I have a bit of a morbid streak. At art museums, I will often stare into the eyes of the subjects of portraiture, and bother myself with their “quintessence of dust.” It’s less a fact that I am destined to the same fate than it is the idea that I’m staring into the past, fresh and new, and the paradox makes my mind race. Machinery leaves the same impression. This is my dad’s old ’99 Mustang, weeks before he traded it in on a new 2012 Mustang. It no longer exists.
Dad ordered this car new in January of 1999, and delivery took an agonizing four months; well, it was agonizing for me–those matters don’t have much of an effect on Dad. The “new edge” look may be somewhat polarizing these days, but at the time, the new ’99s proved popular and, in our case, hard to get. Aside from a fresh restyle, Ford gave the GT a healthy dose of horsepower. While the ’96-’98 Mustang GTs were fairly weak-kneed by many standards, the ’99 was the first of many steps in the right direction.
Photo courtesy: Car and Driver
The 4.6 produced 260 horsepower, an increase of 35 over the ’98. Even with the automatic, the GT was capable of low-to-mid 14 second quarter-miles, and its passing power was suitably impressive. Out on the freeway, hitting the gas at 70 would get you into trouble immediately. Sure, the concurrent Camaro Z28 was faster, but at least the Mustang was close and there was no chance that “Ford guy” Dad was buying a Camaro, even if Car and Driver reservedly preferred it over the Mustang in ’99.
When I took these pictures, the Mustang had endured 12 years and 110,000 miles of Michigan weather, and it still looked great (other than those floor mats!). I had a say in the order process, so the car was pretty well loaded, with traction control, leather, “Mach 460” sound system, and power everything. The color proved to be uncommon; Dark Satin Green Metallic was only an option for the ’98 and ’99 model years. In retrospect, it was almost too muddy looking, for lack of a better term, but it contrasted well with the saddle interior and brown trim. This Mustang also cemented my opinion that V8 Mustangs are among the most reliable cars ever. In all those years, it only required a front wheel bearing and an IAC solenoid (although I suspect the 1-2 accumulator spring in the transmission broke…it shifted pretty hard toward the end).
When something is a part of one’s life for so long, it’s tough to speak of it in the past tense. Roughly a year after my dad traded it in, the new owner apparently stuffed it into a ditch to avoid a wayward dog. Although all carbon-based life forms apparently survived, the hydrocarbon emitting ones did not. Where it ended up or how much survived, I can’t say. It was, however, the end of the road for an old family friend; the mellow burble from the pipes coughed one last gasp, and all was silence.
I’m probably too sentimental about machinery, which is why I have a hard time selling anything. It’s a quirk of my personality to wonder where the bones lie, so to speak, and this Mustang is no exception. Is its engine powering another ’99 GT somewhere, or did someone buy it to transplant into an old Crown Victoria? Did its rear axle find a home underneath an old muscle car, like a GM A-Body? Could the yard salvage a wheel or two to replace one bent by Michigan potholes? Did the essence somehow endure despite the oncoming inferno? None of us has an answer, of course, but I can’t help but look into those headlights and wonder.
CC effect double strike as I’ve seen a white one and a Bullitt version yesterday afternoon.
In October 98, my BIL decided my sister “needed” a new car and since she had once owned and cherished a 67 Mustang, she was going to get a new Mustang. According to the story, they looked at 98s and 99s figuring they would buy the best “bargain”….but I know my BIL and a 99 Mustang was always what they were going to drive home in. They bought a silver over grey V6 that would be the last in a string of cars with a manual transmission. The next year, my sister won an “S class” Mercedes in a MBOA contest, so the Mustang saw little use before finally being sold.
I would sure like to win an S-Class. You could buy a nice condo in some parts of the country for what they cost now.
Sell the S-class and buy a fleet of Mustangs. Or whatever…..
I was always a Mustang fan as a kid. I had numerous models of the ’94-’98 generation, and I remember when the redesigned ’99s came out. Considering mostly everything underneath was the same, I think Ford did a pretty good job in making the car look substantially different and more aggressive in the process.
Around 2010 my cousin bought a red Mustang coupe of this generation (I can’t remember the year, but I want to say 2000). It had higher mileage and was pretty broken in, but he was in need of a new car and got it for a good price. I only rode in it once, and I’m sure it was a base model with the V6. He beat whatever life it had left out of it, and was forced to replace it within two years.
