QOTD: What's The Best Retro Mustang?

Zombie McQuestionbot
by Zombie McQuestionbot

(Let’s all welcome Zombie McQuestionbot back to TTAC. He’s a well-known and well-loved writer who is now writing for “bigger” and “better” and “more easily recognized” and “less thoroughly despised” outlets than this one, but we managed to convince him to write a few questions for us — JB)

Mustangs. I know, right? I almost bought a Mustang once. Actually, I did buy a Mustang. I was in the American South on my way to see an actual underground bullfight, with a bull and everything. But it turned out that the two-year-old “Mustang” that I agreed to pay five thousand dollars for in a back room of a Mexican restaurant was actually a Mustang.

You know, a horse.

The good news is that “Trigger” and I had plenty of good years together before I let him retire to a farm in Oregon. For “plenty of good years” subtitute “one drunken night”. And for “a farm in Oregon” substitute “the glue factory”. Oh, how I cried when they led Trigger away. Mostly because he’d stepped on my foot. But that isn’t the kind of Mustang we’re talking about here. The retro Mustang’s been around since 2005. What’s your favorite one?


Let’s start with the first generation. There was the Mustang V6, which was so bad that owning one is an actual legal cause for divorce in three southern states and Delaware. There was the Mustang GT, which had three hundred horsepower from a giant V-8 that made a lot of noise and once was used to power the world’s most powerful Sybian. Next up, we had the Mustang GT California Special, which was never purchased by anyone in California for the same reasons that you never see Aussies ordering a Bloomin’ Onion at the Outback Steakhouse.

Last but not least, we had the Shelby GT500, which had five hundred horsepower and was named in tribute to the original Shelby GT500, which did not.

Even more last but not least, we had the Mustang Bullitt, which was a nice way to have a tribute to Steve McQueen without having to pay Steve McQueen’s estate anything for doing it. One time I borrowed a Mustang Bullitt and drove it all the way to New York to participate in a high-stakes private poker game. The whole time there it kept punching me in the back every time I drove over an expansion joint. Eventually I gave up on the idea of using the freeway. By the time I got to the poker game, the only people left were James Bond and Le Chiffre, who thought I was making fun of him because I was bleeding from my left eye. I had to explain to him that it was just the ox-cart rear axle that made me that way.

I think there was also a Shelby GT-H, which was rented by Hertz to car collectors who never gave them back. “Send me the bill,” they’d say, and cackle as they stroked their Persian cats.

The original 2005 Mustang was so awesome that Ford decided not to change it for 2010. They just left it in an oven to melt a little bit. There was some concern about the interior melting as well, but it turned out that the plastic on the dashboard was so hard that it refused to melt. Instead, it actually transferred the heat to the nose of the car and made it look all droopy.

A drunken mistake by Alan Mullalllally while watching the Vanilla Ice movie, “Cool As Ice”, forced Ford to immediately put 5.0 engines in the 2011 model. These engines were actually twice as powerful as the original Mustang 5.0, which meant that it should have been a Mustang 10.0. Unfortunately, the average Mustang owner can’t count that high, so they left it as 5.0.

The original Mustang 5.0 was actually a 4.9. But Mustang owners didn’t understand the decimal system, so Ford called it the 5.0.

The new Mustang has spawned multiple variants — the Durable Technical V-6, which is not durable and has the “technical” solid rear axle. There’s the GT Track Pack, for both of the Mustang GT owners in America who think tracks have right turns, too. The California Special is back and it sells very well in Ohio.

Last but not least is the Boss 302. This car is more expensive than a used Corvette, which has always been the case for new Mustangs. Supposedly it’s very fast, but probably not as fast as a CTS-V.

If you’ve always wanted a Boss 302 your whole life since they came out two years ago, you might also be satisfied with a Hertz Penske GT, which is being rented from Hertz directly to collectors who will not be giving them back. I was an at airport recently, on my way to party with the guy who used to date the girl who sat next to Lindsay Lohan in her most recent rehab circle. I asked for an “Adrenaline” car, so they gave me a Dodge Challenger SRT. It was so obviously made for older people that I wasn’t surprised that one of the buttons on the steering wheel was labeled “Fallen And Can’t Get Up.”

All of these Mustangs are classics, but only one can be your favorite. So which will it be?

Zombie McQuestionbot
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  • Dabossinne Dabossinne on Oct 21, 2013

    Boss 302, hands down. Raw, pure, unadulterated 'Merican bad-ass fun. Re: the stick axle rear suspension: Who gives a flyin' f*#k? It flat out works. The thing is balls-out fast and fun on the street and the track. It's one of the most balanced, composed chassis you'll drive... even running over high curbing on a road course doesn't upset the car. It puts the power down out of corners with no drama and just goes where you point it. Only the most pot holed or uneven pavement streets will remind you of what's between the rear wheels. The real weakness on the Boss 302 is the brakes (well, that and the clutch and shifter, but I won't go into that right now)... Ford shoulda put GT500 6 piston Brembos and 15" front rotors and rear 4 piston Brembos on this car. It's so fast on the track that it's easy for even an intermediate track day driver to out-drive the brakes. At minimum the Ford Racing Parts brake cooling kit (included on the Boss Laguna Seca), race-spec pads, and high temp DOT 4 fluid are all a MUST if you're gonna seriously track this car. Otherwise, it's damn near perfect. A keeper for sure!

    • Snakebit Snakebit on Oct 21, 2013

      Who cares that Ford has yet to put a live rear axle into a base GT Mustang? Obviously, I do and a few others do. I've driven '65 Mustangs, owned two, and I'm fine with their LRA and leaf rear springs. For what a new GT or better model sells for, I expect IRS from a performance car, pretty much all the competitors here and abroad have it. I respect those who say they've blown up Cobra SVT rear axles at the drag, but my cars will never see a drag strip. They'll see an autocross course and track days at a racetrack, but frankly I don't do driving straight lines for just a quarter mile. So, you should be pleased that Ford is building a car for you, LRA and all. For me, my 2006 will probably be my last Mustang. Ford put IRS in other models, I'm done with their excuses for leaving it off new Mustangs.

  • Domestic Hearse Domestic Hearse on Oct 21, 2013

    Johnny? Dat you?

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