There are few automotive icons that may match the historical past and enthusiastic fanbase of the Ford Mustang. The hype began all the way in which again in 1964, with a surprising long-hood, short-deck design based mostly on the standard underpinnings of the Ford Falcon compact automobile. The ensuing machine went on to develop into nearly impossibly profitable, with greater than 400,000 models bought in its first yr and over one million inside its first two years available on the market. The ten millionth Mustang was bought in 2018. No marvel the Mustang would encourage its personal automotive class, appropriately often known as “pony cars.”
A brand-new seventh-generation Mustang debuted on the 2022 Detroit Auto Present (seen above), and it appears to increase the lifetime of the traditional American V8 engine for so long as rules enable it. However is the newest Mustang the perfect Mustang? That is up for debate. We love the brand new Darkish Horse, however we predict there’s much more goodness to come back from the quintessential pony automobile.
So let’s return in time and check out the Mustang’s excessive factors all through the years (versus a few of its low factors). And don’t fret. The present Mustang is ready to get higher and higher with every passing yr.
The 13 greatest Ford Mustang fashions of all time:
1965 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350
We’ll kick off our lists of the perfect Ford Mustang fashions of all time with one of many oldest of the breed. Ford launched its seminal pony automobile in 1964, and it was an prompt success. Ford hoped to construct 100,000 ‘Stangs within the first yr however ended up quadrupling that determine earlier than its first mannequin yr got here and went … with somewhat assist from creating model-year magic, that’s.
The last word model of this primary Mustang, in our minds a minimum of, is the Shelby GT350 that was supplied throughout the 1965 and 1966 mannequin years. Every of them was powered by a 289 cubic-inch Ok-Code V8 engine. A much bigger carburetor, high-rise consumption manifold and free-flowing exhaust manifolds boosted energy from 271 to 306 horsepower. The Shelby manufacturing facility made an entire host of modifications to the inventory Mustang platform with a purpose to make it aggressive on the race monitor, and it labored nicely sufficient to win the SCCA racing championship in its class for 3 straight years.
1969 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Cobra Jet
Apparently sufficient, Carroll Shelby canceled his contract with Ford to supply Shelby-branded Mustangs following the 1969 mannequin yr. A number of years had handed for the reason that first GT350, and by 1969, Shelby’s precise involvement in this system was fairly restricted. Many of the 1969 Shelby GT500 was actually designed by Ford, not Shelby, and it was a far cry from the nimble track-ready competitors automobile that it had been.
Trying again at historical past, nevertheless, these 1969 (and carryover 1970) Shelby GT500s actually stand out from the remainder of the pack with their distinctive styling — get a load of the prolonged hood and entrance fenders with their ram air ductwork — and essentially the most highly effective street-ready engine Ford needed to supply. The 428 cubic-inch Cobra Jet V8 engine was rated at 335 hp and 440 pound-feet of torque.
1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429
Did you discover how we stated “most powerful street-ready engine Ford had to offer” after we regarded on the Shelby above? Properly, Ford did even have a extra highly effective V8 in its secure, however it was designed for race tracks, not the road. However that did not cease the automaker from shoehorning the oversize 429 into the Mustang for the 1969 and carryover 1970 mannequin years.
Ford wished to make use of its new 429 V8 engine in NASCAR racing, however to legally achieve this, needed to supply the engine to paying prospects who wished to personal one for road use. It wasn’t simple to suit this massive block engine in between the Mustang’s fenders, requiring a drastically modified entrance suspension setup that was carried out by an outfit in Michigan known as Kar Kraft. The manufacturing facility rated the NASCAR-special engine at 375 hp and 450 lb-ft. It was often known as a cantankerous beast when it wasn’t being pushed at full throttle, however when it was pushed that method, it really made far more energy than its manufacturing facility score. It stays one of many coolest Mustang fashions of all time.
1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302
Getting again to the form of racing the small (by Sixties and Seventies American requirements, that’s) Mustang was actually meant for, we now check out the smaller-engined Boss sibling. The Boss 302 first appeared in 1969, aimed squarely on the Chevy Camaro Z/28. The horse automobile wars have been received each on the gross sales flooring and on tracks used for the Trans-Am racing collection, and that is the place Ford regarded to compete with the Boss 302.
