When Steve Saleen began modifying Fox body Mustangs, you could buy one of his creations right off the showroom floor. The work performed by his firm was less performance-oriented than it’s become over the last few decades, but the simplicity of the Saleen modifications – focused on chassis improvements and some tasteful cosmetic upgrades – make its execution quite pure. The Saleen shown here on eBay has been out of the country for the last decade as part of a French collection but it’s been re-imported and offered back up for sale with an asking price of $51,900 or best offer.

It’s interesting: when you think of Steve Saleen and what he stands for, the fact that this isn’t a high horsepower product makes its current valuation in the marketplace somewhat curious. After all, if it’s a Saleen car that doesn’t have a ton of additional horsepower, than what’s the value of the name? In my opinion, any time you see a literal genius begin to work, you can’t base their reputation on the first few years of commercially-available products because their approach is inevitably characterized by walking before they can run. I can almost guarantee Saleen wanted to first gauge reactions and make sure there was a market for factory-approved modified Mustangs. Despite this car’s globetrotting past, it remains in excellent shape with seemingly none of the original Saleen details out of place.

The Saleen team focused on a Racecraft / Koni suspension as the most meaningful upgrade along with BBS-style wheels and some subtle aero enhancements to the body (don’t forget the period-correct graphics, t00). The interior got Flo-Fit bucket seats along with an aftermarket Momo steering wheel, a built-in radar detector, and I believe a Hurst shifter. Sure, you could piece together these upgrades via the aftermarket, but it wouldn’t have the same vibe as being a genuine Saleen car nor would it have been factory warranted as this car most certainly was when it’s new. The seller notes there’s just under 17,000 miles from new.

The 302 V8 made the same horsepower as a standard-issue Mustang GT, so any Saleen shoppers in the middle 80s weren’t shopping for a car that could use to lay waste to their buddy’s LX. In many ways, Saleen was pointing out just how capable the Fox chassis was out of the box, and how with the right upgrades, you could make the car significantly better without altering horsepower. The earliest Saleens have been getting increasingly hot over the last few years, undoubtedly pointing to the impact Steve Saleen has had on the models he’s touched along with acknowledging that the supply of good, original cars is only getting smaller.