First off, I have to apologize for dismissing the '86 Mustangs King Midas went to the trouble of recommending with such a cursory excuse. Though I bristled when told I don't know Mustangs, I realized later that I brushed off his advice to the poster without much tact or explanation. So here's what I SHOULD have said about Fox Mustangs:
I like '85 5.0/5sp cars. They were the first ones to really make me take notice (I was 16, and I read the Car & Driver article over and over...). They're the last hurrah of carb musclecars, and are probably the easiest ones for "old school" guys to get into, if only because they look nice under the hood. The dual snorkel air cleaner and finned valve covers are just neat looking, even with all of the smog stuff. I liked the new styling, and they had real 60 series tires (no more goofy TRX wheels and tires).
'87/'88 was really when 5.0 stuff started catching on, and you start seeing a lot more articles, especially in the East Coast magazines with Tony DeFeo and Steve Collison's LX's (among others) doing impressive stuff. This seemed to be the time when you could order a truly stripped down model, with basic seats, roll up windows, and no radios showing up on car lots. I'm pretty sure Ford started upping the options into packages later, so you don't find '90-93 cars that stripped down.
I've had two '90 LX 5.0 hatches, a '93 Cobra, and an '85 GT 5sp convert that I bought from the original lady owner with 50K miles on it. I don't like '87-'93 GT's with their hokey taillights and their unnecessary ground effects. I'd put up with them if there weren't LX's, but thankfully I never had to make that choice.
My anti '86 bias mostly comes from that late'80's/early '90's mindset. Those flattop pistons with no valve reliefs meant that you were going to have to buy pistons and really get into the motor if you were going to build it up at all. This seemed a waste, since '87-'92 HO 5.0's had forged pistons that could take a lifetime of abuse, and had the valve reliefs. I only wanted to deal in bolt-ons. Here in 2007 its less of a factor, especially if you're planning on rebuilding the engine anyway.
But I would argue that '86 5.0's are always going to be the middle child, a 'tweener like '64 Vettes. They're not the first of that body style, and '87 is really when that engine got embraced by the masses in its 225hp tune. And rightly or wrongly, the heads/pistons issue is what dogged them then, and they carry that stigma whether deserved or not. So value-wise, I don't think they're ever going to break out, at least compared to the '87-'93 cars. You can call them the best of both worlds now, but they never had that rep "back in the day".
(Wow, I'm finally old enough to have car "back in the day" stories
)
I've never had an '86, so correct me if I'm wrong, but the piston deal precludes you from doing an E303 cam or even 1.7 rockers, even with aftermarket heads, does it not?
Obviously I know what you can build 5.0's into, but if collectibility is kept in mind, you really don't want run a bunch of aftermarket hardware on the car. There's a lot of modified cars out there, that's why stock ones are gaining in value!
The stripped '87/'88 LX cars are the epitome of 5.0 story (going fast for cheap), and the '93 Cobra is the ultimate development of the concept by Ford. The '85's are a sentimental favorite of mine, and could be a good fit for traditionalists (weak rearend be damned).
Respectfully,
TOM BRESKE