They say that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Well, it turns out that you can give a Ford Mustang owner all the latest performance technology, but you can’t make them drive right, and as a result, the latest generation of America’s favorite sports car is already clogging the lots of the nation’s salvage vehicle auction houses.
Copart and IAA are overrun with listings for damaged 2024 Mustangs. The wealth of nearly brand new, damaged sports cars is as tempting to invest in as it is hilarious. Meanwhile, with their need for speed and their rear-wheel-drive, the nation’s Ford enthusiasts are doing nothing to discourage stereotypes.
While I can certainly find sympathy in my heart for the drivers of these vehicles, whose cars were ruined almost as soon as they received them, it’s hard not to giggle. Especially since the damage on more than a few of them would suggest a familiar, tail-happy narrative.
Read: If At First You Don’t Crash Your Ford Mustang, Try, Try Again
As we know, the Mustang is famous for sliding on its way out of car shows, and slamming into everything in its path. And all evidence would suggest that’s exactly what happened to this blue 2024 Mustang GT (above), which is now located in Copart’s Chicago South lot.
With telltale damage to the rear wheels, and exclusively the rear wheels, it’s hard not to make assumptions about the smoky drift that ended in heavy contact with a curb, and may have potentially led to this car ending up in a scrapyard.
Others, like this black 2024 Mustang GT (above) located in Raleigh, North Carolina, show some signs of complication, like a scrunched up trunk. And while it’s not clear exactly what led to it ending up in IAA’s lot, it’s not hard to imagine how a fun slide could have become a scary loop into a wall (or parked car), damaging the right rear section of the vehicle.
While some of these accidents seem genuinely scary, like the one that ended with this light blue Mustang GT (below) suffering damage to its front and rear, or this black Mustang GT (bottom of page) that rolled over, they will do little to convince the world that giving any old driver access to the better part of 500 hp directed exclusively at the rear wheels is recipe for safety.
Naturally, I’m sure that some of these Mustangs wound up in the salvage yard through no fault of their driver, but you have to admit that it’s highly suspicious that so many have ended up totaled in such a short period of time.
The good news is that a good many of these Mustangs haven’t suffered any damage to their front end. That may make them a cheap sources of Ford’s latest 5.0-liter V8 for your next project car.
