The first time I saw it, it was parked down the street in the neighbor’s driveway: A very plain, white, Fox-bodied Mustang. This car was not a hatchback, it was a coupe, AKA a notchback or “notch” in Mustang parlance. Drag racers prefer these Mustangs because they weigh a little less than the hatchbacks (less glass) and they seem to be slightly more structurally sound in the back (smaller opening).
My neighbor was always buying and selling cars and had big plans for this basic little car with virtually no options. He usually did not complete projects so I was curious about this four cylinder car’s fate. For next few weeks I kept my eye on it. I noticed that there was no license plate on it and it never moved.
One of the reasons I was interested was because I had a Ford 5.0 HO sitting on an engine stand in my garage. It was a low mile mill out of a Lincoln Mark VII. The 5.0 Mustang and the later Mark VII used identical engines. I picked mine up at the Pull-N-Save on a “half off sale” day. My engine and that car, well, it was just meant to be. After a month or so, a deal was struck and I became the owner of the little 2.3 Mustang.
I made a little money back by pulling the entire driveline and selling it at the local scrap metal yard. The 7.5 inch ring gears in the base model Mustang rear axles can’t take the punishment of a 5.0 and sticky tires, so that went too. I was able to locate the better 8.8 inch rear axle for sale, and from a junkyard car, a T-5 manual gearbox and all the related parts.
I have done a few engine swaps, and these are easy. Because these cars were engineered to have these engines, every part needed is available, somewhere. After a short time getting everything sorted out, I had the little white Mustang running 13 second passes at the local quarter mile dragstrip. Within the year I had upgraded the heads and added lightweight aluminum wheels, But in most respects, it was still a very basic little car.
The last time I took that car to the dragstrip, I ran a 12.98 in the quarter mile. While this is not extremely fast, this was a true budget race car, a hodge-podge of used junkyard parts. I loved that little white Mustang.
All good things must come to an end. The car was my primary transportation for a season, and it “met” an SUV driven by a 16 year old with a shiny new license. That eight-sided red sign? It means stop. The nose, hood, and passenger front fender were crushed, but I was able to limp the car home. The only good thing about haggling with a national insurance conglomerate is when you have the crunched car parked in your driveway. I was not paying daily storage fees so I was in no rush to settle up with the low-ball offers from the kid’s insurance company.
In this same time period, my wife was going through a garage sale phase. We often went out driving the neighborhood streets on Saturday mornings. Imagine my surprise when one house had an emerald green ’92 Mustang for sale along with all their other items. It was a 2.3 hatchback in good condition, but was priced to move because of a blown head gasket. As I was getting it home my wife said there were clouds of steam coming out of the tailpipe.
No matter, the 2.3 and related parts would be gone soon. As a bonus, the insurance company raised their pitiful offer a little, and said they didn’t care if it was a 5.0 with a 5-speed or a 2.3 with an automatic and a bad head gasket. Guess what they got?
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that our interests change over time. I got the green car nice and shiny, and it ran strong, but I just never liked it. Although it was almost identical to the white car, it just wasn’t the same. I sold it a few weeks after getting it back on the road.
Over the course of my life, I’ve owned six or seven Mustangs. That little white one was my favorite Mustang, and one of my favorite “Cars of a Lifetime”.
Awesome story, and sad to hear about your white Notch…It was a nice car.
Those Fox notches, are getting rarer by the day.
Mecum says that(model of Fox body Mustang) is the one to hold onto, because they’re already valuable.
I love mine, I have an 88 speed density Notch LX, it has a few mods, nothing really major…MSD ignition, BBK shorty headers, Unorthodox billet pulleys, Ford Racing cold air intake, Boss Hogg stall converter, Cobra R deep dish chrome 5 spokes, Cervini Ram Air fiberglass hood, Thrush dual Thunder mufflers.
Once, you got the Fox Mustang bug, it’s hard to drive anything else.
Nice article and pics, as well. 😉
We own a 1993 Ford 5.0 Mustang. I have only ever seen a few on the road, but based on fate, or whatever you may think it is, Someone else owns a little white 2.3L notch mustang that I’ve never seen get drivin but is in good condition.
I went with my mum when she bought the 4 cylinder in 1989. Also white.
It was on sale for the same price as the Tempo at $9999 Canadian.
It was pretty cool for awhile and reliable but didn’t garner very much love.
Big fishtailer in the rain and underpowered but adequate.
Managed to keep it from crashing for the few years we owned it then got a used 4 door Chevy Celebrity which suited our family better.
My dad has the 2014 convertible now. Still a big fishtailer in the rain.
Scared him sh@tless coming back from Florida in a big storm.
Son Number Two’s first car was an ’84 notch in “L” trim. We spent a lot of time under the hood until it finally died of oil starvation. Son sold the car for nearly what he paid for it to a guy who planned to build a drag car with it…
What was the reason for the oil starvation?
