Why The 1982-1993 Ford Mustang GT Never Reached Its Full Potential 

That car's shortcomings were an aftermarket supplier's dream.

I had a 1992 GT and sold it for pennies on the dollar - one of my biggest regrets. After doing a head/cam/intake swap it never ran right and never had the power it should have. The timing would jump all over with the spout connector out. I chased this problem for 2 years and got so mad I sold the car for dirt cheap because I just wanted it gone. Sold it to a local mustang forum member and he sent me a message 3 days later saying they found the problem and a wire was grounded in the wrong spot and it was running a lot better. Biggest kick in the nuts ever.

Bought my 1992 Ford Mustang LX hatchback back in August of 93. Still have it with very minor modifications. It outlasted the wife.

That $8,300 price in 1982 is equivalent to less than $22,000 today. For a GT!

those fox body had the best looking duel exhaust with the sound to match

I had a 88 lx 5.0 and a 93 lx 5.0. And both were great cars. 373 gears with a 5 speed manual 😎

Rolling in my five point O with my ragtop down so my hair can blow.

All good and everything.. but.... I'm getting ready to install a .010 over 10.5:1 351 Windsor with Holley Sniper fuel and ignition in my '93 notch. They live on even better than stock

I still have an 88 LX 5.0 that I bought new in 1988. Garage kept and well taken care of. So glad I kept it.

Had a 1990 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 notchback. It was my very first new car. It had a Strawberry Metallic Paint Job. And I bought of the show room floor. Couldn't stop driving it. Loved hearing that 5.0 V8 run. At the time I had mine North Carolina State Troopers had a few of them.

I’m a proud owner of a 90 LX Hatchback 5.0 and in High school I owned a 79 Notchback👍

When I was a kid that was the car (or the much lighter LX) to have. Bolt on a Paxton supercharger and hit the strip. Stormin’ Norman Gray anyone?

I had an ‘86 turbocharged SVO with the 5-speed back then. Man, did I love that car.

Back in the 90's I had an '84 ex hwy patrol with the 5.0 H.O. and a 5 speed and it was one of the funnest cars I ever owned.

I think Ford was more concerned about sales than performance! Aftermarket companies can modify a 1982-1993 Mustang GT to make well over 300 horsepower (in some cases, over 400-500 horsepower)!

I think the Fox body Mustangs were just fine the way they were. Love these cars!

Great car ; 93 LX 5.0 373 Electric Red. Just like a Jeep , a Harley etc ...... an after-market dream

I loved these cars my dad got one for a rental in 1990 when his GMC truck was stolen from work we both failed in love with the 5.0 Gt"✌👍😎🤘

I was always a big fan of the 5.0 coupes. The GTs and especially the GT convertibles were cool but I never liked the ground effect body panels and the turbine wheels. (Michael Douglas' character in Basic Instinct drove a burgundy color GT convertible.) I just always like the stripped-down look of the 5.0 LX coupes with the alloy wheels.

My 92 Gt Vert still Turns Heads at every stoplight,, Foxbodys are fun to drive and sound beastly with Flowmasters or Slp 1s

I had a 91 GT back in highschool. Graduated in 94. Car was awesome. Threw on some heads, steeda #18 cam, gt40 intake, long tube headers, staggered skinny up front weld wheels and 3 autometer gages set in chrome cups on the hood. Brings back so many memories of hanging out at checkers on PowerLine Rd, then heading out to Lester's to find out who was all talk.

If it reached it's full potential I might have been typing this comment to you on the back of a ouija board 🤣 Thank u man for another gr8 video

Late 80's and early 90"s the only cars that scared me were the Grand Nationals, you had no clue till the race was over

Still driving my 89 :)

My 86 LX notch fox was my first car, and I'm slowly gathering the parts to do a 93 suspension swap with a built 69 351W a built T5 and posi 8.8 with 373 gears. I expect it give modern Mustangs a hard time.

