Fox Mustangs - are there ANY that aren't beat to death??

[HeavyD]

During my slow times at work I have been scanning CL to try and pick up a fox mustang to drive for the summer, and I can't believe how beat these cars are. I understand given their nature they will take a whuppin' but every one I see on there is either trashed, all greased up with stuff left over from the "van craze" or both. Ugly wings, race seats in a stock worn out car, holes cut everywhere for speakers, huge ugly hood scoops, ugly paint jobs with a sparay can, ugly ugly ugly. Even better is when they take an 83-86 model and swap an 87-93 front end and taiilights on it..yuuuck. Want a late 80's one? Buy it..these things are everywhere. Depressing.

You IROC guys have the same issues??

[Jonboy]

I hear you. When I found my '87 GT 'vert, it was really clean. I jumped on it. You are right though, most of them are beat.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I think I have the answer as to why... THEY WERE OWNED BY TEENAGERS

Seriously, myself and most of my friends were of driving age in the mid 90's and my high school parking lot was full of these things. Mostly the 4 bangers, but a few GT's. They were the perfect teenage car. The 4 bangers got good fuel mileage, they looked cool, Ford made a lot of them, so they were a cheap/cool first car.

[HeavyD]

Agreed, and I have had a few when I was younger, but I didn't torture them or stick gaudy crap oll over. Mind you, I didn't have the F&F movies to guide me back then either..lol.

[jb1016]

My brother works at a dealership specializing in pre-owned convertibles. He's had a few over the years, and has one right now -- a 92 "Summer Edition" LX convert. Red paint, white top, white leather, white pony wheels. Too nice for a driver, but I thought I'd share anyway http://www.sunvertibles.com/detail-1...d-7729829.html

Most foxes were rode hard and put away wet. ^This seems to be the only way to get a decent one anymore -- find somebody who's owned it since new (one owner before my brother's dealership), still has the original window sticker, and only put 60k on it over the course of two decades. So the only way to get a nice one is to get one that's over-the-top nice, which is way expensive.

[HeavyD]

^^ Nice car! Amazing how one's luck turns arond. A couple years ago I bought a similar stang - 1993 triple white (winter edition) for 2K and paid to have a buddy redo it in Vegas. New seat foam, leather, top, paint, yada yada. Well anyway he went through bad times with ex and I never heard from him in over a year. I figured he just took my car plus the $$ from the 2 72 swb trucks I sold (DUMB DUMB move) down there and vaished. Well, I got a call last night! My car should be completed soon..it just needs reassembly. It was mostly finished before so hopefully it all works out. Still doesn't help me as I bought it to flip, but beats losing 10k! still looking for an 84 or 86 Gt or 90-93 lx notch. I should just make one from a 4 cyl...

[67ChevyRedneck]

^ummmmmm... that's kinda crazy

My cousin was HUGE into these cars in the mid 90's. If I remember right, he had a t top car and two of the notchbacks, all 4 cylinder Now that's he's older with some spending money he was missing his old cars (all sold off over the years).

He bought a 93 Cobra a couple of years ago. An older couple bought it brand new and only took it out for cruises. No joke. He bought it with 12,200 miles on it. The only thing replaced was the battery. He even has the original tires.

The red one is the 93 Cobra. I don't know what year the blue one is, but it used to be silver. He had it restored. Came out cool. He drives the blue one most of the time. He's had the Cobra for a few years and only put 800 miles on it. Kind of a shame, but at least he really gets to enjoy one of them.

[67ChevyRedneck]

This is my 2011, which in my opinion is the best looking one since the first gens. I hope to be that old guy that still has the first brand new car he ever bought. Everything else I've ever gotten has been at least 6 or 7 years old.

[HeavyD]

Cool car 67RN..and thanks for sharing those other pics too..really nice photos. The blue one should be an 85 since it is carbed and has the 85-86 front end. Cobra is beautiful. Whats are the vehicles in your area like for rust? You guys seem to be swb central! Maybe I should search some craigs there for cars/trucks too. Whats another days drive? Vegas is already 25 hrs from me..