Immaturity.
Cool car – too bad about the ending!
“Over the course of my life, I’ve owned six or seven Mustangs. That little white one was my favorite Mustang, and one of my favorite “Cars of a Lifetime”.”
Only having owned one Mustang that quote still reminds me of Harley and Corvette guys, rarely do they own just one in a lifetime and they generally have one that sticks out in their minds above the others.
In a CC Effect prequel, I saw a really nice one of these yesterday. It was a late 80s model, bright yellow, and the first one I had seen on the road in quite awhile.
As great as it is to move on from a car when you are ready to move on (or when you find something better) I *hate* losing a great car to the insurance man. I have had it happen twice (83 Colt and 96 Odyssey). Why can’t the new driver blow a stop sign and total the car that you are sick of or that you wish you had never bought?
Worse still is when you’re toying with the idea of upgrading an already favorite ride to a newer version of the same thing, but the insurance payout and your current budget preclude you actually buying the new one. I’d toyed with picking up a 2017 Fiesta ST-same car as the 2014 I had but with a couple things like Sync 3 I was interested in (and 39,000 fewer miles). Guy blew a light, took me out. After three years, the insurance payout was half the replacement cost, I’d paid the car off already, and my job situation had changed from a high-paying contract gig to a great employment opportunity but with a serious pay hit.
Reading this I felt like I had a hypothesis supported-Even if it’s the same car, maybe it just isn’t the same.
Im confused. You turned it into a convertible as well?
Looks like he didn’t have a picture of his own car after the crash; so he found a photo of a similarly damaged Mustang.
yes, that’s right
I saw several 2.3 Mustangs in downtown Barre VT this morning. These were race cars that run in the Street Stock class at the local racetrack (Thunder Road Speedbowl). Some looked like they had been racing and crashing since the 90’s.
VT Governor Phil Scott was also there with his Late Model race car. Anyone know of any other politicians who race?
They sound like the entrants of The 24 Hours of Lemons events.
Some real dogs in that rally race. 😛
I wanted a Fox GT convertible before I bought my ’96. I found that it was hard to find a decent one at a good price. The values of these cars are steadily rising. I read some Mustang forums for awhile before I bought my car. I found that there is a lot you can do to the four cylinder to improve it, but besides taking it up to the SVO or Merkur XR4TI turbo motor level, performance will be disappointing. I found that my ’96 GT gives me enough performance stock, and has been a really reliable car. I don’t thrash it at the strip so that might help.
I know that there are those in the Mustang community that hate the early 4.6 cars because they don’t like the styling and the “weak” motor. Styling is personal, but I really like this car and the dual cockpit interior design. The 4.6 is smooth and tough, and gets good gas mileage. All SN97 V8 cars come with four wheel disc brakes, five lug wheels, (17” in my case) and mine has the optional ABS. The chassis has been strengthened and cross braced so additional subframe reinforcement is generally not needed. To top it off you get dual airbags. The SN97 cars are still a good buy today. and I am very happy with my car. I am very reluctant to sell this car even though I’ve got too many cars at the moment.
All that being said I really wanted an Fox body GT convertible. I love the blunt front end, body kit and cheese grater tail lights.
My ’94 V6 base Stang also had 4 wheel disk brakes, standard. ;=)
I absolutely love Fox body notchbacks, right from 1979 to 1993. I have owned three of them in my time, a 1983 GLX 5.0L/T5, a 1980 2.3L/auto that I converted to 5.0L/auto, and then a 1990 LX 2.3L/auto ’25th anniversary’ edition in bright blue.
Not sure what it is about these cars… they’re just a really nice lookin’ ride.
I considered a 4 cylinder Fox Mustang a few times when they were new. As a previous commentor noted, some dealers would advertise a 4 cylinder Mustang for the same price as a new Tempo.
What kept me from “pulling the trigger”? I never seemed to be able to find one (when I had the money) that was a “decent” color, or had a manual transmission, or had the “right” options. In the early 80s, dealers in my area had mostly weird 2 tone notches. When I moved, dealers in my area were overloaded with 4 cylinder/automatic transmission notches. But when I found a 4 cylinder/manual transmission notch, I couldn’t find any with cruise control AND a rear window defroster….yeah, I can be picky.
I did once own a 66 V8 Mustang and a 73 4 cylinder/automatic transmission Capri, I would think a 4 cylinder Fox Mustang would be the best of both worlds.
You may have been able to buy a 4 cyl Mustang for the same price as a Tempo, but the insurance company sees things on a not so even playing field. Insurance on a 4 cyl Mustang is going to be higher than on a Tempo. One is considered a young persons car and one is considered to be an older persons car. Different rates, even though they are both slugs. The morale of the story is, talk to your insurance company before you visit the dealership.
Above may be why there’s no more ‘strippo’ Mustang [or Camaro] anymore.
