3/1/2007
Watching the Mules Go By
Back when I held a regular position as technical editor at Hot Rod magazine, I had a 31-mile L.A. commute to the office that covered portions of the 10 freeway, a lengthy jaunt up LaBrea, then a westward sprint along Wilshire. A fanatical car spotter, I quickly learned to keep my eyes open because nearly every day I’d spot engineering mule cars from foreign and domestic automakers along the route. While there’s plenty that can be learned at the proving grounds or via computer simulation, eventually there’s no substitute for the extreme real-world conditions found in major cities like L.A. This is especially true when it comes to final ECM and emissions calibrations for throttle tip-in during stop and go driving.
An immediate mule car tip off is the presence of “manufacturer” license plates, usually from the state of Michigan. Also, look for hub-mounted wheel-speed drives with cables running inside to feed an array of data acquisition instruments. Sometimes these cars, light trucks and SUVs are heavily disguised with abstract stripe patterns to obscure new body surface development, or they’re clad with thick vinyl padding to hide shapes before they are formally introduced to the public. It’s a dark, fascinating world. During the seven years I made the daily commute, I saw hundreds of mules. While most were easy to miss and blended in with the traffic, others were not so good at hiding their true identity.
I remember stopping for gas and noting a large black Ford Excursion at the next pump. It wore the telltale white on blue Michigan manufacturer tags but was otherwise unremarkable. Then it pulled out onto LaBrea to reenter the traffic flow. That’s when I noticed it had an unusually low mounted tin differential cover that was terribly bent up. As it lingered on the curb, waiting for traffic to clear, I stooped low to see that this particular
Excursion was packing an exotic looking independent rear suspension setup. The bent-up stamped steel differential cover was from an 8.8-inch live axle and was merely hanging behind the IRS center section like a twisted Halloween mask to shield it from prying eyes like mine. Of course, the next model year Ford added independent rear suspension to the Excursion and the rest is history.
Another sighting involved a fleet of Dodge Ram pickup trucks. This was in 2002 or 2003, a full year before the ground shaking 2004 introduction of the optional 5.7 Liter Hemi and SRT-10 power plants. I’d see them in groups of two or three as I crossed Wilshire to get lunch. These trucks looked stock but could be heard rumbling at stop lights in ways no 5.9 Magnum ever rumbled.
