80's factory lightweights?

[olredalert]

----Bodies in white have always been an option for those who are connected or know how. They are just that, though, and nothing more. Not even a C-of-O. At the most, a bill of sale.....Bill S

[old5.0]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Just to clarify, an 87 Mustang coupe with the above deletions does exist. I've seen the car and the paperwork; both are legit. It was ordered with the 5.0 5-speed drivetrain, radio delete and no other options. The original owner attempted to order it with manual steering and brakes, as well, but that was declined.

The OO did indicate that the process of ordering the car was... interesting. Numerous hoops were jumped through. I want to determine whether those hoops were due to some sort of illegality or because Ford just didn't want to be bothered with building the car.

[whitetop]

A friend of mine right out of college in 1984 ordered a '85 Mustang 5.0, no radio, or heater/AC and no options.

I guess this was about as lightweight as you could get from the factory.

He actually sold it maybe 7-8 months later due to no AC. The glamour disappeared quickly when he would go to work with a sweat stained back.

[69hurstSC]

As stated above the Cobra-R's come to mind but that's about it.

[Fast67VelleN2O]

There was the WE4 T Type which had some aluminum components. Some Cutlass G bodies had aluminum hoods and radiator supports.

[flyingn]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Fast67VelleN2O</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There was the WE4 T Type which had some aluminum components. Some Cutlass G bodies had aluminum hoods and radiator supports. </div></div>

The alum parts on the WE4 are because of the open rear. The G80 limited slips had the steel bumper inserts and the open rears had alum. Same as the GN's.

[old5.0]

Some Fox Mustangs have been found with aluminum bumper bars, but they're rare and there seems to be no logical pattern as to which cars got them.

[Lemans69]

I remember going to the Ford dealer in '87 to check out the new Mustangs and seeing a group of brand new 5.0 5-Speed LX Notchbacks lined up in the inventory lot with no options. The window stickers were blank in the options section. No A/C, no radio, crank up windows, etc. At the time I thought they were sort of like the COPO Camaros, and would probably be valuable in the future. I always wondered what happened to those cars.

[old5.0]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lemans69</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I remember going to the Ford dealer in '87 to check out the new Mustangs and seeing a group of brand new 5.0 5-Speed LX Notchbacks lined up in the inventory lot with no options. The window stickers were blank in the options section. No A/C, no radio, crank up windows, etc. At the time I thought they were sort of like the COPO Camaros, and would probably be valuable in the future. I always wondered what happened to those cars. </div></div>

Basically every coupe ordered that way (that wasn't an SSP) would have been ordered specifically with racing in mind. Most would have been hacked up and raced to death long ago. I've been on the hunt for a reasonably clean, zero option, radio delete 5.0 coupe for several years now with no luck. I've owned several 5.0 coupes, but they've all either had options, been ex race cars with serious issues or both.

[novadude]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: old5.0</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lemans69</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I remember going to the Ford dealer in '87 to check out the new Mustangs and seeing a group of brand new 5.0 5-Speed LX Notchbacks lined up in the inventory lot with no options. The window stickers were blank in the options section. No A/C, no radio, crank up windows, etc. At the time I thought they were sort of like the COPO Camaros, and would probably be valuable in the future. I always wondered what happened to those cars. </div></div>

Basically every coupe ordered that way (that wasn't an SSP) would have been ordered specifically with racing in mind. Most would have been hacked up and raced to death long ago. I've been on the hunt for a reasonably clean, zero option, radio delete 5.0 coupe for several years now with no luck. I've owned several 5.0 coupes, but they've all either had options, been ex race cars with serious issues or both. </div></div>

I worked at a Chevy dealer as a lot attendant in 1993 while in my last year of college. Some guy traded a dark blue 5.0 LX Notch with a light blue interior on a new LT1 Z28. Car was odd in that it had no A/C, roll-up windows, cheap vinyl interior. It was an AOD car.

At the time, I had a '70 Nova with a mild 350 that ran high-14s. My Nova could easily take most stock loaded-up GTs when street racing (not that I condone that sort of thing). [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/wink.gif[/img]

I got to drive this stripped LX around a bit - that SOB would RUN! Felt a lot faster than my Nova. It had to be super light compared to the typical 5.0.