[67ChevyRedneck]

Look at the plate, he has STANG 85 on it. Didn't see that before.

My cousin and I both grew up in NY. His mid 80's stangs he had even in the 90's were rusty. That's the main reason he sold them off. He moved to southern Ohio and I moved to SC. He tells me there is very little snow there, so there's little rust.

I don't see a lot of them anymore, but the foxbodys I do see running around appear to be completely rust free. As far as the 67-72 trucks, they do rust here, especially if the drip rail caulk cracked out many years ago. Rockers and door bottoms do rot out here as well. There are trucks around here that were taken care of that are mostly rust free, but most of the unrestored ones for sale do have rust. I would buy one from out west if I ever buy another.

I would have no worries buying an 80's SC vehicle as long as it spent its whole life here. We have a lot of nice 80's square bodies still running around.

[HeavyD]

^^ thanks for the info. I see your project "rusty chicken" is a 67 'Bird..had a 67 and a 68 many years ago. Nice cars. My 67 had a 455 transplanted in it with no posi. wasn't really fast, but the one wheel peel it could do on the tiny 14 inch tire was insane!

[sethv]

It's saddening, really. I've always been a Foxbody fan since I was bout 5 years old! I was This close ->_<- to getting an 83. It was beaten, rusty, crusty, and had a hackjob T-5 conversion. Luckily, he decided it would be a good idea to keep it! The interior was like 5 different colors, and the steering wheel broke off the column once. Glad I didn't get that death trap, but there are days I wonder when it'll finally break going down the road.

I'd love to have a hatchback 5.0 with a 5 speed for the summer and my K10 for whenever I can't drive the 5-oh.

[HeavyD]

Saddening is the perfect term. A few years ago I bought a reallly nice 89 hatch from vegas for 900 with a shot fuel pump and tires. I had my friend fix it and i drive it home 25 hrs with no problems. It was rust free, straight, and the interior was really nice...but it was red inside. I hated it and decided it was too much trouble to swap out. Dumb move..I'll never get another one that clean for cheap again.

[Jonboy]

I like some of the "other" Fox platform cars, too. I am on my 12th Mark VII. I like them a bit, too. This is one of the cleanest ones I have had yet, though.

[hotrod 80]

I had one . neat cars .

[jb1016]

I thought about you the other day HeavyD; I got behind a very clean, unrestored 87-89 notchback 5-oh. Totally bone-stock. It was no show car; you could tell it had been used, but taken care of. So they're out there, but I'm guessing owners like that don't put them up for sale very often.

[spudz]

At one time I had 5 fox mustangs at the same time, a 88 GT convert, a 83 vert, a 93 notch, a 91 hatch and a 91 hatch 5.0 5speed. I beat the living crap out of my mustangs........ SO if you run across a black 88 gt vert, or a corvette yellow hatch with black cobra hood.... stay away.... I've ripped the torque boxes out of both.... atleast once haha. I sold em all off within the last few years. Kinda outgrew them.

[406 Q-ship]

I have been involved with the performance cars of the 1980's and can tell you one thing. Ford built the Foxbody as a very cheap econo car that was never intended to be a performance car (remember the Fairmont was the same chassis). These things were never meant to even have a V8 when designed. Part of what makes the 1979-1992 (even the later SN95) so good for performance also makes them not last. The sheet metal is soooooooo tissue paper thin, which is great for weight but horrid for durability. Teenagers were cruel to these cars, they are cruel to all cars.

The 3rd gen F-bodies (Camaro/Firebird) were treated badly but from design GM built them as a performance first and a profile car second. The sheet metal in the F-body is so much more durable (read thicker) than the Mustang of that era, of course the Camaro is heavier due to this. Finding a good clean F-body is getting very tough cause they were beat by their owners and had really weird mods done to them. Ford finally got it right on the newest Mustang, they did an awesome job of the suspension design and the overall package but picked up weight.

[Torrey72]

Wow, this tread is a flashback to my I'll spent youth. I had a highschool buddy that had one with a turbo. We called it "MAD MAX" That car was fast.