The final Fox Body Mustang rolled off the assembly line nearly 30 years ago in 1993, but production began all the way back in ’79, so the third-generation Mustangs are getting some real age on them now with nicely preserved original examples getting harder to come by. Not only did this 1986 Ford Mustang GT tick a lot of the right boxes when it was new, but it’s still got a lot of good things going for it in terms of mileage, condition, and a solid history report. The car is located in Tucson, Arizona, and can be found here on eBay with bidding currently up to $20,100, still south of the reserve price it’s gonna take to make it yours.
The seller of this Mustang refers to it as a survivor time-capsule car, and from the looks of everything, this seems like a reasonable proclamation. The car has a claimed 37,000 original miles on its ticker, and the Equifax History report certainly appears to back up that odometer reading. The body is said to be rust-free and beautiful, and while it’s not specified whether or not the paint is original the finish looks really good from every angle, and the white and black combo works great on this GT. There are also factory fog lights up front and OEM 16-inch aluminum wheels all the way around.
Inside, the seller describes the interior as a 9.5 on a 10 scale and says it looks like no one has ever sat in it. Other than one minor stain in the hatch area behind the rear seats, I’m tending to agree that things in here are looking pretty remarkable to be 36 years old, and a strong testament to the low miles and amount of care that has obviously been given to this Mustang. Luxuries include a tilt steering wheel, cruise control, and an aftermarket Pioneer Stereo with a CD player plus 4 upgraded speakers, although the original AM/FM/Cassette unit is also included in the sale in case the next owner wants to put it back instead for originality.
1986 was the first year for fuel injection on the 5.0, and this GT is claimed to start and run like new. The car is also equipped with a 5-Speed manual transmission and a tougher Ford Racing Clutch Quadrant for added strength, and overall this seems like one exceptionally well-preserved mid 80’s Mustang that’s probably got lots of good miles left in it. What are your thoughts on this 1986 Ford Mustang GT? Any ballpark ideas on where bidding is going to end up on this one?
Here is a good example of how clean, low mileage, (mostly) original Fox Body Mustangs have exploded in value– even the four-eyes, which have been the less-valuable models. This one has been loved and maintained, with only a few upgrades and modifications, all of which are reasonable. Don’t expect it to drive or feel like a new Mustang– these were inexpensive, crude cars at heart. But that’s part of their charm, and as such are lots of fun. Let’s see where the bidding lands.
They get tail loose pretty easy Bob. Love the long gears in these foxes. Good runners. Gorgeous condition here. White always looks good especially in the LX model sedan.
Can’t be sure from the pictures but it looks like a repaint to me. One clue is that it’s missing the blue oval from the hatch. Also, the hood sticker looks aftermarket as it’s glossy and should be matte. The body molding and headlight buckets were definitely resprayed to a gloss black from their original matte charcoal gray. You can see that they don’t match the side mirrors and louvers which are the factory matte gray.
I agree. But it is relatively easy to fix. Just paint the mirrors and louvers gloss black. (I like the contrast between the gloss black and the white paint). Sure it isn’t original, but neither is my wife wife with two knee replacements. If it matters to the buyer he could repaint the side molding and headlight buckets to match the mirrors and louvers and replace the hood graphic to match and nobody would be the wiser. I’m sure you can pickup the blue Ford oval from a wreckers – likely not too expensive a part.
@ $21,000 and a reserve is not mentioned. (Perhaps it was $21,000?)
BF: “…and OEM 16-inch aluminum wheels all the way around.”
No, those are 15-inch OEM wheels. The 16-inch Fox wheels were the ’91-’93 five-spoke (“five star pony”) wheels.
My first Mustang. Identical, but mine had a sunroof. I had signed the paper’s on an ’86 Thunderbird, and saw the guys unloading this car off the transporter, and told the salesman that I wanted to drive the GT. Needless to say, we ripped up the deal on the T Bird. Then, I learned about street racing! What a car.
My 1986 was this in red, bought new at $13,363. from Beaudry Ford, Atl.
What a great ride that was.
Missed the Holley from both ’84 and ’85.
This will touch $24k.
Bought my ’86 GT used in late ’90, traded in my broken down ’86 Nissan hard body pick up and wow, this first gear is really low! It took some getting used to that 5 speed before I really started hammering the 5.0 and it is one of the best cars I ever owned,, especially back then. I hauled my tools in it (hatchback), cruised it up and down Coastal highway 1, ran it at Carlsbad Raceway, heck I drove that ride as often as I could. Good gas mileage, instant throttle response, and those two chamber Flowmaster were growling away. Motorsports clutch, replaced twice at the local “Ford shop” called JBA, transmission rebuilt once, tried two different Hurst shifters, 13 degrees advanced timing,, all the little things I relearned from my old Cars Illustrated magazines particularly Tony DeFeo’s wiked black 5.0 hatch. Well over two hundred thousand miles on the stocker before the insurance company totaled it in ’97. Seeing this one here brings back a lot of good memories and yeah, wow this first gear is really low!
Seller noted that he dropped the Reserve to $21k and sold the car.
It must be the more simplistic look of the ’85 and ’86 GT, but it sure is my favorite of all of the Fox bodies.
The rare 1984 Mustang 5.0 GT and LTD LX 4AOD shared the 165hp CFI 5.0 HO making 1984 the first of the fuel injected V8 Mustangs…
Mom’s 85 GT convertible had fuel injection, cold starts were hell, revved so high until it warmed up your didn’t dare put it in gear
I thought the ’85s were carbed? Was there a mix of them in production?
I never saw a FI ’85. And, with FI, cold starts were no problemo!
The earlier fuel injection 5.0’s were different, it is what came with the automatic overdrive, the hot ones all had carburetion ending in ’85, the ’86 was a different animal. The first fuel injected HO making a claimed 200 horsepower down five from the 4 barrel ’85, but it had all the good stuff including a true dual exhaust all the way back…so yeah, we never saw this type of set up before late ’85 when the injected 5 speed GT’s first came out.
Is there anyone here who has driven both an ’85 carbed and an ’86 injected?
How did they compare?
An AOD ’84 GT with Central Fuel Injection (CFI) was only 10 hp down on the 175hp 4-barrel Holley carbureted 4 or 5-speed 5.0 and 8hp up on the 2-barrel ’82 (“The Boss Is Back!”). Fairly negligible differences and the AOD packed a 3:27 rearend to help make up the difference. This was as good as automatic equipped performance got in 1984 and 1985, sans carbureted 1985 5.0 roller tappet cam and headers improvements.
The modern world caught up in ’86 with the introduction of the speed density MPFI setup transitioning to mass airflow in ’89 and on paper power was de-rated again to 205hp in 1993.
SOLD for $21,000.