Classic Cool: SN95 Ford Mustang

In reply to Patientzero :

Restricted mods heads up NA drag racing class. It's much easier to tech weight then more mods. BTDT. Took my fox body GT from 3200# to needing to add 50# with 170# me to make 2900#. Everyone else was at 3200# or more.

I thought the SN95 interior (which carried over to New Edge) looked good and held up very well compared to the Fox interior.

No accounting for taste, though. My initial reaction to the SN95 exterior was that it was ugly / retro but it grew on me, especially after they ditched those goofy '94-95 taillights.

b13990 said:

4.11 gears? Enjoy the extra shift in the quarter mile.

Say wha??? 4.10's, 26" tires, 5400 rpm shift is ~5400 crossing the stripe in 4th gear. Before I replaced the slipping clutch, it was 5700 in the traps. And still had a limiter set to 6250....

In reply to b13990 :

The SN95 interior was an improvement in function, even if you didn't like the form: the steering wheel is much closer to centered in front of the driver, unlike the Fox's, which was pretty offset to the right (which really bugged me).

I started to appreciate the "wrong" taillights when the '96 came out with the modular 4.6. Wrong tails meant "right" motor. :)

(I have a mildly-modded '95 here in the classified's, too, that I'm trying to find a home for)

Ranger50 said:

b13990 said:

4.11 gears? Enjoy the extra shift in the quarter mile.

Say wha??? 4.10's, 26" tires, 5400 rpm shift is ~5400 crossing the stripe in 4th gear. Before I replaced the slipping clutch, it was 5700 in the traps. And still had a limiter set to 6250....

Well, if you shift at 5,400 RPM in a stock New Edge Mustang GT I think you're going to finish in 4th gear regardless of the lack of modifications. That's true. But I always shifted much later than that, because doing so made it entirely possible to finish in 3rd.

If you do crack the code and get one of those cars into the 13s bone stock, you might bounce off the limiter once or twice as you finish... which is fine. I think that's what Ford was going for.

gumby said:

David S. Wallens said:   2003: ...This was the final year for the SN95-chassis Mustang.

2004 was the last year SN95. S197 started in '05

And I am a bit surprised the Terminator didn't get a mention. Top of the heap '03-04, Eaton blower, end of production, etc

The Terminator is garbage value when you realize you can buy a Coyote S197 for the same price

Apexcarver said:

I bought my 97 Cobra when it was 5 years old and now its 22 years old. Dangit.

 

there is TONS out there on these cars and you can restore one, make it into a monster, whatever you want. Just remember that the chassis is a bandaided 1978 Ford Fairmont, so it takes some doing and some compromise to get very high levels of performance out of them. Mine is fairly stock (springs/shocks/sway/exhaust are the biggest mods) and I can still do fairly well at an autocross with it. 

 

Best car for you is all in what you want out of it.  it boils down to whether or not you want to build the motor. The mod motors are more reliable for track work, but hard to build for power, supercharging is the best option and kits are about $5k. The 5.0 is a builders delight. Tons of head/cam/etc options for them. 

Come on. The Fox/SN95 cars accomplished absolutely nothing in the name of handling. Literally everything in the front and rear is garbage for geometry. They need a ton of work before they feel like confident and competent corner-carvers. If you want to build a Mustang for handling, there's no reason to waste time and money when the S197 cars (V6 mainly) are dropping values really fast (practically on par with the New Edge GT).

b13990 said:

I thought the SN95 interior (which carried over to New Edge) looked good and held up very well compared to the Fox interior.

No accounting for taste, though. My initial reaction to the SN95 exterior was that it was ugly / retro but it grew on me, especially after they ditched those goofy '94-95 taillights.

The interior was good, only issues I found was the stupid "sitting upright rather than sitting in" feeling from the bucket seats and the steering wheel not being able to telescope. And how dare you! The '94-'95 tail lights were a good spin on the typical vertical 3-lightbar tail lights.

In reply to Dootz :

My new edge gt convertible is literally the worst handling car I've ever owned. My Odyssey handles better.

Tom_Spangler said:

As if I need another reminder of how old I am, my favorite magazine is now calling a car I bought brand new off the dealer lot a "classic". 

I remember seeing prototypes of the Mustangs as well as the late prototypes of the Mark VIII in one of my FCG rotations.  

It's interesting to see cars you knew as prototypes now as classics.  

Still don't want one, so many years after I've been working here.

