My Previous Muscle Cars – Long Post!

My love for Muscle cars began in High School but of course I couldn’t afford one so it took a few years but in June of 1985 it was here. Here are my Muscle cars beginning with my first one.

It was a special order 1985 Mustang LX 5.0 HO (Police Package), this was the only way you could buy one in 1984 and the first half of 1985. In 1986 they made this a model so all you had to do was check the box on the order form. I ordered the car in April of 1985 after going camping with my girlfriends family and while in our tent hearing a V8 car going by. I looked outside the tent and there was a hunter green 1984 LX 5.0 Police Mustang going by. I stopped the ranger and asked what it was, I had never seen one. He gave me the break down and I hit the Ford dealer and ordered one.

The final cost of the car was $8,450.00. It had the first roller cam, 4 barrel with vacuum secondary's, short length tubular headers and pretty decent heads all of which put out at the time at bone stock 215hp. The average V6 puts out more than that now but none sound as good! I ran a respectable 14.8@92mph in bone stock form. The best this car ever ran was 14.1@95mph, still mostly bone stock.

My second one was a 1985 Mustang GT, it was a sickly beast when I bought it but it was near mint when I bought it in 1994. The window black trim was peeling but I had that fixed, I wish I had a picture of it that way.

In June of 1994 me and my best friend Roland (his Camaro is in the background, he still owns it today!) ripped out the tired stock engine and installed a new short block, Performer RPM intake, Holly 4 bbl carb, GT40 Heads, E series Ford cam, Ford long tube ceramic coated headers, 3.73 gears and the car ran 12.6@108mph and beat several ZR1’s that tried to mess with it, Z28 Camaro’s had no chance, Trans Am’s were breakfast as were other Mustang’s!

I can honestly say it was faster on the street than it was at the track. Output was around 380hp to 400hp and traction was iffy at best in 1st and 2nd.

I also had a 1997 Mustang GT but that year they were low 15 second cars and I lack pictures of the car. It was pretty, but not very fast.

I traded the ‘97 Mustang GT for a 1996 Lincoln Mark VIII. Does a 1996 Lincoln Mark VIII qualify as a Muscle car? HECK YES! This thing ran 14.8@99mph and all I had to do was turn off the traction control. I unfortunately had to sue Lincoln because when it was in getting oil changed and a TSB performed they “DROPPED” the transmission out of the car and couldn’t explain to me why they wanted to remove the transmission when all they were doing was basic stuff and a TSB.

The car never drove without a bad vibration again, I sued, I won and the guy I helped the FBI put into jail for child porn (long story, might tell it some day) ended up buying the car from Ford not knowing it used to be mine. It’s like karma made sure he got that car shortly after he got out of prison. I found out by one day visiting the dealer for maintenance work and seeing the car there and him getting into it and driving away. I could not believe my eyes! I talked to a few guys I know there and they confirmed he bought it… couldn’t have happened to a better guy… the car deserved better though. Had it not been for what the mechanic did, I would have kept this car a long long time.

 

This next car was the epitome of a Muscle car, a REAL 1969 SS 396 SS Chevelle (I say real because there are a lot of clones out there). My friend Roland and I rebuilt the engine in this one as well and you can see below what we did. Some people loved it, some hated it, I loved it. We added new heads, headers, Performer RPM II intake, 498 lift (can’t remember the duration), this was a mild cam but it had a nice lope and made good power. It also had the M21 rock crusher 4 speed transmission. Power we assume around 420hp, I did take it to the track once but they restricted me to 15 seconds because the car lacked a modern seat belt. I ran the car as slow as I felt I could muster without going crazy and ran a 14.6@98mph and they told me I could no longer race the car until I got the proper seat belt. 14.8 in the Lincoln felt fast, 14.6 in the Chevelle felt like it was loping along, funny how perspective is ay?

This car could probably run into the high 12’s maybe giving my previous ‘85 Mustang GT a race for the money to about 70mph, after that the Mustang would have left it behind.

2006 Mustang GT. This is the scariest fastest street car I have ever owned, it didn’t start out that way so I’ll explain each modification below. In this picture you can’t tell if the car is stock or the 530hp monster it ended up becoming. I’ll leave it that way. My best bud Roland’s Camaro runs into the 9’s in the quarter mile (pure race car), even he thought this thing was a monster on the street, the car would try to go sideways in each gear until it got traction, it was fun to steer it with throttle! Same with the ‘85 GT to a lesser degree.

In this stock 300hp configuration the car ran a respectable 13.7@103mph, considering how restrictive the air intake was I was amazed at the performance. Continue below…

In this configuration the car made around 338hp as verified by a Dyno. The car ran a very respectable 13.3@107mph this way on street tires. The modifications here are Demolet air intake, modified tune and flowmaster mufflers.

In this configuration below the car put out 385hp using the 87 octane tune and did not feel particularly potent and ran a best of 12.9@110mph which while impressive wasn’t worth the money spent on the supercharger. The modifications here are a V3 Vortech Supercharger with smaller higher output pully, 60lb injectors, dual high flow fuel pumps and a custom tune for different fuel types.

I received a new tune and one size smaller pulley and this beast put out on the Dyno 530hp!! Granted this was in very good air, low humidity in the 30’s so best case scenario. It probably averaged 490hp and up depending on the air outside. It’s average run with a bad 1.8 60ft time was a 12.0@118mph to 12.2@116mph, a 1.6 60ft netted 11.8@118mph which if you know drag racing is unreal for a street car, at least it was in 2007.

On street tires this car had zero traction on the street but it also never lost after the final config was installed with street stickies. Every car it met, it beat, was it the fastest on the street? Heck no, I just never ran into one faster, also cars this fast you don’t race at stop lights, that’s for teenagers. Us old folks find a place out in the country and get ‘er done there after talking and working it out for safety.

That’s it for the Muscle cars I have had in my life, I know the Chevelle and my 2006 GT are still out there making somebody happy. The 1997 Mustang GT was totaled by a teenager during a test drive at the dealer I traded it in at. I don’t know where the ‘85 LX or ‘85 GT ended up at but I hope they are still out there! The 1996 Lincoln is most likely out to pasture, the guy who bought it wasn’t known for taking good care of his cars plus Ford sold it with the same vibration I sued them for so it’s probably rusting in a dump somewhere.

I doubt I’ll ever own another Muscle car, these days we are all about paying off debt, getting rid of stuff and looking towards the future. I miss these cars but I’m happier with the RV, something my wife and I can enjoy together and that makes it worth it.