In keeping with this week’s theme, I dug up an article featuring my favorite Mustang body style, the pre-facelift Fox. And while I don’t necessarily care for the graphics package of this car, its prominent display on the cover of the January 1979 Motor Trend is well deserved, helping to show off the results of Ford’s hard work.
Three of the new Mustangs were made to serve as Indy 500 pace cars, and given the importance of the new model’s presentation in front of thousands of spectators, each of them had to be perfect. The task of getting it right was contracted to Jack Roush Performance Engineering, who would massage the 302 V8 to provide the performance needed for the job. Ford was keen to keep the car close to stock to boost the image of the new model and the 2.3 liter turbo Ford was supposedly so proud of didn’t make the cut, which said volumes about what they actually thought of the engine in its erstwhile state.
The majority of the new engine parts were stock items from elsewhere in the FoMoCo empire, helping it rev to 6000 rpm, making 120 more horsepower for a total of 260 at 5500 rpm, nearly 200% as much as the stock version. Some of these improvements found their way into the 1982 Mustang GT, but the editors at Motor Trend obviously didn’t know that when writing this article (or they managed to keep it a secret). In what amounted to a farmed-out development of future models, the team even changed the accessory pulleys to avoid overdriving the accessories at the new 6,000 rpm rev limit. Roush candidly described the new pace car as “the first flicker of light in the darkness since the Boss 351 program of 1971.”
Cars and Concepts of Detroit was called upon to assemble the cars, originally conceived to feature a true Targa-top but which changed to a regular T-top after the firm’s testing showed that the loss in structural integrity would be too great. Even these, however, presented a challenge, since it required cutting out two of significant structural components and redesigning the window seals. Oddly enough, after going into some detail about the problems the new T-tops presented, the article fails to mention any of the measures taken to combat the problem.
The suspension was the dead stock TRX tune, however, which showed how on the ball the mothership was after years of making mini Marks. It also made the job of making one’s own Mustang Pace Car easier, as the list above shows. While I doubt anyone seriously entertained the thought of doing building their own replica, this was an effort on MT’s part to do some PR for Ford, highlighting the minimal changes needed to get the new car to make such good numbers on the dyno (and presumably, the track). All in all, a fitting intro for an American legend reborn on a new and excellent platform.
I had a hard time getting into the Fox Mustang, but eventually accepted it. Who knew in January ’79 how bad cars were going to get over the next several years. This was a bright spot and I didn’t appreciate it at the time.
The used classics for under $5K might also be interesting.
I was thinking the same thing!
Like Dave B, it took me a few years to warm up to this one. A neighbor my age bought a new one in 1979 with the V8 and stick (I think). I remember being polite, but it did zero for me (who was in love with a 1959 Plymouth Fury right then). The car had too much of a Euro-vibe for me at the time, and (once again) I failed to comprehend that I was looking at a turning point in automotive history.
By 1985, I came close to buying one.
My friend’s family, who lived up the street from us, bought brand-new cars on a regular basis. His father always drove a Chrysler Newport, until 1978, when he bought a brand-new Thunderbird.
In 1979, it was his mother’s turn for a new car. She traded her 1977 Pinto hatchback with the V-6 engine and plaid interior trim for a brand-new 1979 Mustang hatchback with the V-8 engine and almost every option. It was probably the Ghia version, and that car was sharp for the time.
If it weren’t for the maligned Mustang II, there would not have been a Mustang “III” or Fox based version.
With the huge success of the MII in 1974, the Fox was greenlit, and then lasted until 1993. Motor Trend showed drawings of the ’79 with “Mustang III” badges.
I remember that magazine cover from when it was new. Looking forward to reading the article later thanks Perry. Also wondering what’s on the list of super cars for $5,000. Ferrari Dinos couldn’t have been that cheap back then, could they?
If Dinos were that cheap, I’m dusting off my time machine ASAP!
A neighbor down the street from me runs an up-scale used car lot – and the cars he sells usually spend a day in his driveway before being sent to his lot. Usually there are late model Audi’s, Lexus’, BMW’s, Mercedes’ etc. not much that I’m really interested in. A few months ago he had a Mustang Pace Car – complete with the graphics, t-tops, etc.
I thought it still looked modern and not at all out of place on today’s roads.
Sweet. Love it.
This was when the poor Corvette was saddled with a 305 in California.
Of course the hi-po 302 really woke up when fuel injection arrived a few years later.
The fuel injection did help quite a bit but my ’84 GT,with a four barrel carburetor and a five speed manual, was no slouch. It has been a good many years since then but I don’t recall any driveability problems with that car. It was fun to drive and I don’t recall having any trouble with it. The only reason we got rid of it was to buy a 1988 Mustang GT convertible; it had the fuel injected 302 and probably did have more power than the carburetted engine, but the extra weight of the convertible kept it from feeling any faster than the ’84.
around 1982, Car and Driver covered the re-introduction of the Mustang GT, in that article, when speaking of the “new” 5.0 powerplant, C&D said something like, “so and so put the kick-ass back in the torque curve…”
That was a defining moment.
