Fox

The most important thing to consider after you've decided to modify a Fox Mustang is the direction in which you want to take the car. The Fox is a versatile creature. The cars across all years ('79-'93 and the Fox-4/SN-95 '94-'98 Mustangs) make for really good street cruisers, autocross, and road-race runners; and, as many of us who follow the all-Ford drag-racing sanctions already know, Fox 'Stangs can be some of the most exciting, heads-up drag cars we've ever seen. The possibilities for modifying Fox Mustangs are somewhat endless. However, we're going to take a look at three of the popular setups-street, autocross, and drag race-and give you our choices on which Fox is the "best" for each style. [Fox stops at '93 as far as I'm concerned, but KJ wanted to go Fox-y, so send him those flaming e-mails!-Ed.]

Street 'StangsAny '87-'93 Mustangs would fall under the "global" blanket for this category, but we consider the '91-'92 LX hatchback perfect fodder for a good, modified, street-driven Mustang. While the cars were equipped with airbags as a standard feature and a non-tilt steering column (additions/changes that were incorporated in 1990 that some 'Stang fans frown upon), the '91-'92s basically had all of the mechanical "good stuff." This included 225 hp that had come to Mustangs through the years, and '92 was the first year LX Mustangs featured the popular 16x7-inch, Pony five-spoke wheels as standard.

Also in 1992, Ford upgraded the LX's appearance slightly by changing the body-molding and bumper-strip color from black to the actual body color. These Mustangs also featured the stronger (300 lb-ft of torque, as opposed to 265 lb-ft from '83-'89) T-5 manual transmissions that came about in 1990 and included a 3.35 First-gear ratio that improved the seat-of-the-pants, low-end torque sensation drivers experienced when blasting away from a light. Depending on condition, the cost could be next to nothing for one of these cars, and, believe it or not, absolute virgins are still out there.

On the SN-95 (Fox-4) front, the '94 GT would be our call as the car with the best potential, mainly because a '94 currently can be had for a relatively low price. It marked the first year for the new body style, and the SN-95 Mustangs were markedly stiffer and heavier than the OG Foxes. Many believe the stiffness of the Fox-4 is a plus when it comes to making changes for street cruising because the cars are quieter than their earlier brothers. While the '94-'95 Mustangs marked the swan song for the beloved 5.0 and pushrod motivation, horsepower for these cars was listed at a fairly weak 215.

If modular performance is more to your liking, stepping up to a '97 Cobra isn't a "bad" move; it's just going to cost a bit more than a Fox-4 GT. The Cobra offered a little more ride excitement, thanks to its aluminum, double-overhead camshaft engine that pumped out 305 hp.

With respect to modifying a '94 GT, '97 Cobra, or any SN-95-style Mustang for the street, the good thing is they're easy enough to hop up. While it didn't happen right away, the aftermarket did develop a wide variety of performance and appearance parts for these cars, so the sky is pretty much the limit.

Straight-Line PerformersThanks to the popularity of the all-Ford drag racing sanctions and spectacular annual events like World Ford Challenge, Mustangs of any vintage and pedigree will always have a "life" in drag racing, if nowhere else.