LOL I had THREE at one time. Two Black and one Blue all 5 speeds. Started slowly reading about them and checking out the ones other Troopers had. Decided that the next new car for my wife would be one. She regularly got a new car every 2 years and I would keep it when she wanted another car after two years. Wishful thinking LOL. It was the first of three 1989 Fastback 5.0 with 3:08 rear gear option that I would own at onetime . After driving hers I found it to be a great car. Hers was a stripper with no electric windows just the optional rear ratio. I was then in CSP intelligence for long enough not to have to take a retread older undercover cruiser and I ordered a brand new 1989 black 5 speed 3:08 as my undercover car. The one on the right in the above photo. It was great one full moon night I coming home about 0400 after a Swat callout was finished and I heard Troopers from the area near where I lived running the radar after a nice long straight stretch on a limited access highway to calibrate the Troopers speedometers (had to be done quarterly)....... I decided to have some fun. My 5.0 hatch area was stuffed with about 300 lbs of Swat and bomb tech gear but I wound it up tight on that nice long stretch and turned off my headlights (bright full moon no traffic at 0400) and busted through their radar at a certified 150 mph in the dark Well they though they had clocked a UFO or something, flashing lights started up on the several cruisers that were there ....until I laughed over the radio Slowed down and pulled over and several of the other troopers had to come see WTF just busted their party. We all had a good laugh and I continued home. that episode convinced me I NEEDED one for myself. I had just returned from Afghanistan with a pocket full of green backs so started looking for another black one for myself. It was toward the end of 1989 by this time and was having no luck finding one when a friend who worked at a local Ford dealer called and said he located one at another dealer. Next day we took a trip and found it BUT IT WAS BLUE But it was the end of the year and got a great deal on it and drove home in my THIRD 5.0 Well not being able to leave well enough alone it soon had lift bars, Kenny Bell ram air kit, 90/10 front struts, a nice new 3:55 complete rear end, chrome valve covers, small pulley kit, new high perchance chip, adjustable fuel pressure valve, an air bag installed in the right rear spring, shorty headers, and dumps made from 3" header connectors I had a local welding shop install. He said it was a ***** to install them as a regular torch could not cut the SS exhaust it came with and he had to break out his plasma cutter to cut into the stock pipes made blockoff plates for them and started having fun. Great shot just grazing the front tires it came up nice and straight because of the air bag unlike some hot stock ones that twisted the frame looking like a 59 chevy coming off the line hard. Great car, power windows A/C and cruised at about 2500 with the five speed. Was almost as fast as my Cobrajet 428 with is stock block 302.
This was my crew in the mid 90s. We all daily drove our cars and street raced every weekend. Mine was the grey '86 GT 5th from the left. 9 of these cars went to my high school and we all parked together
The 86 GT was a pretty basic car for broke high schooler. Had a B303 that I pulled out of a friends trashcan when he put in a nitrous cam, I got BBK Shorties, H-pipe and Flowmaster's for my birthday and Xmas. It was an AOD car, and when I lost a street race against a 1st gen Camaro, my non car guy best friend asked what I needed to beat that guy. I told him I needed a stall converter and gears. He loaned me the money so I got a 3000 stall converter from Jeg's and 4.10s with 31 spline axles. Another friend sold me a nitrous kit so I sprayed a 150 shot on it. I ran several different wheel and tire combos including 16" Pony wheels and Centerline Auto Drags with skinnies up front. Sold it around '98 or so. In 2006 I briefly had a '95 GT 5spd with some mild upgrades but didn't like how heavy it felt. In 2016 I picked up this black '91 Notch. It was fun, but I put it together with the mid 90's mindset and did all the **** I would've done if I had the car in the 90's but it wasn't fast enough for today's streets. It was a Forged Rotating NA 306, GT40X heads and X-303 cam, T5Z, 3.73 and went high 11's on radials. Rather than butchering a nice v8 coupe with an LS swap to go faster, I opted to sell it to fund a crew cab Foxbody (Fairmont) with a built turbo LS, PG, 8.8 etc. I sold the Fairmont when I moved to a new house 5 yrs ago but the engine I put together for it is now in my '56 F100. I plan to buy another Foxbody in the next few years. My parents came home one evening to find me p***ed out in the driveway after getting the transmission back in
This is great! I have an '89 that I've been working on for a couple of years. Will start a separate thread when I have time. Now that you've started this, I won't feel so bad about sharing it on the HAMB, of all places
That's exactly how I did my 89, all the stuff that was hot in street cars back in the day. I did it for nostalgia's sake, and to relive a part of my misspent youth. Sure a stock Coyote car will walk it, but who cares? I have fun driving it and it gets a lot more looks and thumbs up than any new Coyote Mustang.
Yeah man! I was swapping a Y-Block for a 302 into my '54 Victoria and while building that SBF I got the bug for another Mustang so I sold the '54 90% done and picked up that black coupe. I dug through all of my old 5.0 magazines from the 90's and built the car off those references, haha. It was a fun car, did 1.7x 60' on Drag Radials on motor. Unfortunately the cost to add horsepower meant an aftermarket block or LS and I didn't have the budget for that. I did line up at a stop light next to a GT500 or whatever the top **** Mustang was in 2016. I'm sure his wife was unimpressed that he spent all those dollars and got gapped by an old loud *** loping Foxbody.
