Ryan Naso was a Mustang nut from the beginning. He claims he collected pictures, posters, movies, and anything else he could get his hands on. “I think I was being a rebel ‘cause my dad was a Corvette guy,” he says. “So, his kid’s rebellious by nature.”
Naso’s passion for the pony car was reignited with the release of the new S197 Mustang body style in 2005. Once he had actually purchased his own 2005 Ford Mustang, he wasn’t sure what the next step was. “I had no idea where I was going to take this car,” he says. “I started with a few basic mods just to set it apart from some others I was seeing around.”
After tacking on several more mods, Naso became immersed in the Mustang show lifestyle. This summer, he has taken his Mustang to as many shows as possible to compete. As far as his greatest car show accomplishment, he cites the first place he took in the Modded ‘05+ class at the All Ford Nationals in Carlisle. “I never knew how networked and involved the car circuit is,” he says. “It was a shock and honor to get recognized out of so many awesome cars.”
With that involvement, he began to notice that his ride just wasn’t able to set itself apart from the rest. “When I really started to get into the shows and the mingling part— we all love about Mustangs— is when I noticed my car was falling short of grabbing attention from the others,” says Naso. “So I started planning for what I was hoping to accomplish which was a totally unique and eye-catching Mustang.”
So aside from his JLT II intake with 93 octane Nitrous tune, CMDP, underdrive pullies, HT0 plugs with a 100 shot Zex nitrous kit with TCWS, full exhaust headers and a bunch of suspension upgrades, Naso has actually created numerous custom design pieces himself. This summer, he plans to add a set of comp cams to make 340 horsepower at the rear wheels and about 425 with nitrous.
Naso’s name for his ride, “NASTNASO,” is simple: he incorporated his last name, Naso, and the fact that “the car is just nasty!”
Currently, he’s spending a lot of time organizing and running the New York division of
Stangpede, a national competition team. “We have done a numerous amount of show and are cleaning up,” says Naso. “This car has opened up my mind creatively and my opened my wallet apparently.”
For more photos of Ryan Naso’s 2005 Ford Mustang, check out the
StangPlanet Featured Ride Gallery. Be sure to hit him up on the boards—his username is
nastnaso.