Nothing on earth like a foxbody

Had an 88 GT 5 speed. All the factory options you could get. Bought it from the original owner. Loved that car. Solid performance all around. Enjoyed the versatility of the hatch. Kept it completley stock.

You can beat them up on the 4 lug all you want but it was still a better rear then Chevy had. Basically the same as a Chevy 12 bolt and the studs were an easy fix. I ran 5/8 studs and never had a problem. The stock axles would even break before the stock studs would. It was an easy 13sec car stock if it was a 5sp. Set of gears, tires, short belt, and few basic bolt on's and they ran low 12s if you could drive. Do a head, cam and power adder on the stock short block and you had a 9sec car and drive it anywhere. Those cars have hurt many feelings over the years lol. Forget about it fully modified. Mustang vs Buick and Mustang vs Camaro were good times back then. Although it was mostly gen 1 and 2 Camaro's you had racing back then. There were so many mustang's they had to add Firebirds in with the Camaro's to even out the field some. Just a crazy time. So popular they had their own events the like FFW, WFC and NMRA which is still going on for about 20 year now.

I’m still daily driving my 1989 Mustang GT and continue to beat pretty much every car at the stoplight in stock trim with 175,000 miles!

Ford Fox Body was a Great car much better than it's competition the IROC Z28 ….. Irocs had had valve guides and smoked from the Factory, prematutre fuel pump failure , Electric Fans...the list can go on Forever.

Thanks for this video! Love the 80s-90s comparison's!

I had a 89with a built five point o and it was wicked!!!!!

Ford was winning the sales race so they didn’t see the need for the 5.8. Also the hood on the 87-93 were too low and would require a raised hood (I believe this was one concern). I also wish Ford would have added the 351 to the T-Birds during those years. Maybe that will be my next project

Yep, still my favourite opening titles of any Tube channel.

Purchased an 88' GT new back in May of 1988.$13800 with a 5speed.Loved that car!

Nice was wondering if you would do this one! Makes me miss high school!

That's what the aftermarket is for. I had an '88 GT hatch, white with red stripe around the middle.. to this day, the most fun car I ever had. It was light, had tons of torque, sounded like a beast, and it was even practical due to the hatch. You could fit so much back there.

I have 92 LX Convert Auto 3:27 and 93 GT Manual 3:08 both low milage with every factory option available, bought many years ago. Every time I take one out to drive someone puts there business card under wiper blade wanting to buy. NEVER! So much fun to drive.

yea dont want those 4 lugs flying off from that amazing 157 BHP

WoW ! What an idea ! 260 cv in the 90s would have upped the muscle car world big time. Those are 2000s numbers. You said they were selling more than Camaro, there was no need to change anything, they had hit the jackpot all ready.

Bought a used 89GT Convertible from a lawyer guy in Louisville Kentucky for $5400 back in 99. Only had 64k and he wanted it gone because he had 2 new Mercedes Benz and needed the parking space ! Had BBK short headers installed and 17” Ford Racing Cobra R satin wheels and BBK underdrive pulleys ! Also had a late 89 140mph speedometer to replace the stupid 85mph one !!! That car was awesome !

Very interesting video, but you need to learn about brevity :P you don't need to say "the 1982 to 1993 Ford Mustang GT" every 5 seconds, we know what you're talking about if you just say "the Mustang" or "the fox-body GT"

Great video. One must remember that Ford is in the business of selling cars. Their cars have to appeal to as many people as possible and they have to be profitable and conform to safety mandates. Only a small segment of the public would have been clamoring for 5 lug wheels, rear disc brakes and the 5.8 liter engine. Add to that the fact that many engineers felt that 300 lb-ft of torque in a small car like the Fox body Mustang was dangerous enough. I think they felt they had a hit, don't mess with it.

My 1993 svt cobra with a 15 psi Procharger with intercooleer outperforms most other cars!

I had 5 brand new Mustang Gts and was completely satisfied with them all! Who needs more that 225 hp??!!

