Guess I thought they were. Oh well, I like them either way....
To be clear, the Turbo Coupe is the Fox variant. The Super Coupe is the 3.8l supercharged V6 in the 89-95 Thunderbird, which is on the MN-12 chassis. I owned a 97 Thunderbird Sport with the 4.6L. I really liked that car, but the automatic only option was a killer. I always planned to do the Tremec swap with the extension box, but then cash for clunkers came along and away she went.
An MN-12 T-bird or Cougar with a 5.0 or 4.6 is high on my list of cars I'd love to have. I wouldn't kick a Super Coupe out of the driveway either, but I might V8 swap it.Guess I thought they were. Oh well, I like them either way....
My first and only
An MN-12 T-bird or Cougar with a 5.0 or 4.6 is high on my list of cars I'd love to have. I wouldn't kick a Super Coupe out of the driveway either, but I might V8 swap it.
Yeah we go to work together at the hospital,and lately we got more Rona cases.Is a good looking Stang!
I see she's wearing a mask, so she's safe.
I'm sure I'm going to catch hell for this, but here goes:
1. Mercury Capri ASC McLaren Hatchback
I had a friend with one exactly like that one, other than the wheels (he had gold Enkeis if I recall correctly) and I was in love with that car from the moment I first saw it. He threw a rod through the side of the block and sold the roller for $1000 back in 2003... I didn't even know he was willing to sell or I'd have had it. They were so agressive, so cool, and so different than anything else in the ponycar class.
2. 1985-86 Mustang GT
So mean, finally got rid of that grille that look like they laid a Fairmont's grille back, gave it some styling worthy of a high performance variant, and gave it the balls to back it up. It had a look like no other fox-body Mustang that I honestly do feel was only bested by an aftermarket-conversion Capri that cost an awful lot more and is a lot harder to find. Throw in Holley's last hurrah as an OEM musclecar carburetor supplier in 1985, the introduction of the 8.8 rear end, dual exhausts, and the EFI that came along in 1986, and both of the cars that wore this face were something REALLY special.
3. 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Hey, @91TwighlightGT said "fox platform" he never said it had to be Mustangs, and if I wanted to be pedantic, I could throw some SN95/New Edge cars on the list since they were built on a modified fox platform but I'm not. It'd make this exercise too easy, and I feel it would break the spirit of what he intended. This will be the only non-Mustang on the list other than the Capri. These cars were sexy. The body looked like it came straight from the Nascar aero-wars of the late 80s, where Bill Elliott was lapping Talledega so fast in a car that looked like this one that they changed the rulebook. Those wheels were a crazy mix of modern (for the time) and 1970s Trans-Am, and then you got a 2.3L Turbo that was the pinnacle of that engine's factory capabilities, four wheel disc brakes, and that interior... Yeah, these are my #3 favorite fox-platform car.
4.1984-1985.5 Mustang SVO
An ugly duckling, to be sure, but hear me out. This car was special in every single way. Special wheels (the first 16" wheels on a Mustang), special interior (BMW-levels of luxury in a Mustang, something that wouldn't be seen again until 2015), four-wheel-disc brakes, five lugs for the first time since 1973, that crazy twin-plane spoiler, that incredible adjustable suspension, and it set up several design cues that carried into the 87-93 aero-nose cars. Randy Leffingwell wrote a book on the Mustang's history, and it goes into great detail on just how special the SVO and the team that made it was, the book is worth a read for that alone if nothing else. (Including the story of why it got a heavier flywheel than they originally planned for.)
5. 1985.5-86 Mustang SVO
Halfway through the 1985 model year, the SVO got several updates, including the composite headlights. It is a better car than the 1984-85.5 car in every meaningful way, but I prefer the recessed headlights.
6. 1979 Indy 500 Pace Car
The best looking of the 1979-1983 cars by a long shot, these things were just gorgeous. Loud 70s vinyl graphics screaming "look at me" over a drop-dead-sexy black and silver paint scheme with the only thing I don't like visually being the taillights. I miss Indy pace car editions, everyone used to do them when they got to pace the 500 any given year, and other than the random one-off, it just doesn't seem like they happen anymore, which is sad. We had Indy 500 Mustangs, Corvettes, Camaros, GMC picukups, Vipers, Ram Pickups, Chevy Berettas, Oldsmobile Calais, and so on and so forth. If I hit the lottery, I want a small collection of Indy500 pace car edition cars, and #1 on my list of them to track down is the 1979 Mustang.