The engine bundle mixed a specifically ready model of Ford’s 302 cubic-inch Windsor V8 engine block with the free-flowing Cleveland heads. An aggressive camshaft with strong lifters, robust and light-weight engine internals and a bunch of track-spec modifications allowed the racing engine to rev nicely previous the bounds imposed on road engines. It was rated at 290 hp and an equal variety of pound-feet. We went with the 1970 model just because that was the yr it beat Chevy to win the Trans-Am championship. They’re simply as cool immediately as they have been again then.
1985.5 Ford Mustang SVO
We’re graciously skipping over the rest of the Seventies, not completely as a result of there weren’t any cool Mustangs bought — we might go as far as to say even the late-Seventies had a couple of attention-grabbing fashions that have been highly regarded and correct automobiles for the period — however as a result of nothing actually stands out as higher than its predecessor in any significant method. On to the Eighties, then, and particularly to the Ford Mustang SVO. We’re not eager to miss the seminal Ford Mustang GT or its 5.0-liter (actually 4.9, however who’s counting?) V8 engine, however the SVO was actually the extra attention-grabbing machine. It regarded completely different, with a two-tier wing on the again and a ducted hood, however it’s underneath the bodywork the place issues get actually cool.
Midway by means of the 1985 mannequin yr, Ford elevated the efficiency of the SVO’s 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, touchdown at a excessive level of 205 hp and 248 lb-ft of torque. That was sufficient to make the SVO a worthy competitor to its V8-powered GT sibling. However extra vital than sheer thrust have been the most important suspension and chassis enhancements that made the SVO deal with higher than any Mustang that had come earlier than.
1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra
Ford unleashed its inside Particular Automobile Workforce (SVT) on the Mustang for the ultimate yr of its now-classic, squared-off Fox Physique years, and the top consequence was the 1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra. The primary occasion piece was a closely modified 302-cubic-inch V8 engine that featured GT-40 “High Flow” forged iron cylinder heads and curler rocker arms. The consumption manifold was distinctive, the camshaft was aggressive, the gas injectors have been enlarged, a brand new pc system was put in and a high-flow exhaust system was bolted beneath. The top consequence was 235 hp and 280 lb-ft. That does not sound spectacular immediately, however it was wonderful for the time interval.
For race obligation, a higher-spec Cobra R was developed with upgraded suspension and driveline elements. Every part that wasn’t obligatory for pace was stripped out, together with the rear seat and the air-con, dropping 450 kilos of weight from the common Cobra (although some track-ready tools added a few of that again). Not many have been made, and it is a severe collectible immediately.
2000 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R
Have a look at that vivid purple Mustang up above. Appears to be like like a race automobile, would not it? There’s good cause for that. Ford threw all of the go-fast goodies it had obtainable on the 2000 SVT Cobra R, with main modifications made to the powertrain, suspension, exterior aero bundle and the inside. In reality, the whole rear seat was gone. So was the air-con, radio and cruise management. This was as shut a Ford buyer might get to a street-legal race automobile within the yr 2000.
Ford put a 5.4-liter V8 engine (initially designed for truck use) within the 2000 Mustang SVT Cobra R that featured dual-overhead-cam heads and a redline of 6,500 rpm. It produced 385 hp and 385 lb-ft, despatched to the rear wheels by means of a short-ratio Tremec T-56 six-speed transmission. The Borla-branded exhaust included an X-pipe and exited in entrance of the rear wheels, necessitating a V6-style rear bumper that lacked exhaust cutouts. The chassis was upgraded with Eibach springs, Bilstein shocks, Brembo brakes and a race-spec gas cell within the hindquarters.
2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra (Mystichrome)
We’re not singling the 2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra only for its paint, however we’re not saying it would not play an element on this automobile’s cool issue, both. The 2004 SVT Cobra wasn’t all that completely different from the 2003 version, which launched — sorry, Arnold — the world to the Terminator. The supercharged, 32-valve DOHC, 4.6-liter V8 engine spun out 390 hp and 390 lb-ft, a minimum of in line with the manufacturing facility. Then homeowners began placing them on dynos solely to seek out out they actually made fairly a bit greater than that. Journal testers of the period routinely recorded 0-60 occasions of underneath 5 seconds and quarter-mile ETs within the 12s.