I always did like the way Ford did the dual cockpit interior with the 1994-2004 Mustangs.
I am a big fan of this style of Mustang, and it is one of the few cars on the short list of things I want to try to own at some point in the future. Your endorsement for the reliability of these cars is heartening, as well! I’m very sorry for the loss of such a great example of one of these, and I hope that your dad’s ’12 model lives a long and productive life, too!
I am probably in the minority, but I prefer the 94-98 model’s styling. However, I understand that this generation is considered the better car.
I have the same kind of sentimental streak with cars, in that I miss them after they are gone and I wonder what became of them. Once in my life I had the opportunity to buy a former car back. My 68 Newport had been bought by a friend when his high school son wanted a “classic car”. After 4 or 5 years, he called me and asked if I was interested. It needed a transmission and his price was right, but as much as I had loved the car, I decided that it probably was not a good idea.
I felt the same about these when they came out! I tried to talk Dad into buying a late year ’98 instead, because I thought they got the look wrong on the ’99s. Today, I feel that they have aged about the same. In fact, the ’94-’98 models look soooooo ’90s to me that I may prefer the newer ones now.
I felt the same way when the 99 came out but I came around pretty quickly when the 01 refresh and the Bullitt wheels became available. The Blackout headlights, revised rear wing and scoops and the Bullitt wheels really made the bodystyle come into it’s own, before the 99-00s just looked like a squared off 94-98
Nice article. Would like to hear about the cars in the garage sometime too.
I’ve done COALs on all of my old cars…just click on my name and you can see my articles.
Brendan Saur:
Yeah, my sister won what was an all new design “S class” in 1999-2000. The kicker? She and her husband got entered in the raffle because he was a Mercedes owner. It was the only thing she ever won in her life and they almost sold it before she took possession because the “gift taxes” were enormous on such an expensive car. But….my BIL, being the showoff/know-it-all he thinks he is, decided she should keep the M-B and sell the Mustang he insisted she buy in the 1st place. The M-B was eventually “replaced” by a Prius.
“The M-B was eventually “replaced” by a Prius.”
Bummer.
That Modular sure takes up a lot of space in there; as someone elsewhere pointed out, it’s physically larger than the pushrod 302. It’s probably due to taller heads.
I remember reading somewhere that the 4.6 Cobra engine was as physically large as a Boss 429…so it’s a good engine, but it’s no wonder many people decide to swap LS engines in everything…they just fit better!
Wouldn’t surprise me. The heads on the DOHC 4.6 are quite massive. making it a very wide engine as well as a very tall one. It was a tight fit in the engine bay of the Mark VIII and that is *not* a small car, so it must have taken some creative positioning to get it into a Mustang!
The space between the strut towers are actually quite a bit wider in the Fox than the shock towers are in the FN10. That’s not to say it’s not tight though, the hydraulic brake booster systems they used were purely utilized because a traditional vacuum booster wouldn’t fit
The Modular is actually wider than the Boss 429. There’s a good reason you rarely see transplants in first generation Mustangs as the 4.6 simply doesn’t fit at all. The few I’ve seen with transplants have completely eliminated shock towers with some sort of custom front suspension.
Here’s a pic with me and my 03 Mach 1 DOHC for an idea how wide these things are(you’ll notice my avatar pic is cropped from this)
I drove my brothers 98 Cobra. It didn’t have enough leg room to throw a good shift. I could barely get my knee between the door and the steering wheel, even with the seat all the way back. I am only 6’4″, but my 36 inch inseam cuts out a lot of great cars, especially the Jap ones, even their minivans.
“Only” 6’4″?? Sounds like you’re on the fringes of the Bell Curve for most interior designers. I concur about minivans; my Sienna has less front legroom than my Civic. MGB was the only car in which I had to pull the seat forward to reach the pedals properly. I’m a mere 6’0″.
I had a coworker probably taller than you who drove a 1st-gen Fiesta. I hear the old Opel GT was very accommodating, too.
6’5″ tall, 38″ inseam. No Japanese or Korean cars and definitely no minivans!
I hate that they used the rear bumper to mould the model of car’s name in the rear bumper.
I have seen it on Buicks before too.
Yuck.
Please stop.
Agreed. It looks like the sort of thing you’d see on a cheesy aftermarket bodykit.