7. 1993 Mustang Cobra
Where do I start with this car? I start with arguing with myself over its placement on my list. I put the SVOs above it, because without the SVO, there would've been no SVT, and they did it first. However, as good as they were, and as special, are they better? The caveman/redneck side of me says "aw hell no, them thar SVOs ain't even got a V8", but the side of me that loves sophisticated things thinks that's part of the SVO's appeal. Anyway, I'll keep having that argument with myself, let's get back to the car. This car was simply the cleanest styling execution of the entire 1987-1993 "aero nose" fox-body Mustang. You have lines that flow the entire length of the car. For the first time since 1978, there's a pony on the nose. You've got those wheels that STILL look amazing to this day, you've got the best looking taillights of any fox-body Mustang, and you've got the power under the hood. This car became to the fox what the Shelby cars are to the classics, the most cloned car of the generation. Yeah, it should probably be higher on this list.
8. Fox-body Saleen Mustang
I'll admit, the reason this car isn't higher on the list is because of a dislike of Steve Saleen. Regardless of what I think about him though, the cars are absolutely legendary, and with good reason.
9.1990 "7Up" Mustang
I don't know if it's the color, the crazy story behind how these cars came to be, the fact that my grandfather worked for Dr Pepper his whole life and by extension sold 7Up for the last couple decades of his career, or what, but these have always fascinated me. There's one for sale down in Austin with a really good price on it, and if I thought I could save up the cash and/or sell the II project quickly enough, I might be tempted... but I think I'm going to hold out for the Cobra II, King Cobra, or 85-86 GT I really want for my next project instead.
10. 1989-1990 "25th Anniversary" Mustangs
That's it, that's all that was special about them, but it was enough. This was an important milestone, and one hell of an anniversary, and Ford just quietly, calmly, and subtly handed these out like that plaque you get for a long-term work anniversary. 25 years was a big deal. GM was 3 years away for their pony cars, AMC and Chrysler's pony cars were long gone, 25 years was really a big deal. The Mustang had survived being blown up to massive proportions, shrunk down to compact size, a year without a V8, two years with an awful V8, and even managed to evade being switched over to the FWD Mazda platform it was due to be moved to in the later 1980s. This simple badge, applied to the dash, was an important reminder to the world that the Mustang was still here.
You ain't gonna catch hell from me... '84 Turbo Coupe, 5 speed, Gunmetal Pearl...I'm sure I'm going to catch hell for this, but here goes:
1. Mercury Capri ASC McLaren Hatchback
I had a friend with one exactly like that one, other than the wheels (he had gold Enkeis if I recall correctly) and I was in love with that car from the moment I first saw it. He threw a rod through the side of the block and sold the roller for $1000 back in 2003... I didn't even know he was willing to sell or I'd have had it. They were so agressive, so cool, and so different than anything else in the ponycar class.
2. 1985-86 Mustang GT
So mean, finally got rid of that grille that look like they laid a Fairmont's grille back, gave it some styling worthy of a high performance variant, and gave it the balls to back it up. It had a look like no other fox-body Mustang that I honestly do feel was only bested by an aftermarket-conversion Capri that cost an awful lot more and is a lot harder to find. Throw in Holley's last hurrah as an OEM musclecar carburetor supplier in 1985, the introduction of the 8.8 rear end, dual exhausts, and the EFI that came along in 1986, and both of the cars that wore this face were something REALLY special.
3. 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Hey, @91TwighlightGT said "fox platform" he never said it had to be Mustangs, and if I wanted to be pedantic, I could throw some SN95/New Edge cars on the list since they were built on a modified fox platform but I'm not. It'd make this exercise too easy, and I feel it would break the spirit of what he intended. This will be the only non-Mustang on the list other than the Capri. These cars were sexy. The body looked like it came straight from the Nascar aero-wars of the late 80s, where Bill Elliott was lapping Talledega so fast in a car that looked like this one that they changed the rulebook. Those wheels were a crazy mix of modern (for the time) and 1970s Trans-Am, and then you got a 2.3L Turbo that was the pinnacle of that engine's factory capabilities, four wheel disc brakes, and that interior... Yeah, these are my #3 favorite fox-platform car.
4.1984-1985.5 Mustang SVO
An ugly duckling, to be sure, but hear me out. This car was special in every single way. Special wheels (the first 16" wheels on a Mustang), special interior (BMW-levels of luxury in a Mustang, something that wouldn't be seen again until 2015), four-wheel-disc brakes, five lugs for the first time since 1973, that crazy twin-plane spoiler, that incredible adjustable suspension, and it set up several design cues that carried into the 87-93 aero-nose cars. Randy Leffingwell wrote a book on the Mustang's history, and it goes into great detail on just how special the SVO and the team that made it was, the book is worth a read for that alone if nothing else. (Including the story of why it got a heavier flywheel than they originally planned for.)
