As much as I try to resist the allure of owning a Fox body, I’m failing. There’s a car I’m loosely pursuing (and I emphasize loosely) from this family of vehicles and while I absolutely don’t need one, shouldn’t everyone own an 80s Mustang at least once? This 1985 Ford Mustang SVO listed here on eBay has under 11,000 original miles and presents as such, with excellent cosmetics and a minty interior. Bidding is at $9,850 with the reserve unmet.
The SVO is an acquired taste for sure, and I’m always held back in my pursuit of one owing to the powerplant. Personally, I have nothing against turbocharged cars, but it’s hard to imagine owning a Mustang and not having a V8. The real solution is to have both: a GT and an SVO, but that takes a level of commitment I haven’t evolved to. This SVO is an earlier model made to look like a later one, owing to the flush headlights that were swapped in by a previous owner.
The interior is one of my favorite features of the SVO, as it shows a more evolved design than Ford often gets credit for at this point in history. The dashboard was pretty spartan, but the rest of it – the three-spoke steering wheel, deeply bolstered bucket seats, and nicely padded door panels – all gave it a touch more class than other American-made muscle cars from this era. Of course, this one presents incredibly well thanks the low mileage.
The engine bay is nicely detailed with no signs of modifications or missing components. The seller repots that despite the low mileage, the timing belt was replaced and an oil change performed, and the tires were replaced as well. Though the later cars with the flush headlights from the factory make more power, this one doesn’t have the same kind of oomph owing to the swapped headlight lenses and being a 1985 model. Regardless, this is a lovely survivor with plenty of life left owing to its miniscule mileage.
Nice job Jeff. Like you say, the SVO is an acquired taste. For its day, it was a well-done package. But then, and even now, it never could overcome the aura and preference of having a V8 Mustang. Looks like a very well-kept example, now dealer owned.
I owned 2 Fox body 5.0 Mustang’s, an ’85 and an ’88. Both times I considered the SHO, but the Windsor powered GT’s won my heart. The SVO was a near ideal package expect… the boosted Pinto engine was not as strong as the 302 and worse, it sounded like a washing machine filled with Coke cans and vibrated like the paint shaker at Benjamin Moore. Loved the drive, hated the engine. Both 5.0’s went over 100k miles with zero repairs and ran as strong on their last day as in their first. Today’s EcoBoost 2.3 is a whole different story, but in ’85-’86, the 2.3 was a pretty dismal powerplant in comparison to the 5.0.
They had the same horsepower.
Not true. The ’85 5.0 with a manual transmission was rated at 210 HP vs. the SVO’s 175. The mid-year SVO was uprated to 205 HP then downrated to 200 HP in the final year of ’86. The ’88 5.0 was 225 HP. More importantly, the V8’s torque made it significantly quicker and it was overall a much more refined powertrain vs. the Lima 2.3 turbo. What would have been ideal was a SVO with the V8 available. The SVO had a better chassis than the GT and more distinctive looks. Couple that with the 5.0 and it would have been a very nice car.
I saw on one episode of a car show the son of the owner took a SVO in great condition and put an modern 2.3 L turbo 4. Now that was the best of borh worlds.
Junkyard Empire was the name of the show.
I’m into bikes and Volvo 122s my wife is into pickup trucks…but…we put 312K miles on a 25th anniversary seven up style convertible. When we sold it it still looked good and had plenty of life in it. We replaced the cooling system at 80K and did the heads around 210K and that was it outside of normal maintenance (and some suspension mods). We only sold it as we moved and downsized in retirement. Go find a clean one and have fun. They’re thick on the ground and I’ve seen really clean low mileage ones for very little money.
If Foxes are your thing, a great way to build one for the street is to start with a low-mileage SVO, upgrade the back axle, and drop in a built windsor. An SBF with aluminum heads doesn’t weigh more than the turbo pinto engine and its ancillaries, and everything else in the SVO was the best used in a Fox body.
Maybe have to modify that front end grill ? For a V8 convert
I doubt it. All of these cars are ‘mouth breathers,’ in that most of the cooling air comes in through the bottom of the bumper. Besides, a turbocharged engine of the same power output probably produces more heat than a naturally aspirated one. The hood scoop was for cooling purposes on the SVO, not as a source of cold intake air.
If this is an ’85, it would have come with the “aero” headlamps. To the best of my knowledge only the ’84’s had the flat vertical headlamps. I recently had an ’84 with the flat vertical headlamps. I did a ton of research on the SVO’s. 1985 was a “split year as noted above with respect to HP ratings. A really, really good SVO regardless of year should be well beyond $20K. I bought what was purported to be a “great car” two years ago for $11K which was not. Driving it the first time it looked as if I were in a crop duster! The plume of acrid grey smoke was appalling! Just as I thought, the turbo was pretty much shot. I put over $6K into that car and it still needed more work. I cut my losses and got rid of it.
Like any 30-40 year old “classic”, buy the best one you can find. An SVO Mustang in excellent condition with lots of records is a far better and more satisfactory ride than one in the teens which other than good to nice paint will quickly escalate to the $20’s+ and be not much fun to drive. Suspension parts can be hard to find. I would recommend after market parts given the stamped steel junk originally employed. The concept by Ford was pretty avant garde at the time. A worthy collector item but be mindful of what you buy!
Reality… These are maybe a 15k car. More amazing it the milage. I didn’t know they made it that far without doing a burnout and crashing into a crowd HhhhaaAa 😂
That hood scoop appears to feed directly into the intercooler.
You’re right Ben, the hood scoop was offset and had a seal that fed cooler air directly into the intercooler.
The longer you wait to get your Fox, the more you will pay. I want one too, but for me it has to be a GT or LX with a 5.0. Maybe an LX. I prefer a convertible, too. In red.
My favorite test drive ever was with Dad in an SVO in 84. Dad drove. I sat in the back and the salesman rode shotgun. Dad took the salesman on the ride of his life! He definitely looked a little green upon our return to the dealership and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he messed himself. I was thoroughly impressed with the SVO’s handling and performance. I had bought a new 79 Pace Car 5.0 and didn’t have the cash for the SVO, but Ford had surely made some big improvements since the first turbos in 79 and it was a precursor to today’s modern turbo four.
I found this interesting, that 1/2 yr was best.
Must have been fun cars considering the power that little light motor put out.
Mustang SVO horsepower and torque ratings by year
Year Power Torque
1985 175 hp (130 kW) @ 4400 rpm 210 lb⋅ft (285 N⋅m) @ 3000 rpm
1985 1⁄2 205 hp (153 kW) @ 5000 rpm 248 lb⋅ft (336 N⋅m) @ 3200 rpm
1986 200 hp (149 kW) @ 5000 rpm 240 lb⋅ft (325 N⋅m) @ 3200 rpm
Something you notice right away,it has 5 lug wheels,something that wasn’t available on other models and these have somewhat of an improved front suspension and handling,compared to the GT model and it had 4 lug wheels.
First application of the quad shock rear end that eventually made it to the V8 GT as well as the 4 wheel disc brakes and front suspension modifications