Tim's Car (Mustang?) Pictures
We've had quite a few cars over the years together. We're a Ford family, but I'm working on Mercedes and Porsche / Ferrari tastes. Well, the wife doesn't really want a Mercedes, but I'm still working her to take a ML320 or nice E400 series.
If you've never owned a performance car in your life, you should join the millions of others who have purchased one of the 7 million Mustangs produced. More Mustangs have been made than all the Camaros, Firebirds, Trans Ams and Corvettes combined. Go in with your creature comfort expectations low (Honda and Camry owners need not apply). The car will cast a spell on you within seconds of your first drive. And to think the 1978 Ford Fairmont (actually produced in October 1977) was the car that launched both the Fox body and SN95 Mustangs. Even today's Mighty Cobra & GT's ride on a modified 1978 Fairmont platform. Ford has certainly made their monies worth on the tooling from this car. A new Mustang, on a essentially brand new platform, should be released for the 2004 model year. Current indications point to perhaps the Lincoln LS platform, which Jaguar used for one of their sedans.
Here are some of the Mustangs I've had, in the order we've owned them:
The 1966 Mustang
No - I wasn't around in the 60's to own this, although the pictures look like it. I got the 66 just before I got out of the Marines, in 1988. It had a red interior, a 289 V-8 and an automatic transmission. The car had aftermarket headers, which would repeatedly swell up and touch the starter solenoid. Many times, I could be found crawling under the car to place a piece of wood in-between the two parts (to prevent arch welding either device). Oh - the good times I had with this first Mustang. It was owned free & clear.
The 1985 Mustang LX 5.0
Gotta dig up the pictures. It was clean hatchback, with an automatic. It was saddled with a Central Fuel Injection (not really a performance setup), and as such, was slower than comparably equipped 5 liter five speed models. But - it was bullet proof and got 340 miles to a tank (with obscene 2.78 rear end gears). I sold it to a lady in south Los Angeles, who wanted something for her 16 year old son (what a NICE mom!). I had just paid it off too...
The 1986 Mustang GT Convertible
I had this car the longest, almost 5 years. The 1986 Mustang GT (5.0) Convertible. equipped with a Borg-Warner T-5 five speed transmission, factory 3.08 gears, Saleen Suspension (shocks & struts), MAC engine and chassis components including: exhaust, welded sub-frame connectors, G-load brace and strut tower brace. I purchased it for $6,000 with around 50k miles on it and sold it for about 70% of my purchase price, with 183k hard miles on it. Of course, I had put several thousand dollars of improvements into the car. From the last report I had on this car( circa 1997), it had over 225,000 miles on it, still running strong. For some reason, I sold this car after I paid it off too....
The 1992 Mustang GT
Above is the 1992 GT Mustang. It was so different from the 1984, 1985, and 1986 models, with improved structural rigidity, better reliability of the various switches and systems and a smoother ride (probably due to the weight). To anyone looking for a collectable car for the future, any 1987 to 1993 5.0 Mustang is a must have addition. They are inexpensive to purchase, damn near bullet proof (except those pesky heater cores), and such a blast to drive.
The 1984 Mustang GT convertible
My friend, Brian Ellis, and I traded cars when we purchased our second house. After having tried the newer 1992 car, driving any of the 1983 - 1986 Mustangs was hard to take. The levels of refinement improvements in 1987 (and again in 1994) made the newer Mustangs more desirable. Still, I replaced the seats with late model GT seats, reworked the stereo and replaced the convertible roof. This car was one of the cleanest running carburated Mustangs the local smog stations had ever since. Brian bought it from a gentlemen who babied the car ,installing SVO 3.55 gears and having the carb rebuilt. He tried to give it to his daughter (who instead wanted a Honda Civic). Brian got it for like $3000. I traded him my 92 GT for his car (and he gave me $7k). He got to keep my 600 watt stereo system. I swear I could open the hatch and simply let the bass push me down the road if the motor ever failed.
The Mighty 1995 SVT Cobra Mustang
The epitome of the Mustang's are the Cobra models. Ford revived the revered name in 1993, and have endowed the car with the best parts from Ford's performance bins. My Cobra is #1979 of 4008 coupes produced in 1995. That's not even 100 cars per state! The 1995 Cobra was the last year of the 5.0 liter (302 cubic inch) engine, a derivative of the same engine 289 cubic inch engine that powered the first 1964 Mustang. It had a variation of the performance enhanced GT-40 intake & heads, 17 inch wheels - which were first introduced on the 1993 Cobra, and the first time Ford had equipped any production car with wheels of this size). The front brakes are floating caliper 13 inch rotors, the size of Corvette ZR-1's, Porsche 928 and Ferrari Testerossa. The car was conservatively rated at 240 horsepower and 300 foot pounds of torque. With one or two minor and no-cost adjustments, the car would break the 13 second barrier in the famed quarter-mile test - even with 3.08 rear end gears!
But with two houses, two children, two cars, a camper and one wife, I haven't gotten around to fulfilling the license plates true meaning. I'm still torn between a nice turbo setup (the ultimate power additive) or simply bolting on a supercharger. If it's the latter, I'd likely go with either the Kenny Bell WhippleCharger or the BBK (Eaton) Instacharger, as they are both positive displacement superchargers, giving large amounts of boost at relatively low RPM's (revolutions per minute). Many of my fellow Cobra Club members believe strongly in the Vortech & Paxton products, both for their reliability, wide popularity and (believe it or not) ease of installation.
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