Super Piston Slap: Poser Perceptions Vs. A Fox Reality
Sajeev,
Your “Panther Love” is so well known that it could be termed Legendary. But until your recent comments in “The Ultimate Commute” I did not realize you were also a Fox Body Mustang owner. Definitely my lack of perception and close reading or your articles!
I recently purchased a Fox Mustang: a 93 Hatchback LX with the 2.3 4 cylinder engine. I knew that if I bought a 5.0 I would get many Speeding Tickets & also be tempted to Race.
I would much appreciate it, if you could provide an update on your own Fox Body experience.
Thanx
Sajeev answers:
I always wonder if I’m sharing too much about myself on Piston Slap, aside from the narcissistic rants about Panthers or whatever else the B&B gets me worked on. It’s all good, but shit Son, I don’t even own a Panther! And no, my Fox-ination has little to do with the Fox Mustang. But it all started on December 31st, 1986.
That’s the day my parents took delivery of a 1983 Lincoln Continental Valentino. It completely changed this 9-year-old’s perception of cars, since I was primed to learn by this age. “The Lincoln” is a proverbial buffet of automotive uniqueness: style, surprisingly competent craftsmanship, period technology, and sleeper resto-mod potential. As the years went by I couldn’t stop absorbing more about cars and either applying it or witnessing it on “The Lincoln.” It’s so intense, so unique, that I am still researching it’s mysteries to this day. And spending tens of thousands on a complete rotisserie restoration and a significant resto-mod power train upgrade.
The money is a sunk cost on a fool’s errand, but I’m just a 9-year-old in a man’s body.
When you combine a stylish luxury car signed off by Valentino himself with the endless possibilities of the Fox Body, you have a car that appeals to the designer inside you and the classic Ford Hot-Rodder you always wanted to be since the days of the Flathead V8 powered Model A. This is the car I drew in the margins of my grade school notebooks. It “took” me to Detroit on a misguided journey to be a car stylist. Perhaps “the Lincoln” is the foundation for both Piston Slap and Vellum Venom.
Damn, I just blew my own mind.
If you like my work (which I appreciate more than I can put into words) thank your lucky stars that Ford used this car for a ton of later-Mustang upgrades, and that Valentino Garavani was hungry enough in the 1980s to license his valuable name to a modified Ford Fairmont.
And once you get one Fox, you kinda can’t stop. My parents loved the Lincoln so much more than their previous GMs (which where truly horrible) that they got a new Cougar XR-7 the next year. We loved it. So it continued: a 1985 Thunderbird 30th Anniversary Edition, a 1991 Mustang LX 5.0 notchback, a 1991 Lincoln Mark VII LSC, a 1984 LTD “LX”, etc…
And as the Fox disappeared into cult classic collectible, we turned into Collectors of the Breed. Our garage now has eight of them, in various states of repair. The Lincoln pictured above is disassembled, floating on a rotisserie. After four years of frustration, the Cougar is turning back into a daily driver for yours truly. My how time flies.
I doubt a day has gone by since the Fox wasn’t on my mind…since December 31st, 1986. When I’m old enough to write The Book of My Life, the Fox will likely intertwine itself in every chapter.
Jeff: so there you have it, you have my “update on my own Fox Body experience.” Thank you all for reading, have a great Sunday and a fantastic week come tomorrow.
More by Sajeev Mehta
Comments
Join the conversation
Preach on, Brother Sajeev! I have only owned 6 Fox bodies (five LTDs and a Mark VII) but you know I share your love.
The comments on this discussion sadden me. The Fox Mustangs were a glory of their times. They were affordable and fast. In their day, their power and lightness made them nearly as fast as the exotics. For $11,000 to $14,000 they were a steal. Yes, v6 Accords can equal them now but that is a mark of the wondrous efficiencies of our information age. Fox Mustangs ruled roads the 1980s as the Corsair, Hellcat or P-51 dominated the skies in the mid-forties. Yes, an F-4 Phantom or F-22 could shoot them down in an instant but if you think that is really saying something you are a nitwit. In the same way, the thoughtful will see the foxes as something special. I own an 1988 Mustang GT which is a hand me down from my brother. I was there when he bought it new and it remains stock. It can probably get to 60mph in around 6 seconds - about the same as an Accord or Camry. Unlike those soft cars the Mustang is raw, brutal and real. There is no computer to guide or protect you, no airbags to save you when you make mistakes. There is nothing to save you. It is the last of its kind. When those cars stopped coming out of the River Rouge plant, computers began to pacify the automobile. The modern car is wonderful, the new Mustang marvelous- but they lack the crude beauty and rawness of the Fox. So enjoy your computerized toys. My Fox Mustang has something you can't understand. Something raw and crude and glorious that the haters can't understand. It represents the end of a breed, a glory of it's time. For all it's faults, it is the real thing. It's a real car. Nothing less, nothing more.