I grew up with those 5.0’s and even though I wasn’t into Ford I had a soft spot for them. They were one of the quicker cars of the day and number one for bang of the buck! Nothing is free so there was a reason they were cheap; Tupperware interior, junky suspension and flimsy body structure. However they sounded great and with the 5.0, 5 speed stick combo they felt and sounded great!

Your videos are great! Like a stroll down memory lane!

The 93 Cobra was the best of the original Fox Body’s. It was hard for Ford themselves to improve on it as far as production.

Um, the Mustang fox platform actually ran from 1979...to 1993. And yes, the 4 lugs were a disappointment, but there is no evidence the 5 lug set up, is better than the 4... accept for maybe rim selection..and I guess rear disc brakes.

Brings me back to college in the mid nineties. The big thing on campus were 87 style Mustang GT's. The roar of Flowmasters were everywhere.

I own an 88 GT, and agree with this video completely. Aftermarket does allow you to correct these issues.

I was going to buy that 1987 GT but it had 4 lug wheels... just couldn't get over that

I ordered an ‘84 Mustang GT convertible, the first yr you could get a convertible in GT trim. It had a 4bbl carb, 5sp manual,

This car was a straight line killer

its easy to look back at the GT short coming but at the time in 1988 to have a 5 liter engine fuel injection engine at a reasonable price this was a big deal at the time . I had a GT converible 5 speed at it was a real nice car and dependable car and it really had a great resale value .

Wish he referenced the car as a 5 liter mustang instead of 5 liter GT

When I had my 5.0 4 speed Pace Car in the late 80’s there was a limited number of aftermarket wheels available for it because of the 4 bolt hubs. The Mark 7 was built on the Fox platform and was built with 4 wheel disc brakes and 5 lugs in 1984. I wonder how many of those parts interchanged with the SVO?

We have an 82 GT and it's still a fun car.:-)

I got an 86 LX Conv 5.0 in Garage with PAXTON on it, going to Beach Cruise this morning 😎😎😎😎😀🤗

Well what Ford didn't give this car the aftermarket did. There to me is no car platform (at least while I was growing up) that had more aftermarket support than these Mustangs and they still have it to this very day.

Fox body: started in 1979.

I have owned more Fox Mustangs than I can remember. Currently, have a 92 LX in Wild Strawberry with 38K miles. Love this platform.

My mustang needed some frame supports, new torque box support and a 1995 Suspension and steering rack. Because of these added features, the handling, suspension and performance improved.

These 5.0 were underrated.

Back in 1989, I test drove a plain Jane LX notchback with the 5.0. No air conditioning, roll up windows, AM/FM radio only. Bare bones with the 5-speed. It was, like $12,500. Anyways, what a screamer that car was. Can't imagine it with 5.8L back then. Fast forward to today...my 2021 GMC Sierra AT4 with the 6.2L has 420 hp, 460 ft/lbs of torque. The new Mustangs (GT) have, like 460 hp.

The foxbody mustang was produced from 1979 to 1993... also the foxbody platform came out in 1978.

I miss my ‘91 notch 5.0 LX. Bought it brand new and took it to 135,000 trouble free and semi abused miles. Plenty of burnouts and drifting.

Had a 93 GT with Hurst shifter - oh what a car!

I remember my 1962 Nova sedan had 4 lug wheels and I could never find wheels that fit. That was before you could buy specific wheels on the internet.