Anyone recall that issue – that quote, or have the pdf? Just sayin’
The main thing I recall about the Car and Driver 1982 Mustang V8 review was that, unlike the car the other rags got, the Mustang in C&D was a pre-production model emblazoned with ‘SS’ emblems (for ‘Super Snake’) instead of ‘GT’.
I grew up with body style for the Mustang. Although I’ve never seen an Indy Pace Car Ford Mustang, I have seen plenty of this generation of Mustang by the time I was 10 yrs old. I thought the Mustang looked more attractive without its Pace Car decorations than with. But what mattered to me, even then, was what was underneath, the engine and transmission.
I founded by luck, this vintage cover of “Le Guide de l’Auto 79” published in Quebec, Canada. Showing test-driver Jacques Duval with the Mustang 79 in company of the new Mazda RX-7, Dodge Colt and a redesigned Oldsmobile Toronado.
I am also wondering what the under $5000 super cars are, that would about $15,800 today.
I graduated college in ’79 and shopped the Cobra version vs. a Firebird Formula. I really liked the Mustang but equipped the same the Cobra was over $8k and was around the same price as the Firebird. I just couldn’t get my mind around the price and opted for the Firebird (which ended up being the last GM car I owned. Much more body roll left turn vs. right. The anti-roll bar was not connected to the A-arm on that side! The least of my problems and quickly bailed). I have always looked back with regret, you had to be a bit of a pathfinder to go for the Fox body initially and it was a bold change that has aged well. in fact the 2 subsequent restyles in ’96 and ’00 are not aging as well IMHO.
Pinto Cruising Van???
From Google:
I love that paint scheme! One of my favorites from the 70s and even today, considering everything today is boring color wise.
How rare are these now? Specially the van…
Pretty rare now. There are a few members of the Pinto Car Club of America with cruising wagons like that.
Others have said it, but I too am very curious about the super cars for $5000.
It’d be interesting to see if the definition of super car is still similar.
The parts list at the end is pretty neat actually, a vintage SVO/Ford Racing parts list. Had I just come home in 79 with a brand new Slo Po 302 Cobra I’d be the guy that brings that whole list to the Ford Parts Counter, or better yet go junkyarding for the rest.
What are the odds? I just read this article yesterday and now it’s posted here. I be interested in finding out if any of the original modified pace cars still exist.
Funny Jack Roush’s comment about the lack of performance since the Boss 351. Ford still produced some pretty hi-po (for the time) 351 CJ’s fro 1972-74. These 351 CJ’s also powered the Panteras. The R-Code 1972 351 was basically a slightly detuned and smogged Boss 351.
Well, I’m pretty sure that there is one at the Indianapolis Speedway Museum, they usually have the actual pace car that paced the race, and probably another one somewhere in the bowels of the Ford collection.
Someone Roush also prepped some of these for the DTM German touring car racing series and two of them finished up in Aussie Ford racer Dick Johnsons hands, During practice at Bathurst he was quoted as saying they are so gutless they couldnt pull a sailor off your sister and didnt win the great race finishing behind local Commodores and a Camaro so ok on the flat as a pace car but up hills in race mode not so much.
As a 14 year-old future gearhead, I wanted one of these badly!
Had to settle for making the 1/25 scale model of it.
That article on $5000 supercars will blow you away, as they cite several musclecars that today go for several times that. They weren’t quite old enough to be classics yet, and of course, their profligate ways with fuel didn’t amount to a selling point, but I remember seeing a Plymouth SuperBird listed at $2600 when I was a kid around 1977 or so. I knew what it was then and tried to convince my older brother to buy it regardless of condition. He already had a 1967 Camaro SS350.
Even that was old junk. He got it with a 307 taking the place of the blown original 350 and even that had a broken rod, which was switched out. Soon after, he put a 1970 350 2-bbl in, which was better but still not up to the original motor. He always planned on putting a proper 350 in it but it was totaled in a parking lot.
Hard to believe now, but that’s the way it was back then.
I like this now but when I saw one I was more of a Firebird or Camaro fan.To me they were the last 2 “real” American cars.There was a half hearted effort to sell the Mustang in the UK alongside the Mercury Monarch but being very expensive and LHD there were few takers.I found a rough one with a very crude RHD bicycle chain conversion for spares or repair at an autojumble(swap meet) a few years ago.
Ever sat in those Recaros? As Dr Smith would say, “Oh, the pain, the pain…!”
Ah 1979. The things that could and should have happened were seriously curtailed by the second oil crisis and the ever tightening up of exhaust emissions. Imagine if this Mustang came out with the 1982 spec 302. Imagine if the Firebird’s 400 lived on past 1979. Imagine if the 350’s were kept in Ho tune for the 81 and 82 models years? 1973-83 is known as the malaise era. 1980-82 in my eyes is known as the “no go” era with 120 Hp 255 V8 Mustangs, 165 HP F-bodies as there top engine for 1982, 100-110 HP Olds Cutlasses, 120 Hp 318 Miradas and Cordobas and 85 HP Fairmonts sporting 200 sixes as some standout examples.