Living up to one’s predecessors can be quite a task in the automotive world—especially when a car’s name starts with Ford and ends with Mustang.
The simple recipe for affordable sports cars that the greater public could cherish and enjoy proved to be a successful one. Owning one didn’t mean you’d have to break the bank, while there were enough body style, trim, and engine configurations to keep most happy.
The Fox Body Mustang had quite the shoes to fill upon its release in 1979. It had to represent what made the Mustang special while also being suited to modern taste. The ’80s were dawning, and consumers’ expectations had changed. The new platform was vastly different from the original, but what the name stood for and the glory of owning a Mustang still stayed the same.
And, in today’s context, says Hagerty’s Sam Smith, this generation of Mustang is the perfect blank canvas to build off. Like the original, the Fox Body was available in a plethora of trim and engine options designed to cater to multiple segments in the market. It featured no less than four body styles: The fastback, notchback, convertible, and Targa top. Production ran from 1979 all the way up to 1993 with changes on the trim levels and upgrades to the car internally and externally.
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It’s a platform that lends itself to modification, responding well to upgrades, and all the engines are potent and tunable. Components such as the addition of a supercharger, an enhanced intake, upgraded heads, or new headers are all available thanks to a massive aftermarket support network. That said, if it’s originality you’re looking for, then, as this video points out, there are several things to keep an eye out for, including mismatched production year parts, and chassis strengthening.
But, when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter if you’re looking to build a full-blown drag car, road course car, or maybe a weekend cruiser, the options on offer, combined with the interchangeability of parts on the production years, makes it the perfect kind of car to “make it your own.”