1995 Mustang Cobra R

As you may have guessed, the R here is for racing, and although the Cobra R was actually street legal, this car was absolutely intended for track use. Ford was so serious about seeing the Cobra R on the track (rather than in collectors’ climate-controlled garages) that it required buyers to have a competition license. The fact that only 250 examples were built did indeed make the Cobra R collector bait, but the fact that the cars were seriously stripped-down machines made them true track stars.

1984 Mustang SVO

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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.

1968 Mustang 428 Cobra Jet

From the era of glorious muscle-car excess comes the 428 Cobra Jet. Introduced in April of 1968, the 428 CJ was the brainchild of Robert F. Tasca, an infl uential Ford dealer from Rhode Island. It was a drag-race winner from its fi rst event (the NHRA Winternationals, in February 1968) and is still winning NHRA Stock and Super Stock races today. And it’s been a legend on the street since day one.

After recording a 13.6-second quarter mile at 107 mph in a test of a Cobra Jet prototype, Hot Rod magazine proclaimed it “probably the fastest regular-production sedan ever built.” Under the ram-air hood was a 428-cubic-inch V-8 whose special features included low-rise heads patterned after the 427, a variant of the Police Interceptor intake, and a Holley four-barrel.

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