One of the dumbest ads I see on TV locally is for the Ford “New England Edition” F150. Stickers and a few badges do not make it a New England Edition; no, the truck would need to be completely rotten on the bottom, towing a boat with non-functional trailer lights, and have the driver’s view partially obstructed by a gigantic Patriots banner for it to be a true “New England Edition.” Anyway (yes, I love living here), this 1989 Ford Mustang is another piece of marketing nonsense as it’s a “25th Anniversary edition” LX 5.0 convertible that dealers in the Carolinas cooked up to commemorate being the top sales region for the model. Find it here on eBay with a $16,890 Buy-It-Now.
Now, I first have to say I enjoy the cars the seller brings to market. Cherokee Auto Group seems to find the most random, somewhat obscure-yet-still desirable cars I’ve ever seen. The fact that they found one of these 25th Anniversary edition Mustangs (remember, only for sale in N. and S. Carolina) demands a tip of the hat to their car finders. The story goes that the dealers in North and South Carolina got together and placed an order for 500 white with red trim V8/LX Mustangs, slapped some graphics on the sides and special floormats, and gave buyers a handy 25th Anniversary keychain for their troubles. Even better is that they made it to celebrate being the top selling region of 5.0 LX Mustangs.
It’s like throwing yourself a party for being the employee of the month. See, the whole idea behind recognition is for the boss, or the head honcho, or the national sales director, to say “Hey region – nice work. Let’s cook up a special edition scheme so you can move a few more cars this month.” If you do it yourself and put a big sticker in the window that says no other state will outsell you, well – I just wonder who the top seller of LX 5.0 Mustangs was the following year. And let’s not forget how specific the criteria is: LX 5.0 Mustangs ONLY. To continue the metaphor, that’s like giving yourself a prize for selling the most heavy cardstock vanilla bone printer paper.
OK, I’m done slamming the marketing genius that is the Carolina Ford dealers network. They probably moved quite a few cars this way, as we seem to love special editions here in the U.S.A. This Mustang does look to be in fine condition, with under 60,000 original miles and clean engine bay, although I’d want to lose the aftermarket open element intake. To be truly factory original, I believe this should have the stock polished wheels that came on LX cars, but that’s a minor gripe. Will this special edition appreciate or is it too obscure?
Ford sells a lot of Texas Oklahoma edition F series trucks. 1989 fox bodies seem to be the Mustang of choice for mods
It doesn’t stop any dealer down in Texas. I have seen Texas editions of almost every truck made. I guess it’s like a participation ribbon. Everyone wanted to be special.
And don’t forget that in ’68 we got the “California Special” –
the GT/CS.
That CS had substance beyond decals though
They came with the High output 302 as well, the same one that was in the Cobra R
Here in Arizona, we’ve had ‘Southwest Edition’ Ford pickups from time to time as well.
This looks like a nice car, although I agree with Jeff that it should have its original wheels – probably phone dials – if it was an LX in ’89. I don’t believe these Pony wheels were available until ’91?
Correct on the date. Phone dials became a lx 4 cylinder option from 91-93
The lower striping would be the first thing to go if I were to buy this car. The rest of it is pretty nice.
Love the take on the sales promotion..!!!
To a tee . What an accomplishment by them dealers lol.
I love these cars. Doubt that package adds any value. Would not show up in a Marti report..
Nah.just a regular mustang convertible
With cheesy stickers slapped on.and you can have your own floor mats embroidery
Done.as for the keychain wow gotta have
One…not!
For me nothing special here!
Oh and the bright red interior clashes with the dull grey dash!
I had a 90 ‘7-up’ 5.0 Mustang and it was just an appearance package but nicer than this.
It’s a 10k car max
Those are rare cars. There’s one sitting curb side for sale near my shop in Kenvil, NJ for $7000 that’s seen better days. Still, it’s the only one I’ve ever seen in person.
Really typical intake and exhaust upgrades, with the off road pipe those flows get pretty loud if they’re 2 chamber, don’t care for the red interior but otherwise a nice car as is.
Seemed to recall rumors of a twenty fifth anniversary edition from Ford going to have a 351,errr,5.8 liter engine. Never happened, don’t know what they did really.
I had an 88 GT… it had an 85 mph speedometer. While on deployment, I had my mom take it to the Ford dealer and have a 140 “police” speedometer installed. The 85 mph one was ridiculous; it would bury that in 3rd gear.
Too bad this one has an automatic – I drove one at the dealer, and it was nowhere near as fun as the 5 speed. I’ve been nostalgiac for my old GT, but they are hard to find. Most from that era are hacked up, raced, or rodded to death. It is hard to find one in this condition!
I just bought my son a 17 Ecoboost Mustang convertible, which is nearly as fast as my 88 in a quarter mile. When he is down at college, I get to drive it a few times a week, because you don’t want a car to sit for long periods of time! Time to make new memories!
Had a friend that was a GM for a Chrysler dealer in the 80s, he took a base K car put on a thickly padded roof and emblems and called it the Genarro “his last name” edtion. Added 1500.00 to the price and sold everyone they made.
Well, it’s not a GT. Rather a base 5.0LX with snazzy decals. Many local dealers made their own special models with a simple decal. Still, really fun cars to drive and enjoy.
Poor Uncle Al, did somebody get that job at the car wash you were pining for? The rules say no politics, so maybe you should leave the comments to the car enthusiasts.
Some of those Texas edition trucks are factory special editions, not something dealers are doing.
My dad had a special edition vehicle that I’ve only seen once, ever: It was a 1999 Ford Explorer Sport “Columbus Edition”. It was kinda cool. All black exterior save for grey fender flares. It had regular chrome Explorer rims, but the rim holes were gold trimmed. There was a little decal on the front fender that looked something like a sailing ship. Inside, everything was grey, and the same sailing ship logo was embroidered on the headrests. This was in Spokane, WA, and the dealer he bought it from said that it was a special edition that came from “back east”. I’ve never seen another one anywhere, and google searches turn up nothing. It was kinda cool, but got totaled when someone ran a light and hit it.
You don’t kbow the whole story about these cars. It’s not just dealers in carolina. The “Carolina Ford Dealers” was a major sponsor for NASCAR. Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin were the drivers for the Carolina Ford Dealers racecar. Both drivers were given one of these anniversary models. I guess if you find those two cars you got something really worth $$$$$ lol. These cars are in the “Mustang Special Editions” book under dealer promotions/ anniversary editions along with the Twister II, M-25 and the 7-up editions.
The particular convertible that is pictured in your blog/rant is not even original and the guy stole the picture of the window sticker to place in his ad from the http://www.Mustang-Town.com blogs.
The Carolina Ford Dealers 25th anniversary are DSO specific to Charlotte. All 500 LX’s came with Oxford white paint and Scarlett Red interior to pay tribute to the first Mustang’s produced. The 500 built came with 25th anniversary decal package and a painted on red pinstripe on the body. It took me about 9 years to find one, but I own one now. It’s the only 25th anniversary listed in the Mustang special edition book.