Growing up in the suburbs, you were cool if you had a Mustang, Camaro, or Trans Am. (I was a nerd into Dodge Daytona’s!) A 5.0 droptop Fox with GT trim meant you were just about as cool as Robert Van Winkle. My oldest brother could only pretend his 2.3L 1990 Mustang hatchback looked enough of the part. It had a lot of the style, but it was missing the punch. Find this spotless, 55K mile 1992 Ford Mustang GT convertible in Commerce, GA for $10,500 here on craigslist or here.
Fox Body Mustangs, Capris, and Mark VII’s are a hot commodity right now. Available 4.9L V8, huge aftermarket for both restoration and performance upgrades, light weight, good looks, easy to work on, and made by the hundreds of thousands means they are in the reach of most buyers. Of course a 1993 Cobra R is high dollar unobtanium, but there are plenty of special editions and unique trim packages to make up for a few unattainable Foxes.
I’m always torn between the clean lines of a LX and the visual upgrades of a GT. Some either like all the added on plastic cladding or they don’t. This 1992 GT convertible in two-tone Wild Strawberry metallic clear coat and lower gray cladding just looks right. The light silver 5 spoke Pony Wheels and white top are just icing on the cake of this ’90s muscle car. The cladding might be a bit faded, and the gray on the metal doors looks a little darker, but it all appears undamaged and very nice for twenty-five years old. And what other car has mini blinds for tailights?!
Said to be unmodified and original, except for an update to the electric fan, everything presents well inside and out. I don’t think the air intake is correct, but everything else looks stock to these eyes. The only real flaws I see are a tiny fender ding, saggy door pockets (they all did that), some stains on the driver’s side floor mat, and a discolored glove box latch. Everything else looks like what you’d expect on nearly new 1992 Mustang. Yeah, it’s an automatic, but that means it might have been less abused. Nothing sounds like a 4.9L Ford V8 with dual exhausts. Intoxicating. The gray buckets look comfortable, the air bag wheel is leather wrapped, and their is room to bring three friends along to enjoy the top down experience. Original window sticker and new tires makes this look like a great investment. Wouldn’t you rather spend $10,500 on this instead of a used Elantra? And kept in this condition, the value is sure to rise.
Correct, the intake filter is aftermarket. The original was a paper filter in a plastic box attached to the fender wall. The rest looks original. Nice looking Fox. Seems a tad bit high, but these unmolested Fox’s are sought after. The interior looks clean. I have an 87 myself I’m never selling, love the ride and as you say, the sound is awesome…some things just stick with you, no matter how old you get. The 5.0 is one of those for me.
Lost me at automatic…
Agree. I had an 88 Auto back in the day, always wanted a 5 speed, now I have one.
In all fairness many convertible Foxes had AOD transmissions.
I have a Ttop 5 speed…best of both worlds imo.
Nice car, and the Robert Van Winkle reference is priceless.
A manual conversion night be in order.
It would be infinitely better if it were an LX with a manual transmission.
Steve R
why are you calling the engine a 4.9? it is the LEGENDARY 5.0!
At 4,942cc it is numerically a 4.9L. That’s how rounding works. Calling it a “5.0L” is simply Ford marketing.
From our trusted friends at Wikipedia:
From the 1978 car model year, the 302 became more commonly known as the 5.0 Liter, although its metric displacement is 4.942 L. Ford may have used the “5.0” moniker to distinguish the 302 from their 300 cu in inline six, which was known as the 4.9. Despite its advertised displacement, Car and Driver referred to the 302 as a 4.9-liter engine, though the normal 302 Ford engine enthusiast always referred to it as a “5-Oh, 5-Point-Oh, 5 Liter, or 302”.
For the last 20 yrs or so 4.9 meant the 300 cu in 6 cyl.
For the last 20 years, what?
Production of the 300 inline 6 began in 1965 as an improvement to the 240, and ended in 1996, which was (21) years ago.
Also, and correct me if I’m wrong here, but can’t two separate engines be referred to as the same size designation? GM referred to both the 305 and 307 as “5 Litre”, and Ford referred to the 427, 428, and 429 as “7 Litre”. So I’d think that calling the 300 and 302 “4.9L” would be completely acceptable.
I believe that Ford simply thought that “Five-Point-Oh” sounded better.
100% agree with your write up. To all the points. Thanks.
3 SMALL friends for the back seat!!!
Perfect car for most of the folks visiting this site. Good price, good condition, and just enough performance without being a maintenance nightmare. How much would a manual transmission add to the cost? $3000? I like it as is.
One of my spoiled brat friends parents bought him a brand new 1992 Mustang LX 5.0 with an automatic. I’m pretty sure they got the auto so his mom could drive the car. The car was dark blue with the five spoke rims and was a blast to drive despite the auto. Granted I was used to my low horsepower, low torque 1985 RX7, that car felt like a rocket. Those engines had good horsepower especially for the 90’s and gobs of torque the car would easily melt the tires. I would trade my 95 Vette for a car like that in a second maybe even my 09 Vette if it was like new, low mileage just for the nostalgia.
The only thing I would change are those cheese grater tail lights, not one of fords better ideas
Grab these while they are still reasonably priced, and you too can be “Cool a Ice”.
Calling it a 4.9 more than once is as awkward as can be. I can see doing it once as an inside joke but put it in quotes, do it once and move on. Calling it a 4.9 insults the 5.0 guys and also confuses it with the 6 cyl 300.
However I have to give props for a good Vanilla Ice reference but as far as calling it a 4.9…? Please stop. Real Mustang fans know…
Right! The lyrics didn’t say “rollin’ in my 4.9”