Saleen was founded by racer Steve Saleen in 1983, with the first model being a 1984 Saleen Mustang. The first Saleen's were mainly focused on looks, and used stock ford engines. As the years grew, so did the performance.

Saleen has won many races with his mustangs, including the famous 24 hours of Le Mans, 24 hours of Daytona, and many SCCA championships. Saleen has many different versions of the Mustangs, all called the "S281", such as the S281 SC with a supercharged 4.6 Liter V8, making 465 hp (347 kW); and the S281-E Extreme, in which they have replaced the factory 4.6 liter with a Saleen-built V8 engine, increasing the power to almost 550 hp (410 kW).In 2007, Saleen and American Racing Legend, Parnelli Jones, created a limited-edition version of the Mustang.

Though often called the Saleen/Parnelli Jones S302, it was designed to pay homage the the legendary Boss 302 that Parnelli Jones had raced in back in the 70's. Equipped with a Saleen MOD 302 cid 3-valve V8, the S302 makes 400 hp (300 kW) and 390 ft·lbf (529 N·m) of torque. On the outside, the S302 features a new front fascia, Saleen "Shaker" hood, window louvers, and custom Saleen/Parnelli Jones edition wheels. Production of this car was limited to only 500 cars.