Saleen Inc. was founded in 1983 by Californian Steve Saleen; his fame, based on quality transformations (mostly on Ford Mustang base) quickly reached the other continents. From the Saleen workshops also came out original models such as the S7, a car born for racing that also had a road going production starting from 2002. The S7 was equipped with a 7-liter V8 engine giving 549 horsepower in the street legal configuration. Starting in 2005, the S7 was available in a turbo version, with the power reaching 760 hp.