#92 of 280: 1987 Saleen Mustang
In 1983, a former racer (and SoCal car guy) named Steve Saleen launched his own aftermarket tuning company that was in many ways a repeat of what that Texas chicken farmer did with Fords in the 1960s. Saleen Performance rapidly
became a small automotive OEM (similar to Shelby Automotive) and as such released cars that while based
on (and using parts from) Ford’s Mustang, they were technically, according to the Dept of Transportation, their own make. Find this 1987 Saleen Mustang offered for $16,500 located in Los Angeles, CA via craigslist. Tip from Kaibeezy.
Saleen sold 280 Mustangs in 1987, but some were created after the fact via sales of dealer (or direct) custom parts. Slap on a few stickers, a body kit, custom gauges, wider wheels, 5 lug spindles, large SVO disc brakes…actually the list of parts necessary to create a real Saleen is large…and this is indeed a real Saleen — #92.
Under the hood is an original looking Ford 5.0 V8, a 302 cubic inch classic pushrod beast that puts out 225 horsepower and 300 ft-lbs of torque…which is the same as any ’87 5.0 Mustang. Some cars were equipped with an optional supercharger that upped the fun level.
The early Saleen product featured many upgraded interior goodies, including some “Flofit” sport seats, matching door inserts, a driver’s foot rest, and an optimistic 170 mph speedometer. Find a full list of Saleenized parts here.
See another potential investment grade Mustang? tips@dailyturismo.com
Holey 1980s those seats are something. Seems like a heck of alot of moola for that. Cs
I have a set of those seats. They're actually very comfortable and solid.
I also just had a set of Flofits in my BMW 2002 that I just sold. They were absolutely fantastic. For the premium that Recaros commanded at the time, I'm not sure why everyone didn't just buy these instead.
Still would like to have one of these someday. Saleen addressed a lot of the shortcomings of the stock Fox body chassis with his builds.
Yes, So nice to see a proper 5 lug.
First thing I would do if I bought a fox would be a 5 lug conversion, just out of principal.
The saving grace of the Fox was/is that it's almost trivially easy to modify.
The 'proper' 5-lug approach is '94+ SN95 front-end, well, almost everything. If you decide to go coilover remember that these cars were an 'oddball' Macstrut that didn't originally have the spring on the strut and if you put the strut load into the upper fender you really have to have a good strut tower brace.
Converting the rear to 5-lug involved plundering a couple (was it right-side?) axle shafts from two junkyard Rangers. Once again, the SN95 rear discs will bolt on.
The 'right' way to do the rear suspension was at one time a bit of a religious-warfare thing, to torque arm or not to torque arm?