My first car (when I was 15) was an 86 'vert, and then later I had a 98 GT coupe. Even though the 98 was a 4.6, it was a great car, and provided good reliable transportation until I drove it through the side of an impala that left turned me in law school. I was so bummed. It's funny that this thread popped up, I'm actually looking for another pre-96 GT, 5.0, manual car as a daily driver. If anyone is holding one that has working AC hit me up
And they're still one of the best platforms for going fast out there. Junkyard LS and a turbo will hurt a lot of feelings in these cars. Everything is so heavy now, and it all feels so safe and sterilized. Foxes were one of the last "raw" feeling affordable cars to me. Takes some skill to wheel them fast, not point and squirt like most newer performance cars.
Yeah, the majority of cars at dragstrips across the country are Foxbody Mustangs, and for a good reason. With today's suspension and tuning, they're faster than ever, and way easier to build than they were 20-30 years ago. Plus, they still look so good!
Fun, inexpensive (for the most part use to be), great cars. Had quite a few of them and the f-bodies. Unfortunately I'm terrible about taking pictures. But a few of the mustangs I use to have.
Found pics of my 93 and 95 GTs. I had a silver 86 with a cowl hood too, but can't find any pics of it. 93 was just a bolt on car, ran high 13s. the 95 was h/c/i with a 100 shot and ran 11.50s.
My pal Jesse Barratt that just painted my 61 Olds is a huge Mustang guy. His shop, Blue Sky Performance, built this notch called "War Admiral" a couple years ago. Really impressive build that Jesse and Jeff put together. Turbocharged 363 ci Windsor with a TKX, making around 1,100 horsepower now. But still a complete, street car with good manners.
55 Chevys of my generation….had a friend get a brand new 86 our Senior year of HS…was soooo jealous.. I had to settle for a 80 Capri…did the monochrome paint deal like the ASC cars..and shoved a SBF and C4 in it…
And now the sad ending to this story and car. When I was selling everything off pending my move out of conus in 1992 this was my baby stored for winter in heated garage never driven in rain, snow or icy roads had less than 4000 miles on it it was immaculate in perfect condition. I had already started working for the guerilla fighters in Laos and a local relative in the USA begged me to sell him the car. I was hesitant as he was a bit of a wild child. But I gave in and his rich Thai girlfriend, that was going to college in CT, paid for it in cash. Away it went. 2 DAYS Later I get a call from the kids mother that the car was wrecked. Sped down to a local garage and there she was BENT like a pretzel, it looked like the end of a paper clip with the nose and rear end facing the same direction. I was sick to my stomach. Get the story he was driving like a madman in town and the police started chasing him and HE RAN FROM THEM because he had no license and a joint or two in the car. Lost it at high speed and hit a telephone pole in the p***enger door area. Don't know what happened to him and don't care, don't know if anybody smart salvaged all the Hiper parts off it or what. I stole the Hurst "T" handle off the shifter and still have the handle on my daily driver rice burner.
Thanks for sharing. I had lots of buddies in the late 80's/early 90's that had these and rode in them regularly. I never owned one, but did some paint work on a few. They were definitely fun cars.
I had a 93 LX, 2.3 AOD. Hated that car. It had more power than the 2.3 Mustang II we had back in the 80’s, but not much. Most uncomfortable seats of anything I ever owned. It was sharp, silver, black top, factory 10 hole wheels and a pair of black GT taillights that contrasted well with the silver. Let the top down, buffet you to death at highway speed. Run the AC with top up, it would freeze up solid, even after having it worked on, lines, orfice tube I think it was, flushed a couple of times. Got sick of it and sold it.
Sad ending. My '86 GT suffered a similar fate when the new owner took a year to strip the car down, body work and repaint it, then went out for a rip and lost control, totaled the car and killed the guy. Just a few years back I sought out the cleanest Lexus IS300 in the country that I could find. I flew out and drove it home. I cared for it, garaged every night, always waxed and polished and clean clean clean. After about 2 years I sold it because I didn't like the stress of nice paint. A month later the kid who bought it was t-boned in an intersection, gladly everyone was fine, except the car that was a total loss. Anyway, back on the Mustangs related topic, I think ya'll would appreciate this.... My youngest brother recently swapped a '91 Mustang 2.3 into a '77 Pinto Cruising Wagon, and my middle brother is currently swapping a '17 2.3 Ecoboost & 6R80 into his '61 Falcon 2dr.
Seems like a lot of these cars met bad ends. I traded my 93 in on the 95 and they guy that ended up buying it trashed it. My 95 I ended up wrecking street racing. I won at least! Was out in the sticks and I had it towed out of there before any cops showed. Got really lucky, not a scratch on me or my girlfriend (who is now my wife). I was a stupid kid.
My state police gang had them early the Regals. Broke a bunch of crank snouts on them. Even had a few Grand National X versions.
Some of my best races were against my buddy's 86 T-Type. He'd set the parking brake and spool it at a light, then pop it when the light went green. Always got out on me, but I could reel him in up top. I'd have to roll the windows up because his test pipe exited under the p***enger side fender and would absolutely shred your eardrum. Turbo Buicks were nothing to be trifled with back then. Even when the LS1 cars came out, I had more trouble with the Buicks. I've always wanted one of those cars.
The Jalopy Journal
