At the Fabulous Fords Forever show at Knott’s Berry Farm you see Fords and Mustangs you will never see anywhere else. The car you see here is one such example. When researching this car we found no information on it at all. That’s because this could be the only carbon fiber Saleen on the planet.

Aside from the carbon fiber additions, the Saleen S281 remains stock from a performance standpoint.

It wasn’t built by Saleen, but car owner Ernesto (Ernie) Sigala received Saleen’s blessing when building the car. Call it a post-title build, if you will. No matter, Sigala owns HCM Carbon, a carbon fiber manufacturer, and he wanted to prove his company was capable of pulling off such a build. “I wanted to come out of the shadows,” Sigala says. We’d say he has done that with this Saleen. Plus, HCM makes carbon fiber components for Saleen, so the marriage makes sense.

First off, the car is an actual 2006 Saleen S281 5-speed car. “I bought the car in June of 2014 with the sole intent of making it a carbon fiber Saleen,” Sigala says. “I looked for a low-mile Saleen, and found it in Denver. I flew there, bought it, and drove it home.” The car had 7,200 miles on it when he bought it, and it didn’t take him long to tear into it.

All of the interior carbon fiber parts were made by HCM, as well.

Actually, within 2-3 days after buying the car the transformation started. Since, as aforementioned, HCM already had Mustang parts on the shelf. It was just a matter of the parts they didn’t already make. On this car the roof, quarter panels, fenders, trunk, doors, both front and rear bumper covers, rear wing, trunk panel, and taillight panel are all carbon fiber. Sigala weighed the car prior to the carbon fiber transformation, and it weighed in at 3,580 pounds. He hasn’t had a chance to weigh the car since, but he figures the car is down 400 pounds.

Besides the carbon fiber transformation, the car remains as built by Saleen with only 9,300 miles on the odometer now. The car was driven to Knott’s Berry Farm for the Fabulous Fords Forever show, but other than that, the Saleen lives a posh life.

The three signatures on the Saleen’s dash is Liz Saleen, Steve Saleen, and Sigala’s.

HCM Carbon manufacture’s fiberglass and carbon fiber products for muscle cars and high-end exotic cars. When it comes to Mustangs specifically, HCM specializes in products for 1987-’15 models. Its primary components are hoods and wings, which is no surprise since a hood and wing are one of the first things we add to our Mustangs.

HCM was primarily a black label company, meaning they would sell to other companies and allow them to put their name on it. However, it’s looking to increase direct sales in the future to have more control over its product and name. If this Saleen is any indication of its work, HCM has nowhere to go but up.