I’m currently being taunted by a $1000 SN95 GT 5spd. Fortunately it needs keys & a windshield, and I’m not willing to gamble a grand on a car I can’t hear run. 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

I would. Easily parted if not for the same grand spent plus some.

ddavidv said:

SN95 and New Edge are pretty much recognized as separate models.

There is very little love for the early/original SN95; probably the most unloved Mustang since the Mustang II. Super cheap on the used market but some of the engine choices weren't very spectacular.

I am biased as I have a '96, but I always preferred the rounded lines of the 94-98.

Ranger50 said:

There was also no '02 cobra, due to the intake manifold recall.

IIRC, that was the reason for no Cobra in 2000 (other than the R).

It's been a while since I read it, but in his book "Iron Fist, Lead Foot", which is about how the Terminator came to be, former SVT director John Coletti talked about how the planned 2002 Cobra was canceled because he was not pleased that the SVT Focus was keeping up with it in spirited track driving during some testing well before their release.

shelbyz said:

Ranger50 said:

There was also no '02 cobra, due to the intake manifold recall.

 

IIRC, that was the reason for no Cobra in 2000 (other than the R).

It's been a while since I read it, but in his book "Iron Fist, Lead Foot", which is about how the Terminator came to be, former SVT director John Coletti talked about how the planned 2002 Cobra was canceled because he was not pleased that the SVT Focus was keeping up with it in spirited track driving during some testing well before their release.

Interesting theory- at the same time as that, there was a Turbo SVT Focus being worked on. Probably a little later than that, though.  It was an interesting car that didn't end up going anywhere due to more political issues than real ones.

Dootz said:

Come on. The Fox/SN95 cars accomplished absolutely nothing in the name of handling. Literally everything in the front and rear is garbage for geometry. They need a ton of work before they feel like confident and competent corner-carvers.

That's called keeping with tradition. Same story as the original Falcon platform.

ddavidv said:

Dootz said:

Come on. The Fox/SN95 cars accomplished absolutely nothing in the name of handling. Literally everything in the front and rear is garbage for geometry. They need a ton of work before they feel like confident and competent corner-carvers.

That's called keeping with tradition. Same story as the original Falcon platform.

But, also, it's relatively easy and inexpensive to fix what Ford should have from the start. Plus, what other v8 manual pony car can you get for under 4k that doesn't look like a suppository (I'm looking at you 4th gen camaro)?

My 2000 contour svt was just as quick on the streets of willow. The straights are fairly short so the cobra couldn't just run away and hide.

Dootz said:

The interior was good, only issues I found was the stupid "sitting upright rather than sitting in" feeling from the bucket seats and the steering wheel not being able to telescope.

I don't mind sitting up high, but it's true that there wasn't much comfortable or ergonomic about those SN95s. It's unfortunate, because the original Fox bodies were extremely comfortable to sit in. At least, I thought so.

That upright seating made normals much more comfortable driving Mustangs as compared to F-bodies, along with softer springs, smaller swaybars and narrower tires. They never had to stop selling Mustangs. Average people don't know how to appreciate to the glove-like feel of a 3rd or 4th gen F-body or a well adjusted Fox Mustang. There isn't much better if you ask me, but current Civics and Accords actually do a very good job of approximating that '80s pony car feel. For some reason, people now think they want to sit on a stack of phonebooks or drive a semi.

I had three of the SN95 as flips.  I like the 94-98 body style.  If I could avoid the smog police, I'd build a 5.0 95.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

They fit FE blocks really easily for the drag race crowd. Had a co-worker with an bored over 460 in I think it was a 96 or 97 chassis. With 10" and a few chassis mods it was a 10 second car regularly. 

I also had one of these new, a 1995 GTS with the 5.0.  I remember being not too impressed with it at the time. 

If I didn't already have a 1990 GT hatch, I might consider buying another one, although it would have to be an early car with the 5.0.   

I'm waiting out to see how cheap swap kits will be for the new 7.3

In reply to gumby :

Anyone have any experience or knowledge about the 1996 Cobra. Someone is selling one near me and it looks kewl.

Benjamin_Casto said:

In reply to gumby :

Anyone have any experience or knowledge about the 1996 Cobra. Someone is selling one near me and it looks kewl.

I owned one and raced the snot out of it for five years. What do you need to know?

I always loved the way the rear of the SN95 GT showed off the exhaust behind the rear axle, which they took away with the NE refresh.  The dash design was attractive from the start, and has aged well.

.

ddavidv said:

SN95 and New Edge are pretty much recognized as separate models.

I'm not aware of anybody who actually thinks the NE, or more correctly 'SN95 NE', is anything more than a mid-cycle refresh and is not still an SN95.