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Last Of The Fox-Body: 1993 Ford SVT Mustang Cobra

With the Fox-body Mustang due for replacement, Ford decided that this car should go out with a bang. To this end, Ford’s newly formed SVT division set to work, and the Fox-body bid goodbye with the SVT Mustang Cobra. With subtle body modifications and significant improvements in performance and handling, it seemed like an appropriate way to farewell a platform that had served the company well for 14-years. This particular Cobra is a nice example that is looking for a new home. It wears a couple of minor faults, but these are ones that should be easy to address. It is located in Midland, Texas, and is listed for sale here on eBay. Bidding has currently reached $21,507, and the reserve has been met. One interesting little side-note is that with the bids having reached that level, that makes it precisely $200 more than the original owner paid for the car when it was brand new.

The owner talks about a couple of external faults on the Mustang, and this mark on the corner of the rear bumper is the worst of them. There is also a small dent in the roof near the sunroof, but I agree with the owner that this one could be fixed by one of those paintless dent repair companies. The factory Teal paint, one of three colors that were available exclusively on the SVT Cobra, looks to be in really nice condition. The owner provides plenty of photos of the underside of the car, and it doesn’t look like there are any rust issues anywhere. It is also nice to see that the uni-directional alloy wheels, which were unique to the SVT Cobra, are free of scrapes and staining. This is hardly surprising when the car has only covered 17,500 miles over the past 26-years.

The SVT Cobra was only available with three interior trim choices, and this car features the range-topping Opal Gray Leather trim. Looking at the original window sticker, this was $523.00 option back in 1993, which was an amount that wasn’t to be sneezed at. This looks to be in good condition, with no obvious wear issues, especially on the rather prone area around the edges of the seat bolsters. The rest of the interior also looks to be both original, and in good condition. There are a number of rather nice comfort features, all designed to make the car a pleasant place to sit while you devour the miles ahead. This includes the optional sunroof, air conditioning, premium radio/cassette stereo, power windows, a 4-way power driver’s seat, remote control mirrors, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and tinted glass.

There are no photos of the engine, but there’s plenty to know about what is happening under the hood. The standard 302ci Windsor V8 as fitted to the GT version of the Mustang produced 205hp. For the SVT Cobra, the engine underwent a multitude of changes, including different cylinder heads, along with improvements to the intake, camshaft, exhaust, and other items. These all conspired to allow the Cobra to pump out 235hp. That increase may not sound like much, but it certainly made the Cobra a spritely performer. Add to this power steering, enormous power 4-wheel disc brakes, an upgraded T5 manual transmission, and a number of upgrades to the springs and shocks, and the Cobra was a very nice car to own and drive. The owner doesn’t mention how well this car runs and drives, but if it has been properly maintained during its 17,500 miles, then it should be pretty solid.

As a last hurrah for the Fox-body Mustang, the SVT version was a pretty fitting finale. It is not a particularly rare car, with a total of 4,993 cars being built in 1993. These weren’t a cheap car when new, but this didn’t stop some people thrashing them mercilessly to gain the full benefits of the performance upgrades. It appears that this one has avoided that fate, and could be a very nice car to own.

Comments

  1. Avatar RayT

    Having “thrashed one of these mercilessly” when they were new — using up tires and brake pads, while everything else held up beautifully — I can tell you that if I had space and funds for a genuine collector-type car, this would be high on the list. I’d “thrash it mercilessly” again, too….

    To me, this is a hugely underrated car. Ford’s own people took a pretty nice Mustang and turned it into something special in terms of handling, with just enough performance boost to make it interesting.

    Actually, I’d want to do even more damage to my bank account by finding a Mustang Cobra “R” of the same vintage. Those were even more fun! I actually tried to buy one in ’93, via a friend at Ford. Sadly (at least for me), there were quite a few people who put in their bids ahead of me for the one he had to sell.

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  2. Avatar Superdessucke

    Move over Mark IV Supra! Another 1990s icon to challenge for the Alpha dollars. Nice but those tinted windows are like foxtails on a Mercedes. I absolutely can’t stand deep tinted windows. But easy fix for somebody with 35 large or whatever it bids to to drop on this. GLWTS.

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    • Avatar Steve R

      Where did you come up with $35,000? Did you check completed and sold listings? The highest selling price for any 93 Cobra was around $25,000. Those with an asking price of $35,000 never sold, so much for alpha dollars.

      Steve R

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      • Avatar Superdessucke

        Age and experience. Bidding is now at 25 grand, the highest selling price ever, with many days to go. I guess we’ll see!

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  3. Avatar Miguel

    Is this a different car from the last one?

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  4. Avatar Troy s

    This wasn’t the “best bang for the buck” version of the Mustang back then. Take a stripped LX with the 5.0 5 speed 3.08 gears, do the free horsepower tricks and drive it like you hate it, literally. These Cobras are really nice, did they use the GT-40 heads and intake? Don’t remember anymore, and the cam profile hurt low end toque just a bit, did these have larger fuel injectors or a higher volume fuel pump?
    As much as I liked these when they came out I really wanted to see a 5.8 in the Cobra to battle with the strong running new fourth gen Camaros and Firebirds. And the next Mustang was a disappointment…

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    • Avatar jwzg

      These did use GT40 heads and intake although the upper intake was cast rather than tubular. It also used 24lb injectors with a slightly larger MAF housing. The cam was actually a bit more aggressive on the low end and was the same grind as used on the T-Bird/Cougar which had just received the V8 in the ‘90-‘91 time frame. It was used because the higher flowing heads and intake didn’t make as much low-end torque with the stock HO cam. I have the heads and intake combo on a standard HO shortblock and can attest to the soggy nature of the bottom end, but from about 3k rpm up its an animal.

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      • Avatar Troy s

        Thanks, it’s been awhile. I remember wanting to build up my ’86 GT back then, which I bought used in ’90, and there was a smattering of aftermarket products out there for any combination one wanted to go, not to mention magazines, how to books, etc on just the 5.0 Mustang. My ’86 was a high mileage daily driver and that particular year seemed taxed a bit on the top end. Noisy Flowmasters, KnN, tried two different Hurst shifters, heavy duty clutch(twice), dumped the gatorbacks, removed the AC completely, as much sound deadning as I could find…it was all fun stuff then it got totalled.
        Still believed Ford should have dropped that 5.8 from the lightning in the top Mustang, that would have been a great send off.

        Like 0

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