AutoTrader Find of the Week: 1991 Ford Mustang LX is the Perfect Fox Body

I make no bones about my preference for Mustangs. 

To be a car enthusiast, I think you have to at least appreciate the Mustang. Not giving the Mustang its due is like being a music enthusiast and dismissing The Beatles. It’s pretentious contrarianism in its purest form.

But I’m willing to admit that I do more than just acknowledge and appreciate the Mustang as a nameplate. I’m a fan and an owner multiple times over. And I am permanently, irreversibly biased towards them.

My earliest memory is in a Mustang. When I was born, my mom owned a Fox Body Mustang. To calm me down as a toddler, she would do donuts in it. That’s the kind of first impression that makes a lifelong imprint.

My mom’s car was an LX 5.0 notchback, green with a grey interior. 

And that’s probably why this fully built 1991 Mustang LX that’s listed for sale right now on AutoTrader through Cars for Toys in Chilliwack, B.C., is setting my blood on fire. Nostalgia doesn’t even begin to cover it. This was the first car my brain ever clocked as fun and cool.

Except this one is even better. Because it’s absolutely everything anybody could ever want in a Fox Body Mustang. It is the stuff of cars and coffee Tim Hortons parking lot dreams.

For starters, it’s claimed that the car has never seen rain and 90 per cent of its paint is original. The VIN tag confirms this car began life with code PA paint, internally known as “Deep Jewel Green Metallic,” (though the ‘91 Mustang brochure refers to the option as “Deep Emerald Green Metallic”).

It’s been wet sand polished and ceramic coated, with some minor repainting of the front bumper, which suffered a little burning through the buffing process.

It sits on a staggered 245” front/275” rear tire setup, mounted on iconic Cobra-style rims, having undergone a five-lug wheel hub conversion. 

Go-fast goodness abounds. The engine has been bored to 306 cubic inches. It’s also been fully rebuilt with forged internals (rods, pistons, pushrods), it has a more aggressive camshaft, Trickflow heads, upgraded fuel injectors, Holley intake manifold, and MSD ignition. Noise complaints from uncool neighbours will be attributed to BBK long tube headers, an off-road H-pipe, and a Flowmaster cat-back exhaust.

Translation? Loud noises.

This may all be word salad to a regular person or even just someone not familiar with the Mustang aftermarket. But for anyone who has ever dreamt of building a Fox Body Mustang, this is literally a greatest hits setlist of performance upgrades.

Though the car has not been dynoed, power estimates are between 375 and 425 horsepower.

Gone is the original automatic four-speed transmission. Power is translated through an SN95-derived Tremec five-speed unit with a Centerforce clutch. The suspension has also received a thorough going-over, with many essential components borrowed from the SN95-generation Mustangs. 

Still, what’s perhaps most notable is what has not been altered. Other than the appropriate white-face gauges and SN95-style manual shifter, everything looks as if it could have rolled off the showroom floor in 1991. The seats are the original vinyl/cloth buckets, which absolutely scream 1991. I can still feel those metal seat latches burning a hole through my skin on a hot summer day. Even the plastic impact bumpers on the exterior have been left in place. 

This is the perfect case for the OEM+ kind of build — modifying a car in a way that does not make it look modified.

The total build cost is estimated at around $40,000, so the seller is asking $54,900.

Is that a lot of money for a Fox Body Mustang? Yeah, sure. But do you think you could find a nicer one than this?

Actually, forget nicer. Could you find a more pitch-perfect representation of what you want from a Fox Body? It’s the correct parts on the correct body style and in the correct colour combo. 

In a lot of ways, I think it’s what a fun car should be. 

No, it’s not traditionally beautiful. Nobody would ever accuse a Fox Body of that. Nor is it luxurious or exceptionally uncommon. You can definitely buy a faster car for this kind of money.

But who cares? This is a car built to be abused. It’s built to do donuts and put a smile on somebody's face. It’s loud, brash, and rowdy without being overstated. It’s analogue and raw. It’s blue collar and utilitarian, but with attitude and a sense of style. That’s the charm of a Mustang when it's done correctly — especially a Fox Body.

I have no idea what became of my mom’s Mustang LX. But, man, I wish I could go back in time and talk her out of selling it. Because then I wouldn't be sitting here biting my nails and considering selling my 2014 GT for this 1991 LX.

That’s Mustang fan problems for you.