The Mustang may be an all-American muscle machine, but Ford’s Special Vehicle Operations team gave the pony car a European twist for 1984. Electing to improve handling instead of simply adding power, the group made a number of modifi cations to help the Fox-body Mustang dance, including stiffer springs and bushings, four-wheel disc brakes, and adjustable Koni dampers at each corner. To keep weight balanced, SVO ditched the traditional V-8 in favor of—believe it or not—a 175-hp, 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, which was paired with a fi ve-speed manual gearbox. Die-hard autocrossers could also spring for the Competition Prep package, which stripped the car of air-conditioning, power windows and locks, and a stereo to shave weight.
Car magazines declared the SVO to be the best-handling Mustang ever built, but consumers barely budged, no doubt due to the lack of eight cylinders under the SVO’s hood. Ford dropped the price in 1985 and bumped power to 205 hp and 240 lb-ft of torque—nearly equaling the output of the 4.9-liter V-8—but the $6000 premium over a GT still stifl ed SVO sales. Only 9844 examples were built over three years, far short of the 10,000-unit annual sales rate Ford initially planned.
0 comment:
Post a Comment