From Miata to Mustang: A Change of Scenery
When discussing the Ford Mustang, especially the older generations, one thing comes to mind: straight line performance. I love my drag racing as much as the next guy, but living in the East Tennessee mountains offers a plethora of curvy roads, a resource that I do not want to waste away. In the past couple of years I have grown bored of my ‘91 Mazda Miata and I began my hunt for a more unique, more engaging driving experience, and on that hunt, I came across the SN95 chassis Mustang.
I am by no means a professional driver, but I try to keep a performance driving mindset. The Mustang offers a solid rear axle design vs the Miata’s independent rear suspension, and while some (okay, most) people will say the IRS is a better design, the idea of pushing a solid axle car through the curves appealed to me, it offered a new level of challenge. I was no stranger to the SN95 chassis, having just finished my 2001 Mustang LS swap project; the LS car was a lot of fun, but it was rough around the edges and I had no intention of keeping it around. I sold the LS car a few weeks ago and instantly began scouring the internet for a 99-04 GT.
My new mustang dream quickly became a reality when I found a 2001 GT in my neighboring state, and I jumped in the truck immediately to check it out. My good friend Rhett left early from work to give me a ride to Winston-Salem NC where the car was located, and I stayed in a hotel that night to drive the car back home the next day. This Mustang was a great canvas, already having some nice parts on it: weld-in subframe connectors, coilovers, tubular control arms, and a nice set of 17x10 Enkei RPF1s wrapped in 275s on all four corners.
This Mustang had a great condition leather interior, and an MGW shifter.
Under the hood, the Mustang packs a healthy (but a bit underpowered) 4.6 liter V8 engine with some bolt-ons, humming all the way to nearly 6300 RPM, and it sounds heavenly while doing it. While it may be a bit of a joke that the 96-04 GT cars are slow, the 4.10 gearing helped me feel like I wasn't driving a 2007 Toyota Camry. The previous owner of this car claimed he took it to autocross events every now and then, so I knew the car surely had some capability in the curves, and I planned to test that theory pretty quickly. I arrived back home with the car and cruised around town for a few days before taking it to the Tail of the Dragon and seeing what it could do. Upon arriving at the TOTD, I confirmed that this car was the unique fun that I was looking for, and the reactions from people seeing RPF1s on a Mustang were nothing less than hilarious.
This article is a bit long winded, and I will have a more in-depth overview of the new Mustang later, but the point is that there is always a different car for you, and while it might be different, it’s okay to go against the grain. I still have my Miata, right now it will still outperform the Mustang, and that’s fine. Sometimes it's not about sheer performance or lap times, it's about the drive.
Dawson Millsaps
Just Drive
