The Seven Best Mustangs Ever, And Three Of The Worst

Last month I talked about the Chevy Camaro: more specifically, I talked about seven of the best Camaros ever, and three of the worst. This time around, I wanted to give another model the same treatment. It’s the turn of the Mustang to go under the microscope. As the first spectacularly succesful pony car, it’s got a hell of a reputation to live up to whenver a new model comes out. Not all of the Mustangs are capable of this, however. A handful are right clunkers, whether due to appalling aesthetics, mechanical problems, or plain sluggish performance. In this article, we’ll look at seven reasons the Mustang has its reputation, and three times it blotted its copybook.

1967 Shelby GT500

Now you may have noticed that I never specified that these cars had to be Ford Mustangs, and this is the main reason for that. Whether the Shelby Mustangs can truly be considered Fords is up in the air. Yes, they are derived from the Ford car, but they were built by Shelby, at the time known for being a constructor firm in the world of racing. This is essentially the McLaren F1 of Fords, and it acts like it too. The GT500, when it rolled out in 1967, was the most incredible Mustang the world had ever seen. The car packed a 428ci Cobra V8, essentially a civilian version of the monstrous 427ci V8 which powered Shelby-American’s GT40s to first and second place in the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.

While “no replacement for displacement” is still a potent slogan, the car’s more than just a big engine. This car has the whole package. Just look at these pictures and tell me it doesn’t still look better than just about any modern cars. As well as looking gorgeous, it was forward-thinking. It was the first production car which came with a rollover bar as standard. The 140 mph speedo conjured images of NASCAR and Le Mans in all who drove it. This was not a car that you could step into without having your love of driving refreshed again and again, however bad your day may have been, whatever you were doing, you were going to enjoy getting there. It’s an experience as much as a car, and exactly what the Mustang should be.

1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302

From the chunky, outrageously powerful Shelby GT500, we come to one of the more (somewhat) restrained Mustangs. Sure, the Boss 429 Mustang was more powerful and plain ballsy, but sometimes there’s plus points to subtlety. Firstly, the Boss 302 was affordable, with a base price of $3529, making it a Mustang that wouldn’t break the bank. It was also still extraordinarily capable. Zero to 60 was handled in a respectable 8.1 seconds, and a quarter mile could be cracked in 15.8 seconds from a standing start.

Like the GT500, it’s got a racing heritage. The Boss 302 engine was first made for the SCAA Trans-Am racing series, scraping at the series’ 305ci engine limitations. It’s got another claim to fame, too, being designed by Larry Shinoda. If that name sounds familiar, he was also one of the masterminds behind the Sting Ray Corvette, and the stunningly beautiful Mako Shark concept. Not many people can claim to be behind both one of the best Corvettes and one of the best Mustangs.

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet

We now return you to your regularly scheduled garden of seven liter delights. If you want to talk about a powerful Mustang, a machine so ridiculous that you wouldn’t be surprised to see chest hair poking out of the hood, then you want to talk about the Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet. Its Cobra Jet V8 is monstrous, but its horsepower was a bit of a mystery. It was claimed by Ford that the 428 only made 335 horsepower at 5600 rpm, but that didn’t seem right. That was only 10 horsepower more than the 390GT. In recent tests, Hot Rod decided to find out how many horses the Cobra Jet actually put out. The result? It actually kicked out 365 horsepower. That’s more like it.

As mentioned before, it’s a car that looks every inch as powerful as it is. Low slung with a long hood, squat, muscular and not to be messed with, it’s a genuine brute. Acceleration to the fabled 60 is knocked out in 5.5 seconds, and you could race your way thorough a quarter-mile drag race in just 13.39 seconds.

1995 Ford Mustang Cobra R

From one track car to another, the 1995 Ford Mustang Cobra R tore up tracks like there was no tomrrow in the mid-90s. The second generation of the Cobra R series, if you wanted to get your hands on one, you needed to have good reason. You had to show Ford your racing license and a resume, as well as show your intention to race it in IMSA, SCAA, NHRA or IHRA racing events. Only 250 were made, and Ford wanted to make sure that this car was going to end up on the track. There are good reasons for that, chief among them the engine. It packed a 5.8 liter V8, based on that from the F150 truck, which produced 300 horsepower. There were a host of other mechanical improvements over the standard Mustang, including a long-stroke camshaft, upgraded brakes, a fuel cell, heavy duty springs, new stablizer bars and a front tower brace.

The engine was hooked up to a Tremec 3550 five-speed, and the car rested on unique alloy wheels. Severe weight reduction efforts were made on the car too, with the rear seats, A/C, radio, power windows, and sound insulation all getting the chop. The best part of all of this was it’s entirely street-legal, so you could theoretically race this around the track in the afternoon and drive home in the evening. It’s completely bonkers, Ford’s version of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24, made for racing and not much else, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

1966 Shelby GT350H

We talked about the Shelby GT500 earlier, and the GT350 is a story known by just about everyone with any interest in cars, so let’s take a look at this specific subset. The Shelby GT350H was created by Shelby for Hertz, who wanted to offer the Mustang in a “Rent-a-Racer” program. For $17 per day and 17 cents a mile, provided you were 25 years old or over, you could leave with this beauty. The GT350H came in a beautiful black and gold paintjob, and below the stripes, you’d find a 289ci Cobra V8. All this for just $17 a day, which even then, was a superb deal.

