Pick of the Pack

If you were stranded on a desert island with only one Mustang, which would it be? The question is always good to start the opinions flowing. But for Steve Freedland, the Fox-body is the one.

“I’ve owned many Mustangs over the years,” Steve says. “I’ve had SN-95s; I had the new Edge; I even had an ’03 Cobra. But for some reason I always go back to the Fox-body style.”

Hey, the man knows what he likes. How can you beat the fun-for-the-money factor, the oceans of great styling and performance parts available, and the rush of putting your foot all the way into a healthy 5.0 V-8? Ford put extra kick in its engines dating all the way back to the 1930s. So a powerful Mustang engine is a Ford tradition going back to the Depression era. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if that old Ford V-8 is what lifted the country out of the Depression.

But back to the matter at hand. Steve was looking for the right Mustang, doing all of the right things, checking Craigslist regularly, along with the Auto Buyer magazines and other usual sources. But try as he may, the right car just didn’t surface. Funny how sometimes the more you look, the less you find. So to find the right car, there was only one thing left to do — quit looking.

Sure enough, as Steve points out, that did the trick.

“I gave up the search for a while, until one day one of my clients told me about a friend who had a ’92 Mustang that he might be interested in selling.” OK, now we’re getting somewhere. “The car had never been in an accident and had under 100k on the original motor, but it was in rough shape.”

Not having examined the car in person, Steve did the only reasonable thing.

“I purchased the car sight unseen and had it shipped to Lakeland [Florida],” he says, admitting it was a move that did not thrill his wife. But the course had already been set. After Steve took a look at the car, he wasted no time in starting its refurb. He began with the interior.

“I removed the seats and took them to a local shop to have them reupholstered,” he says. “Then I replaced the carpet.” The black convertible top was next, along with fresh weatherstripping. Out came the cheapie stereo, replaced by a modern unit with all of the latest features.

Fortunately, the sheetmetal was straight and solid, needing only cosmetic attention. Steve didn’t care for the luggage rack on the car, so he replaced the entire lid with a plain one from an LX. Also moving over from an LX were the taillights, which didn’t have the “cheese grater” covers.

“To freshen up the front, I replaced the front lights and foglamps with a perfect set I found online,” Steve says. His local Ford dealer color-matched and resprayed the front fascia and new trunk lid.

The car was loaded with BBK parts — cold-air induction, upper and lower intake, fuel rails and injectors, custom-fit exhaust with cats, subframe connectors, and lowering springs. The distributor is an MSD unit, and classic-style finned valve covers top it off.

Despite the numerous upgrades, the engine ran rough, but Steve had a connection.

“I took it to my friend Jason who just opened his own shop, B & B Automotive in Lakeland, and let him take care of the engine work. Jason fine-tuned the engine, and when he was done it sounded like it was 1992 all over again,” Steve says.

Besides the lowering springs, a set of Tokico adjustable shocks tame the ride. A ’95 five-lug conversion and a set of ’95 17-inch Mustang GT wheels update the look and the function.

To keep it all cool, Steve added a Sumitomo three-core aluminum radiator and silicone hoses.

It all comes together in a fun package that looks strong and runs as good as it looks.

“There’s nothing like the timeless design of the Fox,” Steve says. Cruising with sons Jake and Justin, the appeal is huge. “Everywhere I go, people stop me to chat about the time they saw their first Mustang 5.0.”

That’s the thing about Fox Mustangs. They hit the sweet spot of style, performance, and price. It’s a combination that’s just about impossible to beat.

“The Fox is just one of those cars that will always be timeless,” Steve says.

So true.