Will we ever get tired of seeing clean Fox body Mustangs? Probably not. Despite there seemingly being a good supply of low-mileage Mustangs always up for grabs, that hasn’t caused the prices to drop for low-mileage examples like this one. This ’88 LX 5.0 has an automatic transmission and just over 20,000 original miles. The interior is mint and the Charcoal Gray paint looks as you’d expect for a time-capsule car. The seller feels that his asking price of $20,000 is below what similar cars are listed for; do you agree with that sentiment? He’s reduced the price once and it’s listed here on craigslist in Greeneville, Tennessee.
The Fox body ‘Stang is a perennial favorite across multiple enthusiast groups. Muscle car fanatics love the cheap speed and ease of upgrades; the “Radwood” crowd celebrates the 1980s Mustang for being an icon of the era. However you celebrate the Fox platform Mustang, there’s no wrong answer – it does respond well to bolt-on modifications and it was every high school male’s perfect car for taking the prom queen to the big dance. Today, when a Mustang appears with super low miles and outstanding cosmetics, it’s almost automatically assumed that it won’t be used for anything other than fair weather drives and the occasional car show.
The paint scheme isn’t the most exciting – gray over gray – but we also don’t see Charcoal paint all that often. The cloth interior is clean with no obvious defects. The automatic transmission may be a buzzkill to some, but it also may indicate that this example was used as a commuter car for a previous owner that wasn’t concerned with drag races and hot rodding. The seller doesn’t mention air conditioning, but one would assume it was still working (unless, of course, it “…just needs a charge.”) The additional gallery photos also show the Mustang retains its retractable privacy shade in the cargo bay.
No apparent modifications here, which is a rarity on Fox bodies. The temptation to throw an intake and exhaust is too great for most owners to resist, but even if you did alter this bone-stock survivor, bolt-on modifications like those are easily reversible. The seller is correct that there are more expensive Mustangs out there in a similar state of preservation, which makes me wonder why this one hasn’t found a new home yet. While I do think the price is more than fair, I’ll speculate that most Fox body shoppers are content with a driver-quality example with higher miles and a low price tag. Would you spend more on a well-preserved car like this?
Give this soft aod transmission the Len-Tech work-over, and you’ve got a really nice touring car.
Yessir! Some 3.73s with the AOD wide ratio gear set and a 2500 rpm stall speed converter would get this into the mid 14’s pretty easily.
The slushbox seriously affects demand, especially in the LX coupe…a ragtop might be a different story.
Agreed! The automatic in a notch back really isn’t in demand. Although, it isn’t hard to convert it either (been there, done that – several times).
Personally, it’s the colors (or lack of) that would keep me away. I have had so many cars & trucks now with Grey interior that I flat out refuse to get another one. With this being such a low mile example, I wouldn’t want to change it.
As a side note, I own an ’85 Capri RS (sister car of the Mustang) that has the tu-tone Grey interior with the Red piping.. my interior is mint – but I’m changing it out for a complete Desert Tan Sport interior because “Grey”. Mine has a lot of miles, a lot of modifications (with more to come as well) so it’s not going to hurt anything to trim it out the way I would’ve ordered it when I was 20. Even then I hated Grey interiors!!
Love the 85 Capri RS. 😎
Nothing preserves an ’87-’93 fox body like an automatic transmission. I’ve owned both automatic and 5-speed fox bodies, and I can personally attest to the fact that the automatic cars have the same “fuel economy first,” quick to upshift, slow to downshift calibration as any other Ford. They actively resisted spirited driving.
I like it but not enough to drop $20k on it because I would use it as a daily until the snow comes
I confess that I stopped reading at “automatic transmission.”