Although it’s rumored that some of those who took it to the track removed the engine and fitted the Cobra V8 to their own car to avoid damage, many of the 1001 produced did make it to the track. As you can imagine, this would often necessitate repairs when they made it back to Hertz. However, while they were in one piece, they performed very nicely, with 0-60 taking just 6.6 seconds, and a drag race could be handled in just over 15 seconds. If you can find one nowadays, be prepared to pay a hefty price, as they hold plenty of nostalgic value for Mustang fans. That’s why it’s here. Just one year after the Mustang was launched, these cars brought its message of power to the everyman and woman for a reasonable price. It gave everyone the opportunity to experience speed. It’s the opposite of the snobbery of contemporary Italian supercars, and that’s why I love it.

1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback

I may talk about Bullitt a lot, but there’s a reason for that. As well as being an absolutely cracking film, it’s also one of the best car movies ever made (only Vanishing Point can challenge it in my eyes), and whatever you want to say about Steve McQueen, this car deserved equal billing. During that famous chase, the 1968 Mustang GT Fastback battled with a Dodge Charger 440 Magnum, and proved itself its cinematic equal. There is not a single person who watches the Mustang bounce its way down San Francisco’s hills and does not want to reenact it. What a beauty of a car. It’s the details that get me. The immaculate look of the car’s curves and bulges, the grills above the rear wheels, and the slight hint of fins at the car’s rear.

If you wanted to race this machine, it was more than capable. Zero to sixty went down in 6.2 seconds, and the top speed was a rollicking 130 mph. You may not be rocking Steve McQueen’s style, but who cares? The car is your suit, your accessory, and your wit rolled into a single vehicle. It cemented the Ford Mustang’s place in popular culture, and that’s why its place on this list is thoroughly deserved.

1965 Ford Mustang Hardtop

You didn’t think I was just going to leave this one out, did you? The original Mustang may not be the most incredible Mustang, or even the prettiest, but it’s the reason all the others are here. It’s the reason Ford aren’t only known for producing sedans and trucks. It’s why they’ve got a dog in the muscle car fight. When you look at a 1965 Mustang, you can see its heritage in the original two-seater Thunderbird, the car which beat the first-gen Corvette into the dirt. It’s a mechanical melange of parts from other Ford parts, an effort to save money on what was an experimental jaunt for the company; the Ford Falcon and Fairlane supply the chassis, suspension and parts of the drivetrain. Despite this, it’s unique. It’s wonderful.

It’s light for a start, the base model which packs a straight-six instead of a V8 weighs just 2570 lbs, and it was innovative. A number of technological firsts had their beginnings in the Mustang. The car had floating bumpers and a torque box, helping to keep everything together at speed. Of course, once you step into this car, you forget all of this instantly. All that matters is the buttery smoothness of the mechanicals and the purity of a car that still feels experimental.

1974 Ford Mustang II Ghia

Now we enter the hall of shame, the Mustangs that let the side down, and we’ve got a truly enormous blooper to begin with. The Ford Mustang Ghia was not so much a mistep as a leap on to an aesthetic landmine. Let’s begin with the looks: with the Italian design house Ghia behind you, you’d think the result would be stunning, but what on earth is this? An ugly shape that screams more middle-manager than Mustang, it’s just so lackluster. It evolved from a Ford Pinto, and can’t you just tell?

That’s not even the worst part. It came out during the height of the oil crisis, and as such, its performance is astonishingly bad. It’s base model came with a 2.3 liter engine which crawled its way up to 60 mph in 15.1 seconds. This is not a Mustang. It’s a Pinto in a pantomime horse costume, attempting to masquerade its way into the cool muscle car parties. One of the most insulting cars from the darkest era for muscle cars.

1980 Ford Mustang

The Fox Body Mustangs are a bit of a love it or hate it when it comes to aesthetics, but God almighty. The 1980 and 1981 model years came with an appaling engine in the shape of the 4.2 liter V8, which replaced the earlier 5 liter. This produced, wait for it, 118 horsepower, and just 193 lbs/ft of torque. As you can probably imagine, the performance was more tortoise than Mustang, with zero to sixty taking 11.7 seconds.

It wasn’t just the engine that was a disappointment on this car, either. The intake and exhaust valves, as well as the hydraulic cam were also all disappointing. There’s no sense of speed. No sexiness, no echoes of drag racing, or the feeling of being in control of a supremely well put-together machine. It’s slow and dull, and thank God the GT came back in 1982 to give us back the real Mustang.

1967 Ski Country Special Edition

This car isn’t on here because it’s a bad car in particular, it’s not ugly, and it’s still quick off the mark. It’s here because it’s a baffling exercise in marketing. No one would look at the Mustang and say “oh, this looks perfect for the icy roads of Colorado,” would they? Yet that insignificantly small, if not nonexistent section of the market was what Ford were attempting to capture with this special edition. It’s still rear-wheel drive, it’s still pretty weighty, and the only immediately obvious concession to winter sports was a ski rack.

There were some other mechanical modifications made: the car came equipped with snow tires and an equa-lock rear axle, but it’s still not an all-weather cruiser. This Mustang was only available from 10 dealerships in the Denver era, so it’s not exactly a horrendous crime in the world of Mustangs, but it’s just a baffling mistake. Why would you take what was one of the most popular cars in America and decide to market them in entirely the wrong direction? I guess that’s an expense you can afford when you’re Ford, but I just can’t wrap my head around it.

1967 Mustang GT 390

Of course we are biased towards our own sweepstakes car, the 1967 Mustang GT 390. This is a real “S code” car, meaning a real GT that rolled out of the factory with a 390, factory AC and the toploader 4-speed manual.

We’ve added Vintage Air, a rebuilt 390, Wilwood brakes, a Centerforce performance lightweight flywheel and clutch, custom leather dash and TMI center console and trunk kit. This thing is ready to hit the road and could be yours! Check out the build sheet here.

The Sweepstakes ends December 10 2019, do you have your entries yet?