To be perfectly honest – I never want to know what happened to my old cars. I would just worry about them. It’s best to remember them shining and clean, full of fresh oil.
I once had a small but beautiful home in a resort city. I was transferred to a foreign country by my job. I was to receive a housing allowance and some other perks while there, and I could have afforded to continue the mortgage and rent the house to someone while I was away. There was only one catch – close to zero chance of returning to that city for at least 10 years. Company headquarters was in a different city and the most likely next job.
I talked to my real estate agent who was both a close friend and a locally real-estate legend. She asked, ” how much to you like this house?” I told her truthfully that we loved living there. Her answer was, “Then sell. You’ll never be able to live in it after you see how other people will have treated it.” I sold. She was right. Several years later I made the mistake of driving by. The new owner had removed all the flower beds (too much work?) and cut down all the Weeping Cherry trees.
Don’t look back; you should never look back….
http://barnfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/1964-Cadillac-DeVille.jpg
Happened to me too. I made the mistake of looking up our old houses on Google earth. One has a lovely rose garden in front – now it’s just unkempt grass all the way from the fence to the house.
Sometimes you’re better off not knowing.
I sympathize, Aaron. I found myself staring for too long at my rusty 14-year-old Prizm, right before it turned into a 4-year-old Mazda3. Now, five years later, I’m just starting to see some rust on the “new car,” to go with the scratches and dings. I almost like it more now.
I am surprised how rust free that Mustang is since these rust in Central New York. These are nice cars from what I hear and maybe a convertible is in my future.
Do not know about Oregon, but in New York you are by law required to stop and try to find the owner if you hit dogs or livestock, but I think cats are off that list. I will swerve for a human if possible, but when it comes to critters I just lock up the brakes and stay straight then think about careful maneuvers.
When it came time to replace my 98 Contour I really wanted a nice Fox body Mustang, but they seemed hard to find.
So I searched online ads and noticed sellers always seemed to be rave about how reliable their 98 to 04 Mustang was. The “New Edge” models appealed to me and I came across a two-owner 03 V6 Coupe. With only 82,000 km and a few scratches on the side windows (from scraping ice in winter) it was in very good condition. An ideal commuter and highway car as I soon discovered. Later I came across a great deal on four 03 Mustang Cobra wheels. They really enhanced the looks. Tempted from time to time by other potential cars since buying the Mustang, I remind myself it would be foolish to sell. At only 111,000 km the Mustang has lots of life, runs smoothly and sips gas.
It got a break this winter sitting in the garage since I’ve been driving the old Grand Marquis.
Aaron I can understand your feelings after enjoying such a nice ride.
That’s a beautiful car! Funny, I’ve never had much appreciation for the ’99-’04 Mustangs until this article…
I daily drive a 02 Mustang GT for 3 years now, bought it off the original owner. Only has 53k miles but it’s been dead-on reliable thus far.
The new edge Mustangs with the revised 4.6 mod motors are great.
Is that a fried egg or an avocado in the ad below the text? I was initially confused as I thought that was the sum up photo in the article.
Nice car too by the way, hard to beat a Fox body Mustang, except maybe with a 5-speed not auto.
In 2008 we bought an ’02 V6 stang for my wife’s daily driver. The car had 19K on it at the time and has 89K on it now. Other than normal consumables, I have only replaced the alternator and 1 sensor in that time. Very, very reliable car for us compared to my B-bodies I have been daily driving since 2001…but all of my cars have been much older.
I’ve been a Chevy fanboy all my life; therefore my feelings toward Mustangs have ranged from contempt (’71-’73s) to ambivalence (the Mustang II years) to grudging respect (just about everything else).
But that said, the ONE thing I have to give FoMoCo credit for…is that Mustang NEVER developed the “redneck mullet” reputation that the 4th-gen Camaros and Firebirds came to wear…as their sales went in the toilet 15 years ago.
I agree about the color looking “muddy”. Yet I’ll bet it was a showstopper with a fresh detail on a sunny day.
I have a bit of a morbid streak. … I’m staring into the past, fresh and new, and the paradox makes my mind race.
Blame it on gloomy, overcast, Michigan weather, especially if you live in the lake effect belt. It has occurred to me that every shiny new car I sat in or looked at at the auto show in the 60s and 70s has long since been turned to scrap. Many of the 97s and 98s are probably gone now too.