There was extra to the automobile than its engine, after all, however that was clearly the star of the present. The 2004 version added non-compulsory Mystichrome paint, seen above, that modifications colours relying on the angle and lighting. It was purple, it was blue, it was inexperienced, and, nicely, it was superior. Ford charged prospects $3,650 for the paint job, and a grand complete of 1,010 Mystichrome SVT Cobras have been produced, 515 of them coupes and 495 of them convertibles.
2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca version
Jim Farley, now CEO however again then Ford’s head honcho of selling, advised us that the 2012 Mustang Boss 302 was “so much more than a nostalgia project to bring back the Boss.” He continued, “If we wanted to do that, we could take a 5.0-liter, put some stripes and spoilers and other upgrades on it and that would be it. It was not a means to an end. The Boss 302 was originally a means to an end. It was a production car to go racing. This is a completely different project. We were not going to do this project unless we could beat an M3 at this track.” This monitor being the famed Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
The limited-edition Laguna Seca took the identical 444-hp 5.0-liter V8 with its 7,500-rpm redline because the common Boss 302 version and added track-ready bits like an aerodynamics bundle with a entrance splitter so aggressive it needed to be put in post-title resulting from crash rules, plus light-weight wheels, Pirelli R-compound tires, an air scoop on the transmission for extra cooling, an air duct package for the entrance brakes, a dash-mounted gauge pack and a nifty trying cross brace that replaces the rear seats. Recaro seats and Torsen differential additionally got here normal.
2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
With a 5.8-liter supercharged V8 spinning out 662 ponies and 661 lb-ft, the 2013 GT500 might hit a high pace of 202 miles per hour. Once we obtained the prospect to drive the beast on the road, we known as it “Stupid, stinking, earth-shatteringly fast. Ignorantly fast, even.” With Launch Management set correctly and on the proper asphalt, the 2013 GT500 can hustle from 0-60 in a scant 3.7 seconds and on by means of the quarter mile in 11.7 seconds. That made the GT500 faster than the modern Porsche 911 Carrera, Ferrari California and Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Regardless of all that, it was a pleasure to drive on the road.
2015 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350
Ford did one thing sudden with the 2015 Shelby GT350. Not like the GT500 and its 5.8-liter supercharged engine, the GT350’s V8 displaced 5.2 liters and was naturally aspirated. Its massive declare to fame, although, was its flat-plane crankshaft, which allowed for a mind-blowing redline at 8,250 rpm and a sound not like any heard in a Mustang earlier than. At 526 horsepower and 429 pound-feet of torque, some 102-hp per liter, there was sufficient energy on faucet for staggering acceleration everytime you requested for it.
We so love this Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 that we eulogized it after we discovered it was leaving the market after the 2020 mannequin yr. As we stated then, “So long, GT350. Your roaring and yowling will be missed.”
2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt
The Mustang Bullitt did not do something higher or worse than a equally specced Efficiency Package deal 1 automobile. What the Bullitt dropped at the desk is taking the completely gratifying character of the 2019 Mustang, and utilizing its extra refinements and distinctive bits as a lens to focus it into an extra feeling of specialness. It succeeds. It might, mechanically, simply be a GT with a gentle energy bump — 480 hp and 420 lb-ft — and a few well-tuned manufacturing facility dealing with elements. However there is a delicate however perceptible magnifying impact: Driving the Bullitt is, McQueen connection however, a cooler expertise.
Once we first examined it, we stated, “This is, quite simply, the best-looking, best-sounding Mustang around – and if the GT350’s flat-plane character leaves you flat, this is the best Mustang, period.”
2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
Contemplating how we felt in regards to the far much less highly effective GT350 and GT350R — contemplating them among the many most participating, succesful, and rewarding sports activities automobiles you can purchase — we had one main query in regards to the 760-hp (!) 2020 GT500: Can this factor be anyplace practically pretty much as good?
Our conclusion after driving it? “If you’re on a race track, your mind will be blown.”
Regardless of being seemingly constructed particularly to go round a race monitor as rapidly as potential, the massively overpowered 2020 GT500 is a peach on the road.
Thus far, the 2020 Shelby GT500 is the last word Mustang that Ford has ever constructed. We will not wait to seek out out what’s subsequent.
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