From start to finish
Project Timeline
The Cypress Mustang Project has been a labor of love for CEO Hassane El-Khoury for more than a decade, with teams in San Jose and Munich working on the electronics, a group in Wisconsin doing body work, and El-Khoury, himself, working on design engineering at every free moment that he gets.
Click through this timeline to see how this project got started, and what it has taken to manage multiple parts of the project simultaneously. Also see how the car reached “road-ready” status by January 2019.
JANUARY 2008
Hassane purchases 1969 Mustang from a student in Seattle and begins working on it.
MARCH 2008
After about a month, Hassane gets the engine started.
MARCH 2009
Mustang gets a fresh coat of black paint, covering years of moss and deterioration.
MARCH 2017
Hassane meets with John Balow, the founder of Muscle Car Restorations, a Wisconsin-based company that specializes in restoring American muscle cars, and hires them to complete the Mustang project.
JULY 2017
Hassane's Mustang ships to Wisconsin and the project shifts into high gear.
JULY 2018
3D dashboard designs sent to printer for incorporating into car.
AUGUST 2018
Exterior body work completed.
OCTOBER 2018
New Supercharged Coyote Engine installed
OCTOBER 2018
"Name the Mustang" contest results in Hassane's car getting the name "Manticore."
DECEMBER 2018
Car completed and delivered to Hassane.
JANUARY 2019
Car to be displayed at CES in Las Vegas.
Loaded With Cypress Technology
Traveo® MCUs
Powers the instrument clusters.
Automotive TrueTouch®
Enables touch-sensitive screen displays
RSDB™ Wi-Fi w/ Bluetooth
Enables simultaneous, high - bandwidth Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
CapSense®
Enables touch-sensitive control panel
PSoC® 6
Programmable microcontroller with on-board Wi-Fi
Excelon™ F-RAM and Semper™ Flash Memories
Used for fail-safe data storage and data logging
How Does Manticore Compare to Bullitt?
Bullitt
YEAR
1968
COLOR
Highland green
ENGINE
V8
Power
320 bhp
TRANSMISSION
4-speed manual
APPEARANCE
Blacked-out
exhaust tips
Manticore
YEAR
1969
COLOR
Gun-metal gray
with red accents
ENGINE
5.0L supercharged
Coyote crate engine
Power
785 bhp
TRANSMISSION
6-speed manual
APPEARANCE
Flared fenders;
wide rear tires
Key Players Involved
San Jose Team
Led by Hassane, and responsible for designing the touch interface and controls inside the car
Germany Team
Working with OEMs to design and test Cypress technology in the car.
Wisconsin Team
Muscle Car Restorations team, led by John Balow and Ben Peotter, put the pieces together and managed the project timeline.
India Team
Worked out the software bugs and helped with interface design.