these items together have created a 325-horsepower naturally aspirated 4.0-liter V-6, without any use of nitrous or any types of forced air induction.

“Now here’s why I decided to do a Halderman Tribute Car: Shortly after I bought the car, like I said I did some research on everything Mustang. Well, I had found an article on Gale. The article was inspiring to me, then to find out he lived literally right up the road from me -- I had to meet the man. So we set up an appointment to go out to the Halderman Museum Barn. I was like a kid in a candy store seeing all of the memorabilia there, then we got a personal tour of the Barn from Gale himself.

“We sat and talked for hours about how he came up with the concept drawing and how he sketched it out and watched it come to light. This was to me the Father of the Mustang. How can Roush, Saleen, and Shelby have their own Mustangs and the original designer not have his own special edition? To this day I still have no answer to this. After learning that making my own ‘Halderman Edition Mustang’ should be approved by the family, I then decided that because Gale needed something for what he created and for his contributions over the years with the Mustang and with Ford as a whole, I should make my car into the ‘Gale Halderman Tribute Mustang.’ Upon Gale's passing we reached out to his daughter, Karen, and asked if she would like to see the car out of respect for her father. She gave us her blessing and are proud to have the Halderman name on our car.

“Now as most of you know, the 2005-09 Mustang is known as the ‘Retro’ Mustang because it mirrors the original’s classy, sleek design. For that reason, my car also has a ‘Retro Edition’ badge on it. That’s because upon getting my 2006 Mustang, I realized that there was a ton of stuff available motor and body wise to customize the car. I had seen lots of Mustangs with add-ons including body mods and stripe kits. But I had never seen anybody make it into a full ‘retro’ Mustang. Don't get me wrong -- Ford did a great job on the styling on the 2005-09 cars, but to me it was not quite enough. So I decided in order to have a true ‘retro’ Mustang. I’d need to at least have one feature item from every generation Mustang. So my 2006 ‘Retro Edition’ has at least one feature on it from every one of the first five generations, including GT, Mach 1, Boss, Cobra and Shelby items.

“I also have used my car as a ‘4our/6ix Mustang Tribute’ vehicle. That’s because after buying my 2006 Mustang V-6 I soon realized that V-8 owners had a dislike for the 4- and 6-cylinder Mustangs. But owners of all the 4- and 6-cylinder cars have made up the majority of Mustang sales over the years. Since the very beginning, the early 6-cylinder Mustangs were key to its sales, and the 4-cylinder cars saved the Mustang brand during the oil embargo in the 1970's. So I decided that there should be a Mustang that pays tribute to those 4- and 6-cylinder owners. In my personal opinion, Mustang could not have survived on GT or V-8 sales alone, and if it was not for the 4- and 6-cylinder models, we may not have any Mustangs today.”

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