Thank you so much for producing this video. With every model year Ford made the Mustang GT better than the previous year from Forged pistons, four barrel Hally carburetors, and roller type camshaft every year had something added. The resin ford could not get there act together in the 1986-1993 Mustang GT years was because they sunk a ton of money into the Mustang III (ford Probe) platform and when they got there rears handed to them by one of the biggest letter writing campaign in Ford history. Ford made the decision to keep the mustang rear wheel drive but, Ford didn't have any substantial capital or time left to do any real changes to the platform, to make matters worse they scrapped the molds for making the 1985 mustang heads and the 1986 heads where a failure. So, ford tried out there E7 heads with unexpected success. Ford sold the Mustang GT from 1987 to 1993 with minor changes to keep it smog compliant but offered Ford Motorsports parts for those of us that wanted a mustang with a little more kick. Both Saleen and SAAC offered mustangs with Ford factory part from there parts bin (5 lug, rear disc brakes, stiffer suspension) and Ford Motorsports parts that got the Mustang to the 300hp marker in 1989. The Saleen was based on the LX model and the SAAC was based on the GT model. The great thing about the SFI mass air systems from the 1989 to 1993 Mustang GT was it took really well to engine upgrades. And the aftermarket took notice. The cheap price of the 1982-1993 Mustang GT purchased new, the still continuing Ford Performance, and aftermarket supplied parts made the 1982-1993 Mustang GT a success. Though the 1982-1993 Ford Mustang GT never reached Its full potential from the factory, it became the Lego set for performance and fun. Again, thank you for this video.

I had a 93 5.0. Amazing factory car that was ready to upgrade.

ORDERED A 84 MUSTANG L BASE MODEL BACK THEN NO AC 5.0 5 SPEED NOTHING ELSE BUT A RADIO IT WEIGHED 2588 ON THE REGGIE PAID 9500 OUT THE DOOR, GREAT CAR ,KEPT UP WITH THE LATER FUEL INJECTED ONES ALL STOCK JUST NO CAT FUN CAR, I LIKED THE CARBURATOR BETTER THAN THE FUEL INJECTION ON MY 87

Thanks for the insight on the return of the Mustang GT. I like how you credit its significance and lead us to the alternative possibilities. Great Video!

I'll gladly pay 17% more for the drop dead sexiness of the 3rd gen Z28s and IROCs!

I own a 351 swapped the mustang Fox body. Absolutely a big difference.

93 Cobra is my dream car

There were some of those cars out there that people didn't know about. they were the ones that were special built for police use. they were so popular with State patrol agencies. that they even went though the trouble of building special barriers to separate perpetrators from officers. which meant removing the passenger seat because they of course were two door vehicles. it was the only time a two door vehicle was used as a police interceptor. because they could easily run down most any performance vehicle on the road at the time.

I think it was Mustang Monthly in 1985 that had a short article stating that Ford had a few prototypes with HO 351w in them.

The svo rear brake setup would have worked on the 5.0. It was similar to the mark 7 setup. I ran mark 7 front rotors and calipers on my 89 with tbird turbo coupe rear disc brakes. I put in ranger/Aerostar 5 lug rear axles. The 5.8 would have worked but they would have had to upgrade the t5 trans. I believe the t5 was only rated to 300ft/lbs. WC t5 May have worked though.

I begclo to differ on some points in this video,I had a 1986 F150 Lariat short wheel base pickup with a 1993 Mustang GT 5.0 engine in it. And that truck was scary fast and it would spin both back tires for over 50 yards if you stood on the gas pedal from a standing start. I never found out how fast it would run top end but,a deputy friend of mine clocked me one day on a back road at 133 MPH. He was helping me test it to see how fast it would run because he wanted to buy it from me. And that engine was in a truck body,not a much lighter Mustang body.

I had a Black 88 LX 5.0. A very beautiful, very fast car. The stories I could tell.

Fords worst mistake was to detune the 1993 Mustang 5.0 by replacing its Forged pistons Found on the 1987-1992 dropping 25HP 25TQ 1987-1992 =225HP 1987-1992=300TQ 1993-200 HP 😡 275TQ. 😡

I have an 84 T-top gt with the 82 front and hatch. Love the car.

they were going to axe it 93...almost became the Probe...John Coletti SVT director saved it with a write in campaign and the 94 was launched...the best of the fox platform potential was reached in 03/04 with the Terminator/cobra form...long live John Coletti !

