Steeda was founded in 1988 by Dario Orlando, whose family has been involved with Ford since 1910. His father, Domenico Orlando, rose to become a Senior Design Stylist and was involved in designing the original Ford Thunderbird, Mustang, and the GT40 Mark IV. Dario grew up with a passion for car design that led him to start a business repairing and modifying performance vehicles. He also got into racing, and after showing his mettle in endurance racing, Ford poached him to become a test driver, which led him into a career developing performance and race vehicles.Steeda started when Orlando decided he should create high-performance and limited edition Mustang vehicles. He began with aftermarket performance equipment and in 1988 the Steeda Mustang was born. But Steeda has also put its engineering and tuning skills into other Ford models, including the Fusion, Focus, and F-150s.