5 American Tuner Companies That Are Addicted To Horsepower

It’s a little known fact that just 12 days after Karl Benz unveiled his 1886 Benz Motorwagen, an American upstart company developed an aero kit and a high-flow exhaust pipe for it. The company said the aero changes made the Motorwagen much more stable at speeds over 10 mph, which was very important because the upgraded exhaust increased brake horsepower from two-thirds to a full pony. This story is completely true; I recently read it on some internet forum while searching for leaked clips of the new Star Wars movie. I’d link to it, but every time I try a bunch of windows pop up for male enhancement pills, and then my computer crashes.

Point being, since the early days of the automobile there have been people trying to up the performance ante. Some create their own car companies, others build and sell parts, and then you have the tuners - building mild-to-wild beasts from existing models using their own parts and a bit of mad scientist vision. Back in the day when American muscle was suffering from atrophy, such companies gave petrolheads hope for the future. Now, they look at a 640bhp Corvette ZR1 and say, “that’s cute, but needs more power.”

So to celebrate the current crop of performance monsters from the States, here’s a quick look at some of the main players in the American tuning market and their insane creations.

Lingenfelter Performance Engineering

One of the biggest names in GM performance is Lingenfelter. Some of the hottest Camaros and Corvettes from the last 20 years have come from this shop, which also offers engine packages for a host of go-fast GM vehicles. The company was founded by John Lingenfelter, a bona-fide gear head and professional racer who wanted to go fast all the time. He died in 2002 from injuries sustained in a big crash at the Mazda NHRA Sport Compact World Finals.

The company lives on, and if you are into GM performance they can help. How does a 700bhp Cadillac CTS-V estate sound? If that’s not enough, they can build you an 800bhp twin-turbo Camaro. Don’t want to give up your Chevy pickup truck? Opt for a 475bhp supercharged upgrade that comes with a freakin’ warranty. Or just go hunting for Veyrons with a twin-turbo LPE 2015 Corvette Stingray making a cool 1000bhp.

Roush Performance

Roush and Ford are intertwined so closely that they’re almost one and the same. Almost. Roush is still a separate entity but the relationship is so good that you can buy brand new Roush Mustangs at select Ford dealerships, and they still come with warranty coverage. Yes, even the 2016 Roush Stage 3 Mustang, with 670bhp and enough suspension tuning to make Shelby GT350 drivers nervous.

Roush Performance opened in 1995, but its founder Jack Roush has a long history in racing, and specifically, with Ford. Yes, that’s the same Jack Roush who fields one of the largest Nascar teams and was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame back in 2006. Roush offers several Mustang packages from mild to wild, as well as a full complement of components that range from body kits to suspension setups, and of course prolific horsepower whether your new Mustang runs with four cylinders, six, or eight.

Saleen

Once upon a time, Saleen was all about one thing: Mustangs. When the Mustang started to get some teeth back in the 1980s, racing driver Steve Saleen began tweaking them for better on-track performance. Those early Saleen Mustangs were more about handling upgrades as opposed to big horsepower, but as the years progressed, so did the horsepower goals.

Ambition increased as well. The company designed the outstanding S7 supercar, worked with Ford on the GT, tweaked F-150 pickups and had plans for a smaller supercar called the S5S Raptor. Things got sketchy through the latter half of the 2000s, but the company restructured and today offers delectable variants of Detroit’s main muscle cars: The Mustang-based S302 with up to 730bhp, the Challenger-based 570 with 575bhp, and the Camaro-based 620 with a 625bhp supercharged V8.

Callaway

Anyone with a modicum of car envy in the late 1980s will recall the Callaway Sledgehammer Corvette. Twin-turbocharged to make 898bhp, it hit 231mph in 1988. It was a one-off car, but it grabbed the attention of car buffs and helped cement the legacy of Reeves Callaway, who founded the company in 1977 after making a name for himself adding turbos to early three-series BMWs.

Callaway has been a staple among the Corvette and GM crowd since the Sledghammer days. The current Callaway Corvette offers up to 757bhp, or opt for a Callaway Camaro Z/28 with 652bhp. Callaway also builds performance-tuned pickups and SUVs.

Hennessey Performance

You’ve probably heard about Hennessey. They built something called the Venom GT based off the Lotus Exige that holds all kinds of unofficial speed records, including a top speed run of 270 mph. They also built the bonkers VelociRaptor pickup with 650bhp and long-travel suspension best suited for Baja style jumps.

The Texas-based company has been around since 1991, and though they started primarily with American cars, these days just about anything can burst forth from the Hennessey garage. Some of their featured cars include 1000bhp Cadillacs and Corvettes, 774bhp Mustangs, 700bhp Vipers, massive pickup trucks and SUVs with 655bhp, Challenger Hellcats with 850bhp, and for the Godzilla fans, they even have an 800bhp package for the Nissan GT-R.