Since the late 1970s hot rodders have been swapping in steering racks and the independent front suspension units from Mustang II donor cars into their hot rods for a bit of practicality. Back then, it was considered state of the art, and was an immense improvement over the drop axles of the old rods from the ’30s.

But both time and technology have caught up with the 1970s design, and it really hasn’t aged that well. However, there is a solution. Retro Rack, based from the Land Down Under, have been marketing some of the most impressive steering components for classic hot rods this side of the Outback.

They’ve just launched a new steering rack based on the Mustang II IFS geometry, and when we spoke to Mario Iadarola, he was more than happy to fill us in on the details:

“Our new Mustang II steering rack was designed to bolt under any car, while being able to incorporate other features from the 21st century,” said Mario. “Here, we’re using it in a Chevy C-10 front subframe, and you can see ours is made out of billet aluminum and utilizes stainless-steel lines as opposed to regular steel that’s prone to rusting and leaking.”

He went on to tell us that they’re fully adjustable, and install just as easily as the OEM Ford rack. Since the junkyards have all been raided for the original, and less than perfect, Mustang II units, it’s cool to see a company has taken something that was once considered decent, and transformed it into something very modern and high-tech by today’s standards.

• Universal fit
• Improves handling
• Light-years ahead of original Mustang II design