I had a 1990 LX 5.0. It was a decent car but with 2.73 non posi traction rear end (nightmare in snow & ice) with the AOD transmission, it was slow off the line. Once the car was rolling, it was very responsive though. It's tall gearing meant that it got great (for a V8) highway gas mileage. But You're right. The bean counters at Ford held this car WAY BACK! The 351 should have always been an option, beginning at least by 1983. 4 Lug wheels should have been ONLY on the 4 cylinder version as standard equipment with 5 lug as an option. The LX 5.0 and GT should have had the 5 luggers as standard. Now, you see a lot of people swapping in the 5.0 Coyote engine into the older Fox bodies, giving them a new lease on life.

The fox mustang never met it's full potential because of its drum brakes, flexible chassis that got floppier with time and solid rear axle. I had an 88 5.0 LX. Less weight from loss of added body panels meant the throttle was more responsive & sharper handling. Mine had an over bored cylinder. I had a member of the mustang club rebuild it under warranty. When I got it back, it had times more power and got 30 mpg on the highway. I always thought that most people did not understand the mustang focusing on acceleration. The car was best being a "GT", grand Turismo. It had enough handling to take corners well. It lived sweepers more than tight curves. It was comfortable driving at high speeds for hours. With it's gearing, the engine was lopping along. That is what it did best.

These are the best sounding slow cars...FlowMaster mufflers make them sound tuff!

Judging by what they did with Lincoln's 4.6 modular that was being produced way back in 1990, they could have skipped the 5.8 Windsor and dropped in a purpose built 5.0 DOHC way back then. They designed the engine with that purpose in mind the whole time and it's just realized that potential in the last decade. That's mainly due to the fact they thought it would make a good and durable mass produced V8 replacement for fleet vehicles and work trucks of all sorts so they kept it woefully detuned and under powered for so long. This was mostly accomplished. At the same time, the purpose for making the modular engine and calling it that was so that they could make an engine with many purposes in mind and parts would be interchangeable. So they could have easily built a purpose built performance engine to realize its full potential way back then, as I said. Even just the 4.6 3v that showed up in the 05 Mustang could do a flat 14 sec 1/4 mile run. I'm not a fan of the modulars but they were good designs with a lot of potential that is just now being realized.

The last good mustang.

My 1993 Lx auto. Went 13.60s with 4.10 gears, bbk cai, shorty bbk's, and Drs.

I had a 79 with a 69 351w and I took a 8 off the 3.8 badge and put it where the 0 was. 5.8 Car got me put in jail

They probably didn't do a lot of that stuff because the car was selling. If sales dropped I bet a bunch of that stuff would have been put in there.

Mine was an '84 with single stainless exhaust, 4 speed manual, Holly 650 carb, metric rims, and t-tops! The rear seal and rear end couldn't handle the torque I believe, as these were repair issues for me back then in 1986-90. That car was FAST!

Been a fox guy my whole life,had an 87 and a 92,then a year and a half ago sold my cobra and got another fox but with every bolt on and mod done to it and turn key :). Love my 87 gt.

As a teenager in the 80s I tried to purchase a mustang and the guy at the dealership told me I didn't make enough money to afford one, I was working full time 40-60 hours weekly making 9 dollars an hour, in hindsight I'm glad he talked me out of the purchase 😁

I tried watching the video but he sounds so monotonous,, makes this video feel like a boring 9th grade power point presentation

They could not offer the rear disks from the SVO on the stang as the track width was different. The SVO stang used the rear axle and front K member and front suspension from the fox body continental..

I special ordered a fully optioned 1983 Mustang GT (red exterior, red velour interior). The biggest knock I had was the 4-speed transmission. It was basically a 3 speed with 4th gear overdrive (what a waste). I did by an aftermarket rear window louver kit. Only kept the car 10 months and sold it.

When speaking of this, it's easily forgotten that Ford originally had plans at the time to discontinue the Fox-platform Mustang, and replace it Mazda-based FWD platform that was bodied to resemble the Probe-V concept car by the 1989-m/y. The uproar from the performance automotive enthusiasts had over learning such plans derailed them, forcing Ford to scramble at making a "proper" next-generation Mustang (RWD w/V-8 option) while simultaneously going forth with the introduction of the Probe as a separate new model, due to their overall investment in the latter.

3:73 gears really wakes this car up !