Since end of the Fox run in ’93, more and more standard features and power have been added.
I remember s few car guys back in the day saying the Pontiac GTA was the collectible car to have. That there were too many mustangs made for the fox body to become valuable – or at least desirable. Boy were they wrong. I am also in the fox body camp. Likem a lot. More than the 94 body. But even the 94 is a derivative of the fox
Glad that the covertble switcheroo was explained- thought I was hallucinating!
Yea, kinda like the movies.
When the main car, is somehow switched to a totally different model or vintage, but the same manufacturer…Before or after a stunt or crash.
Case in point, Smokey in the Bandit…When Buford T. Justice’s Pontiac Bonneville is switched to a Le Man’s or older Bonneville/Catalina, after it gets wrecked.
I guess these dumb movie producers don’t think car guys watch films.
Movie producers have budgets, and a multitude of other logistical considerations. Those take precedence over such a minor detail, which a majority of the audience probably won’t notice.
But when you do notice it, it’s like…
Really?
Especially, if you follow(car person) a certain car on screen.
It’s like watching Gone in 60 Seconds, seeing Eleanor crash, and seeing a Maverick in the tangled wreck, instead of a Mustang.
Maybe you don’t care, but some of us do. 😉
Those details weren’t seemingly so minor in the first one, Justice’s car was a 77 LeMans all the way through the movie, when the door got ripped off, when the roof got torn off etc. Somkey and the Bandit II however switched from 1980 Bonneville to mid 70s Bonneville to early 70s Bonneville throughout the movie, and it’s noticeable too, considering how much smaller the 77+ B bodies are.
Plus this is a car movie, not Casablanca, a sizeable chunk of the gearhead audience would truly be the ones who would notice these inconsistencies. I saw Smokey and the Bandit II on VHS on a little TV in the basement of a house I moved out of at 4 years old, and I still remember thinking the 71 at the end was not the same car as the 80 I had seen through the rest of the movie.
Well said, Matt…
This IS a car forum, so a majority of THIS audience would notice. 😛
I remember back in the 6th grade, my neighbor had one of these. His was this neon green. Loud, too. Thing was probably fairly quick, although I’m not sure I knew what that meant back then. My most distinctive memory of the thing, however, was when it drove by my school during recess, and nobody would believe me when I said it was a Mustang.
Great story, James, and your Mustang was a beauty. As I read the ultimate fate of it, all I could think was “UGH.”. There’s something irreplaceable about a beautiful thing you’ve created out of something less… an intangible that can’t quite be replicated in another car.
As for the bodystyle itself, I was one of many who had preferred the looks of the hatchback when these were newer (I owned an ’88 LX 2.3L in Oxford White – a car I loved), but, in 2017, the looks of the notchback so appeal to me.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Notchback was my favorite bodystyle on the 87-93s, that was such a clean look and with a 5.0 under the hood a real sleeper. For me The Mustang hasn’t truly been a Mustang since the closed bodystyles got consolidated into fastback only, they’re only a caricature of the hottest 60s models now. When I see a souped up 87-93 notchback however I see souped up 65 Coupe. The spirit of Mustang lives strong in the Foxbody, without blatantly reminding you of it.
Wow, EXACTLY, Matt.
Your comment is spot on.
Without the notch coupe body that started the Mustang craze in 1964…Not offering this body style in the lineup is not the same
Not a fan of the 1994-04, looks like Mustang gained a bubble butt and got porky in that 10 year span.
I think the 2005-2017 convertibles look better than the fastback coupes, because they remind me of the notchback Mustangs.
Now, maybe they should have an aftermarket convertible hardtop, like the Miata and S2000 guys have to buy…If they don’t want just a soft top.
Surprised NO Mustang enthusiasts have thought of this.
The last picture is a Bimini Blue 1992-93, not green. The last 2 years had body color rub strips. Most “90’s” color offered was bright mint green, then the dark green used on the 7UP promo cars.
It was dark green. The pic is not of the actual car (hatchback too).
My Mustang friend has a 1987 red convertible currently and had a 1991 white stick 2.3 coupe about 5 years ago. Both were bought with bad head gaskets and the usual interior issues, faded seats, cracked dashes, things falling apart and off here and there etc. He got the 1991 to where he wanted it but then the clutch went south and the usual Ford electrical gremlins so he offed it for a mere 500 bucks. The current red convertible has but 87K miles and he is replacing the head gasket and going through the interior. The 1991 was definitely a more fun car to drive and the 1987 is a pure dog. Ford should have kept putting the Essex 3.8 (with better head gasket design) in these cars and it took them until 1994 to do so. The 2.3 was held back with automatic and the heavier weight of the convertible body.
We own a little 5.0 hatchback mustang. it’s 1993. Sad story as I really love this car and plan to buy it off of my father who is the current owner of it.