I discovered that Carfax has a related site, mycarfax, where you can punch in your VIN and it will show all the maintenance events that have been reported for it. I punched in the VIN for my aunt’s 98 Civic, which I sold for her in 2008, when it had 78,000 miles on it. It’s in Iowa now, apparently still going as it had an oil change in January. 210,000 on the clock now.
Hey you long of leg guys, tell us what you are using as a DD. I’m in the same situation being 6 ft 4 with a 36 inch inseam and size 15 shoe.
I did drive a 1st gen Fiesta for a few years but could not get behind the wheel of a friend’s X1/9.
I am currently on my 4th Honda product (3 Civics and 1 Integra). Test “sits” at CarMax revealed the Ford Fusion and 500 were quite spacious but would like to hear a few other suggestions.
BTW, my sister never offered to let me test drive her Mustang or S-class….but has offered her Prius several times. No thanks
I’m personally of only average height, but I can tell you that I’ve known two guys of 6’6″ or greater that drove Mustangs. One a ’96 and one an ’07. Neither ever complained about problems with fit, though I’m pretty sure the seats are all the way back!
My mother’s little brother is just a shade over 6’8″, long in both leg and torso and he has a very large frame, but is not overweigth. His drivers have been:
’76 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
’66 Dodge Coronet
’60s era VW Bug
’80 Ford F-150
’84 Buick LeSabre
’91 Chevrolet Suburban
’68 Ford F-250
’96 Ford F-150
’08 Chevrolet Suburban
’13 Dodge Ram 1500
He once tried to drive my cousin’s ’80s era Camaro…it wasn’t a happy experience for him.
My middle son is 6’6″ and likes driving our 93 Crown Victoria. He can wedge himself into the passenger seat of my Miata, but only because he is in his 20s and is not comfortable at all. Our 07 Honda Fit is fine for headroom, but even I (a touch under 6′ and a 31 inch inseam) find it a little short on legroom.
I modified a car that I liked. The seats are back 12 inches, there is no back seat, the steering wheel is back 7 inches, and the firewall is back also about 7 inches. The car is an 81 Plymouth TC-3, I also added a 360 V8, 5 speed trans, and 8 3/4 rear axle. At 6’4″, I too have to wear a car to drive it.
I’m only 6’0 and do not drive daily, but I find almost every contemporary sedan has insufficient headroom; significantly less than the two 70s sedans I drive when I do need to take the wheel.
It’s not that I don’t fit–usually there’s sufficient legroom, but rather, I find my head feels precariously close to the ceiling, as if I might hit it on a sudden stop.
I was thinking about the same thing, just yesterday, about not just cars that I’ve owned but ones that I’ve test driven. Really though, of the ones that have passed through my ownership, I know three have definitely ceased to exist, and two more are highly unlikely to still be on the road given their condition when sold/donated. So only really have hope for one…but I really hope that one still exists. Time marches on, but I have a definite sentimental spot as well. A good car (or a not-so-good one in many cases) really does develop a personality of sorts over time.
These things are thick on the ground in the Bay Area, cheap too. The 94-96 are priced lower than the Fox bodies around here. I have a 96 GT auto that I bougt with 150K a few years ago. Now it has over 190 k and still runs great. The 4.6 and AOD trans was tuned for fuel economy and that is ok with me. I routinely get 25 mpg. at 70 mph. The 4.6 is probably the best Ford motor ever. Sure the older models will need the intake manifold changed but I did that in an afternoon. I’ve seen Town Cars with over 300k that will still pass the smog test. I think that there is a setback seat track extender available from Late Model Restoration.
Ditto on the 4.6. A truly wonderful, underappreciated engine. I’ve hauled a 7000 pound trailer with my 4.6 powered pickup and it happily did so at highway speed and up some ferocious hills. In my ’96 Thunderbird, I could easily get fuel mileage in the upper 20s.
I don’t know why the New Edge is considered so polarizing, in my eyes they were the last cheap and cheerful Mustangs for the masses. They were unrefined, raw, good looking, light and fast(even by today’s standards in the case of the 03/04 Cobra). They weren’t Corvette killers back then no but they weren’t supposed to be, they were cheap sporty cars that gave a lot of bang for the buck, and if so inclined were so simply engineered that anyone can order from the dozens of aftermarket suppliers and modify the car in their driveway with simple tools and achieve real results.
