Projekt Bifröst — Projekt Cars’ ‘Thor’ Mustang Build

El Paso-based Projekt Cars has shared another comics based build with us, this time from the mythos of our favorite Norse god-turned-superhero, Thor. Projekt Bifröst is a heavily modified 2017 Ford Mustang owned by Projekt Cars’ Designer and Graphic Artist Thomas Comer. 

While automobile enthusiasts will argue about whether modern production Mustangs should be classified as ‘muscle cars,’ Ford’s pony car still has a certain sleek, aggressive look and feel that draws people in. Comer was looking for a fun car that he’d be proud to drive. He’d always had a certain love for Mustangs, and like most folks, couldn’t really say why. He may have fallen for a certain beauty named Eleanor in Gone in 60 Seconds, or he may have just seen a badass Punch Pony on the freeway one day. However it started, Projekt Bifröst is how it’s going. 

When shopping for the base for this project, Thomas felt that Ford really nailed it on the head with the 2017 fastback. With sleek, aggressive lines and a stylish interior, it was a perfect place to begin. He started with the basics; cold air intake, performance radiator, oil cooler, and expansion tank from Mishimoto. 

After that, a theme needed to be established to determine the direction for aesthetics. The car was going to be shown at SEMA 2021, and Thomas wasn’t yet sold on a motif. The idea of using the Bifröst from the world of Marvel’s Thor started taking shape, and he ran with it. 

The car needed have an aggressive look, so Projekt Cars requested a Boy Racer body kit from Air Design USA. The kit looked awesome, but there was a slight problem with the fit. It’s made for a 2018 Mustang, and there are just enough changes to the body style and trim from 2017 to 2018 that some modifications were required. He knew he’d have to replace the headlights, fenders, and hood, but that’s not where the required mods ended to get a flawless fit. After all of that, the core support, under bellies, inner fenders, fender supports, some wiring, fog/combo lamps, and grilles also needed some help.

It started to feel like this project was going to take forever, and Thomas didn’t have a garage to do all the work in. Although he develops all the concept renderings for Projekt Cars, he doesn’t reside in the same state as Projekt Cars’ HQ. He had to negotiate the use of a workspace from his other employer, and had to squeeze his labor of love into weekend hours. In addition to the borrowed space, he enlisted his brother’s labor and also farmed out some help with the paint job.

Piece by painstaking piece, he got the body kit painted, new lights installed, and all the other assorted bits and pieces together to make the body kit work. Then, to get the stance right, Thomas went with 20” Advanti Racing Wheels with Variant 3 Coilovers from KW Suspensions, and the exhaust system got a Gibson Performance upgrade.

When the build was complete, it was off to SEMA 2021 for the experience of a lifetime. It’s worth noting that during all of the aforementioned modifications, Thomas was also preparing for his own wedding. This guy was holding down a 9-5, rendering Projekt Cars build concepts, working on his own vehicle mods, and planning a wedding, all at once. Sir, my hat is off to you. That deserves a medal. 

Those mods were all for the car’s first SEMA appearance at NRG Innovations’ 2021 Feature Spot right outside North/Central Hall. Projekt Bifröst was so well received in 2021 that it was requested to make a second appearance in 2022, this time for a coveted booth slot. The 2022 ACME Manufacturing booth was located right next to the Dodge area in the Performance Hall, and they wanted Projekt Bifröst. 

Projekt Cars was not going to send this girl to the ball twice in the same dress, so they swapped the Advanti Wheels for Verde Acers and Toyo Tires. They also put on new headlights, new tail lights, drilled and slotted rotors, some under glows, and a new wrap theme. To top it all off, they added enough horsepower to transport an Asgardian to any realm in a matter of seconds, via a Stage II polished Pro Charger PX-1-H system, producing a little over 750 HP.

For the 2022 wrap, Thomas went for a ride on the wild side and envisioned a split theme. Both sides had the same graphics in opposing color schemes and a lightning style graphic through the mid body from the front wheel well to the rear. One side was predominantly pink and the other side was predominantly green with each side’s lightning graphic being visible in the background from the other side. The resulting effect represents the duality of the Bifröst.

After her second SEMA showing, Projekt Bifröst was requested for a THIRD dance, this time at the MGP Caliper Covers’ 2023 SEMA booth in the West Hall. Again, not wanting to show the same mods twice, Projekt Cars swapped the wheels to 20” Konig Oversteers in gloss black. MGP made some really nice caliper covers to match the wrap. Katzkin Automotive Leather came through with leathers that pull the electric lime green out of the color scheme, with black micro suede accents. 

XK Glow provided their new addressable Alpha Glow underglow kit, which has app controlled RGBW chasing abilities. The headlights were upgraded with Alpha Rex LEDs. Thomas also re- designed the wrap to have some hidden galaxies, and featured the Bifröst symbol on the roof. The main design features of the new wrap mixed the Bifröst theme old school overlapping stripes and race stripes in fun colors. 

There’s also a fun little Easter egg that isn’t visible when this beast of a build passes you on the freeway, or even from the cab interior. Projekt Bifröst’s hood needs to be open to view the all-seeing Allfather himself, Odin, mounted on a rearing Sleipnir, commanding purple and green lightning. 

Check out all three completed builds below!