5. 1985.5-86 Mustang SVO
Halfway through the 1985 model year, the SVO got several updates, including the composite headlights. It is a better car than the 1984-85.5 car in every meaningful way, but I prefer the recessed headlights.
6. 1979 Indy 500 Pace Car
The best looking of the 1979-1983 cars by a long shot, these things were just gorgeous. Loud 70s vinyl graphics screaming "look at me" over a drop-dead-sexy black and silver paint scheme with the only thing I don't like visually being the taillights. I miss Indy pace car editions, everyone used to do them when they got to pace the 500 any given year, and other than the random one-off, it just doesn't seem like they happen anymore, which is sad. We had Indy 500 Mustangs, Corvettes, Camaros, GMC picukups, Vipers, Ram Pickups, Chevy Berettas, Oldsmobile Calais, and so on and so forth. If I hit the lottery, I want a small collection of Indy500 pace car edition cars, and #1 on my list of them to track down is the 1979 Mustang.
7. 1993 Mustang Cobra
Where do I start with this car? I start with arguing with myself over its placement on my list. I put the SVOs above it, because without the SVO, there would've been no SVT, and they did it first. However, as good as they were, and as special, are they better? The caveman/redneck side of me says "aw hell no, them thar SVOs ain't even got a V8", but the side of me that loves sophisticated things thinks that's part of the SVO's appeal. Anyway, I'll keep having that argument with myself, let's get back to the car. This car was simply the cleanest styling execution of the entire 1987-1993 "aero nose" fox-body Mustang. You have lines that flow the entire length of the car. For the first time since 1978, there's a pony on the nose. You've got those wheels that STILL look amazing to this day, you've got the best looking taillights of any fox-body Mustang, and you've got the power under the hood. This car became to the fox what the Shelby cars are to the classics, the most cloned car of the generation. Yeah, it should probably be higher on this list.
8. Fox-body Saleen Mustang
I'll admit, the reason this car isn't higher on the list is because of a dislike of Steve Saleen. Regardless of what I think about him though, the cars are absolutely legendary, and with good reason.
9.1990 "7Up" Mustang
I don't know if it's the color, the crazy story behind how these cars came to be, the fact that my grandfather worked for Dr Pepper his whole life and by extension sold 7Up for the last couple decades of his career, or what, but these have always fascinated me. There's one for sale down in Austin with a really good price on it, and if I thought I could save up the cash and/or sell the II project quickly enough, I might be tempted... but I think I'm going to hold out for the Cobra II, King Cobra, or 85-86 GT I really want for my next project instead.
10. 1989-1990 "25th Anniversary" Mustangs
That's it, that's all that was special about them, but it was enough. This was an important milestone, and one hell of an anniversary, and Ford just quietly, calmly, and subtly handed these out like that plaque you get for a long-term work anniversary. 25 years was a big deal. GM was 3 years away for their pony cars, AMC and Chrysler's pony cars were long gone, 25 years was really a big deal. The Mustang had survived being blown up to massive proportions, shrunk down to compact size, a year without a V8, two years with an awful V8, and even managed to evade being switched over to the FWD Mazda platform it was due to be moved to in the later 1980s. This simple badge, applied to the dash, was an important reminder to the world that the Mustang was still here.
Rolled it? I guess you’re ok since you’re talking about it!You ain't gonna catch hell from me... '84 Turbo Coupe, 5 speed, Gunmetal Pearl...
I loved her, 'till I rolled her.
Yes, didn't get a scratch. Hydroplaned, grabbed a DEEP pothole that burst a front tire, flipped down a 40' bank through some pines. Chopped the whole rear 1/4 of the car off. Fuel tank was separated from the car & about 15' away. MAD! - but blessed!Rolled it? I guess you’re ok since you’re talking about it!
Damn! Blessed for sure! Glad you’re here to talk about it!Yes, didn't get a scratch. Hydroplaned, grabbed a DEEP pothole that burst a front tire, flipped down a 40' bank through some pines. Chopped the whole rear 1/4 of the car off. Fuel tank was separated from the car & about 15' away. MAD! - but blessed!
Yeah, me too! I drive much slower in the rain these days. Young & dumb!Damn! Blessed for sure! Glad you’re here to talk about it!
This is almost exactly like the accident my dad had in my mom's 1979 Ford Fairmont Futura when I was about five years old.Yes, didn't get a scratch. Hydroplaned, grabbed a DEEP pothole that burst a front tire, flipped down a 40' bank through some pines. Chopped the whole rear 1/4 of the car off. Fuel tank was separated from the car & about 15' away. MAD! - but blessed!
Prepare yourself for Foxbody perfection:
THE 1993 Ford Mustang Saleen SA-10.
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