This clean 1988 Ford Mustang LX is a recent “garage find,” found in the home of the original family owners. The four-cylinder Fox Body wears a GT body kit said to have been ordered that way from the factory. The LX began to sit when the elderly female owner supposedly could no longer drive. With under 90,000 original miles and said to be rust-free, it’s an interesting candidate for a daily driver you won’t feel bad using. Find it here on eBay with the auction ending Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST.
The body kit on an LX model with the smaller steel wheels and hubcaps isn’t the best look, nor are the colormatched caps. Still, this Mustang has an air of uniqueness going for it that we wouldn’t normally think of when describing non-GT cars. The paint looks excellent – far better than we’d expect for 87,000 miles – and the GT bodykit appears uncracked.
Inside, more red and an automatic. Personally, the presence of the aggressive body kit matched to a wheezy four-cylinder with an automatic would make this a hard sell for wanting to drive too far before being called a poser. But for an older female driver, hurled insults from neighboring cars in traffic wasn’t likely a problem. The seller says it runs well enough, but could use new plugs and wires.
The amount of space left in an engine bay that can also accommodate a 5.0L V8 is a bit laughable, but the four-cylinder looks to be in fine cosmetic condition with shiny plastics and hoses. No mention of a maintenance file or history of any kind is made, but the cosmetics seem to live up to the low-mileage claims. Would you bid on a low-mileage LX like this one or wait for a higher-mileage GT to come along?
A Sheep in Wolf’s clothing. :)
Laughed out loud at that one!
I used to call my father in law’s car that. :) He had a 1989 Ford Probe with the 2.2L NA engine and auto trans. He bought it used, and the previous owner spent considerable money on an aftermarket body kit and wheels. Car looked pretty mean and was fun to drive, but it was pretty slow.
That porno red interior is by far the worst interior of all fox body’s.
That is neither a factory body kit nor a GT body kit. LX models had no available body kit from the factory, and the GT bumpers and cladding are quite different than what is shown here. Dealer-installed, perhaps. Factory, no.
Yes I would think dealer installed. Some buyers don’t know the difference.
Somebody should have tried to talk her out of it though.
If you are going to install a body kit like that why paint the wheels instead of changing them to something that fills out the wheel wells?
I don’t get this one.
Dealer installed was what I was thinking also.
I worked at a Chevrolet dealership and it was my job to install crap like this when the customer paid for it after the sale.
If somebody would have asked me to do this to a Camaro, I would have asked them if they really, really wanted that.
To be fair, Chevrolet fixed this problem with most of the Camaros having some kind of side skirt and rear fin.
Even though I know the 1987 Camaro was available without the rear fin, my dealership never got one in.
All of the true experts believe that any engine problem can be solved with new plugs and wires!
Ford fours of that era had weak camshafts. Makes them sound like an ignition tune up will fix it.
Owned by a little old lady from Henderson who just drove it to church on Sundays.
I was wondering who was going to say it first!!!!!
NADA is $3700. The “GT” kit is an aftermarket likely installed by the dealer. You couldn’t order a the GT flares on an LX from the factory. The real tell is the rear valance. Nothing like a GT. The red will further fade to pink if left in the sun. An inexpensive car for someone that likely would be fairly reliable with regular maintenance. Keep the GT in the garage for winter and drive this, except we’re going into summer so I wouldn’t expect the selling price to get much higher than where it is now. FWIW…
…if I ever decide to sell my ’70 GS, I’m gonna have my Mom pose in front of it to see if I get more cash pretending she owned it…”only power shifted it to church on Sunday…”
I’d take a hard pass on this one. Much of the Mustang LX’s charm was that they didn’t have the tacky bolt on ground effects of the GT. This one would look bad even if it had the 5.0 engine and it doesn’t have that to fall back on as it’s saving grace.
Wait for a 5.0 car or an LX without the add ons if you want this generation Mustang.
Besides it looks like a blood clot.
Steve R
Give that interior a couple of years in the sun, and it will look white.
I had an employee in Las vegas with one of these, and I didn’t know the interior was red until I moved the head rest.
flmikey- it never hurts to have a hot model standing beside your car.
