At this point, pretty much anyone with enough money to buy a car can afford a third-generation Ford Focus ST. Nice, low-mile examples are, of course, pricier, but you should be able to find one for less than $10,000 without too much effort, and for that money, you’ll get a car that’s still a hoot, even if you also have a McLaren in your garage. That said, Ford made about a billion third-gen Focuses, and the Focus ST isn’t exactly rare. So what if, instead of buying that Focus ST you’ve had your eye on, you instead bought this NOS-boosted Saleen Ford Focus instead?
Will it ultimately sell for more than it would cost to buy a regular Focus ST? I couldn’t tell you. We tried getting into the prediction business a while ago, and after completely whiffing on two auctions in a row, I’ve had to accept that maybe that isn’t the game for me. But what I can tell you is that when you park this thing at Cars & Coffee, you probably won’t see another one just like it, even in a different color. Per the listing, only Saleen only built 75 Ford Focus N20s for the 2005 model year, making this thing seriously rare.
Even better, while you could only get the third-gen Focus ST with four doors in the U.S., this Focus is a two-door model, which automatically makes it far cooler. And you still get a manual transmission sending its power to the front wheels, even if it’s only a five-speed. Does the hood scoop make it look a little bit like a Pep Boys special? Sure, but that’s just part of the nostalgia. Also, it’s technically part of the Saleen body kit, so take that, haters.
Far from stock
Under the hood, you get a 2.0-liter inline-four that made 136 horsepower and 133 pound-feet of torque when it was stock, but thanks to the nitrous system that Saleen installed, you’re now looking at a Focus that Saleen said officially made…152 hp. OK, so that isn’t much of an increase, and it’s probably the least-powerful NOS build you’ve ever seen, but you have to remember, the early 2000s were a different time. Power just wasn’t as cheap or easy to come by as it is today.
Plus, by not going too hard on the boost, they probably preserved some semblance of reliability. You want your new-to-you hot hatch to at least be somewhat reliable, right?
That said, while most of what you’ll find on this car came from Saleen, the seller also added quite a few non-Saleen mods. Those include a HiTech Motorsport functional hood purge system (with a button!), a Wilson Manifolds Nitrous Pro-Flow nitrous oxide tank and solenoids with braided lines, Monroe rear shock absorbers, a Massive Speed System rear disc brake conversion kit and “Aftermarket suspension dampers, springs, and polyurethane bushings.”
Considering how far this car is from stock, it would have been greatly appreciated if the seller had included a recent dyno sheet to show just how much power this car is making, but maybe it doesn’t really matter. After all, if you want something cheap and quick, you could just buy a first-gen Chevrolet Bolt. If you bid on this car, you’re probably buying a taste of nostalgia more than anything else, but that doesn’t mean it still wouldn’t be a blast to drive. And while that there’s no guarantee it’ll be reliable or even set up correctly, you can’t deny this would at least be a more unique purchase than any old Focus ST.