The 05-14 retro cars (and surely the 15+) never had that hot rodder appeal, which I feel is the heart of the Mustang’s endearment to many owners. The S197 chassis and engines are all competent and refined so upgrading stuff is really unnecessary apart from wheels, which seems to be all people buy for them. The Fox and SN95 generations are perfect cars for those who enjoyed building Legos as kids.
After driving a series of small trucks in my job I decided that since I drove 500-800 miles a week I would buy something fun to drive. In 2003 I bought a new black Mustang V6 coupe. To say I loved that car is an understatement. It brought fun back into my daily drives. I learned a lot of new skills with it, such as playing on curvy roads. I put 228,000 miles on that car before I sold it in 2008. It still ran and looked good. The folks who bought it got it for their teenage son. He drove it through high school and then college. The last I heard his younger brother is now using it at college. It is hard telling how many miles it now has on it. During my ownership I did a complete brake job, replaced the throw out bearing, had one exhaust manifold welded up ( It sounded like an old 3 cylinder John Deere tractor until I got it fixed), and had the stereo replaced under warranty. That’s it. That was the best car I have ever owned. It was better than it’s 2009 replacement which is still a good car. I know the ’05 up is superior in suspension and driving, but for some reason the ’03 fit my driving style better. I guess some cars just like you better than others do. Or maybe they were , somehow, just made for you. I sure miss that ’03.
The galloping horse on the grille looks much better framed than it did floating on the older ones, IMO.
+1
I still have the hatch key on my key ring to the ’89 Omni I had 22 years ago when I was 18 years old and knew it all. So I took a loan out on a ’91 Dodge Spirit that promptly blew up after 8 months when I still owed $5500 on it. I use that key as a reminder about important life decisions.
Speaking of morbid interest. Cleaning out a drawer today I found some old registration tickets for cars I sold years ago, so punched the VIN numbers into carfax to see where they were.
The 97 Civic I sold in 2003, is still going, probably around 200,000 miles now.
The 02 Escort died. I sold it in May 2010. The last title activity was in August 2010, and that was a salvage title. The Escort only had about 86,000 on it, but a cold start bearing knock that would wake the dead, when I sold it.
Found a web site that offered reports on cars that had been sold at auction. I punched in the VIN for my old Escort, and the report header the site pulled up had this pic. It’s the right body style and color to be my old car. Wrecked only 3 months after I sold it. As it was never titled again, it must have gone to a pick and pull.
I thought these were blah when they came out but they have really grown on me. I like them more than the gen before or after. And you can’t beat the 4.6…a torquey, punchy, ultra-reliable and incredibly long lasting engine that was made in such numbers that parts will always be cheap and available. the 350 Chevy of the modern era and you will get mid 20s mileage while still owning a V8. these are plentiful and cheap now….if you only need a 2+2 by all means get one.
My buddy had a nice yellow GT convertible of the same year. Sadly with a little over 100K miles it somehow blew it’s head gasket and starting using antifreeze and he was having some electrical issues so sold it on Craigslist for a song. Many clunkers later he still misses that car and wished he had the engine fixed or swapped out. Live and learn
Same thing happened to a ’96 GT my brother-in-law owned. He sold it too, and replaced it with a Maxima, which also started having problems. (He has bad luck with cars!) Head gaskets are one of the things that can go on the 4.6, though usually it doesn’t do enough damage to require replacing the entire engine as it’s an iron block. Heads, maybe, if one ends up warping.
That’s odd, headgasket failures are almost unheard of on the 2V. The Achilles heel is the all plastic intake manifolds with the integrated coolant crossover, which is notorious for cracking. It really takes prolonged severe overheating to pop the head gaskets on one.
You are not too sentimental about machinery. Cars take on personalities based on our experiences with them. (I wonder if there’s ever been a college course offered on the subject of “Auto Anthropology” or something to that effect. I’d have taken it.)
It’s especially heartbreaking how this one came to end, given it was ordered from the factory like this. Glad you have these pictures and the memories.
Like that pic of the Stang and the Camaro in the steel mill. That’s the former Ford Rouge steel mill, spun off or sold off several times, now owned by AK Steel. The cars are parked next to the Taconite piles.
Do you have a link to the picture?
Just woke up from spending a 18hr day there and saw this.