Where the name "Fox" came from?

"Fox" was an internal codename (circa 1973) that was derived from the Audi Fox.

And "Fox body" isn't technically correct. It's Fox, Fox chassis, or Fox platform. The commonality is the chassis (platform) not the body.

The Audi Fox, along with other vehicles of the same era (Ford's German Taunus and American Pinto, GM's German Opel Manta, Toyota's Celica and Carina, Datsun's 610, and BMW's 2002) were considered competitive to the upcoming Fox vehicles and were all considered as having desireable features. The strengths of those vehicles were adapted to and/or improved upon for the Fox vehicles.

The Fox project started out to be a "world car" concept meaning the vehicles were to be small, fuel efficient, sport or family sedans produced throughout Ford's internationl facilities. The concept was supposed to save money by simplifying FoMoCo's international product lineup, offer parts commonality with different models in different countries, and ease planning and production complexity. The world car concept itself never did work out for the Fox vehicles because of, among other things, differences in international safety and other standards and production techniques. The Fox project was obviously continued with the criteria for a world car in mind except it was not produced internationally.

Mustang5L5 said:

Just to add, Ford used animal names as chassis designation in the 80s. The fox chassis was the platform for several cars...not just the mustang.

The longest surviving chassis of this type is the panther chassis in which the crown Vic rides on.

In the 90s, ford went to a more formal coding for it's chassis designations.,,,ie sn95, mn12, fn10, dew98, s197, etc.

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Thats another thing I like about american cars, you give them names - even for the platforms - instead of boring, meaningless 3-digit numbers.

So what's the source for this myth that the Fox chassis had anything to do with the Audi Fox?

It was actually the VW Fox platform, not Audi. And this has been well-documented by many sources, including Lee Iacocca.

As a side note, I've read the Fox Mustang interior was somewhat inspired by BMW: HowStuffWorks "The 1987 Ford Mustang"

yeah buddy! lol

If that isnt clear enough you need to be examined. wonder where those capri's got the fender styling from.

Indy Notch said:

yeah buddy! lol

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Wow that's ghey someone put Capri fenders on an Audi Quattro

Funny story...i have a 7 year old son who lives with me and sees his mother on the weekends. She never liked my coupe or Mustangs. Now she's dating this douche who has a douche canoe SN95 and now she's all about Mustangs and is telling my son his car (which is bone ass stock BTW) will blow daddy's "fox body" off the road. So i correct my boy and tell him to go tell his idiot mother that the correct term is "fox chassis" and to let her new boy toy know that his SN95 is technically a fox chassis as well.

Indy Notch said:

yeah buddy! lol

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great shades of my first car! i thought that was a Capri that someone put an Audi front end on.