Steve Saleen is a local car builder that has been in the Irvine area for many years building race and street prepped Ford based vehicles in many variations.

While you may know him from his racing days when he partnered with actor Steve Allen (Home Improvement) to race Mustangs, his main source of income came from street cars, pickups, and SUV's.

As he ventured into the exotic car world with the $500k+ S7 supercar, the company started a downward spiral and closed in 2008.

Fortunately, we have this album to remember the glory days of Saleen and the wonderful open house days that he created for the auto enthusiasts all throughout the LA area. 

While Saleen tried a number of vehicle concepts, Mustangs ruled the company...

An owner's registry was one of his pride and joy's - as well to the owner's themselves

Inside the shop were Mustangs in varying stages of assembly. Saleen worked closely with the Ford Motor company and received specialized stripped cars that he could modify easily.

As the race to build custom manufactured vehicles intensified with Roush and others, trucks were the next stage of development

And then there was the might 550hp S7...

With Roush cornering the 427 name, it was only logical for Saleen to pick the legendary 302 designation

Steve Saleen has resurfaced after what appears to have been a failed Chinese SUV venture. SMS motorcars, now based in Anaheim, hopes to expand the Mustang customer base to Camaro and Challengers.

Will he able to revive the Saleen mystique after an abrupt dissolution with the Ford dealer network?

Time will tell...

Let's just hope he has open houses again...