Yeah, have your mom stand in front of it, then grab a bunch of crap from the house and lay it all around the car or on it. Increases the price by 21.45%. Pretty soon there will be another category in the NADA book. 4-Fair,3-Good, 2-Excellent, 1-Dirty and Crap covered.
If that picture of her in front of the car in the garage isn’t a staged picture, I don’t know what is.
I bet that stuff along the side of the car and on the roof was put there for the picture. Way too neat and organized.
I’m calling BS on the whole presentation.
You beat me to it. I said the same thing. 8-10 items placed around the car and a couple on the roof. Seriously???
“Hey MawMaw, when you get home from Costco I’ll help you unload the van but before I bring your stuff in I need you to stand by my old car in the garage so’s I can take your picture. Oh yeah, stand right there….you never looked better……”
I see a great candidate for a Turbo 2.3 swap!!
I had to take a second look. A friend of mine’s mother, who is near this ladies age, has a 5.0 LX car still in the garage. I thought I was missing out. I bought her one owner 1978 V8 Fairmont around 2001.
Are you guys smoking some crack cocaine or what? That looks really good in my opinion! The problem is, is the body kit looks bad with the 14 inch steel wheels and hubcaps. Put a set of 15 or 16 in wheels on there and that body kit would stand out like nobody’s business then! Not a fan of American cars but I can’t believe not one of you like this body kit. Anybody? LOL
Yes, I guess that crack is getting more affordable now that more people are doing opium based drugs. This car still looks like crap and is a wannabe with the four banger.
IMHO with bigger tires and wheels it would not look too bad and would make a cheap car on gas to use for work or Walmart runs so door dings won’t get on my 43K F-150 super crew 4×4. But it can’t go over the 4K price.
Go granny! Go granny go!
Looks like a Cervinis kit. Someone swapped out the Ford emblem on the nose too. For someone looking to do a ls swap this car isn’t too bad.
might have had the body kit fitted to hide the accident repair, take a good look at the front inner wings or whatever you call them, and the inner edges of the wings with the hood up, had quite a bad front end smash and then repaired in a railway arch or under a shade tree depending on where you are from,
It’s sold. Someone paid $4600 for the red beauty
I hope after paying $4,600.00 that they got a date with granny too!
A four cylinder engine in any mustang has always seemed just silly to me. Pretending to be something it’s not. You may as well be putting the mustang name and trim on a yugo.
You obviously never drove an 84-86 SVO Mustang. Also the new 2.3 EcoBoost 4 cylinders are pretty quick. 0-60 in 5 seconds or less.
Looks like this one has lived a hard life. The selling price is quite a bit higher than I’d be willing to pay for a four cylinder that to me looks a bit like a cheap snap together model. A couple of pics make me think this thing started out white.
I have to laugh, looks like the heater core is bypassed. I’ve had two GTs of this vintage, an ’88 hatch and an ’87 vert (that I still own). Heater cores went in both.
Good eye!
I’m sure this will draw an argument, but I had a ’91 LX. Always wanted a GT, but a friend of mine who worked at Ford told me the GT body kit was actually a drag on the car and made it slower.
Yes, the LX 5.0’s were quicker, cleaner looking too. He was right to tell you that.
You can replace the heater core in about 2 hours with the dash in your lap. I have done 4 so far.
These were ugly but they kept the sting. Live 👀👍
Time is indeed a cruel thief.
I like it, kit looks like a BMW wannabe, but I’d drive it daily for the gas mileage. But that’s only if I got rid of my 2000 MR2 Spyder, which is a way more fun 4 cyl. I only know that’s not a GT kit as of yesterday, when I bought a Craigslist Yard Find 1988 GT 5.0 5 Spd for $1200, how bow dah? It was real filthy, it still needs another wash in daylight and interior crap cleaned out, front seats are ripped, I think I can find original seat covers.
A Running car for $1200?
Nice!
My experience says the cam problems were handled by 1980. I do a lot of 2.3 Rangers and have yet to see a bad camshaft.