1979 Mustang Drawing

People seem to either really love or really hate fox body Mustangs. Like most cars from the 1980s, they have a very distinct angular design. The fox platform ran relatively unchanged from 1979 through 2004, with the fox-body styling up through 1993. Of the fox-body cars, the “four eye” cars are my favorite. To commemorate them, I made this first year 1979 Mustang Drawing in Cobra trim.

The “four-eye” cars – or four headlights – were built between 1979 and 1986. I’ve had the pleasure of owning two 1986 models, neither of which worked out very well in the end for me.

My first ’86 was this 4-cylinder / 4-speed car I bought for $600 when I was 13 years old. It was factory-rated at 88 horsepower but to star-struck 13 year old me, it was a 500-horsepower ’67 Shelby. I had aspirations of doing an engine swap, and even bought a donor 5.0L Thunderbird. Unfortunately, the clutch blew and I had to unload the car before I was old enough to legally drive. Thirteen-year-olds don’t have much money.

This was my second ’86 – a properly propelled 5.0L version. It was a riot to drive. The cowl-induction hood made it look like a racecar. The paint and interior were in good shape. The exhaust was made up of two Cherry Bomb mufflers which hurt the ears of innocent passersby. And the classic pushrod 5.0L engine has that unique throatiness to it. I loved this car, but unfortunately I didn’t think to check the oil when I bought it and it had none. One of the piston wrist pins blew and that was the end of my second four-eye.

Even though I haven’t had much luck with my own fox Mustangs, I still love these cars. They’re nostalgic to me and bring back memories of my childhood. 1979 was the first year after the dismal Pinto-based Mustang II. Ford cleverly ran an ad saying “The Boss is Back” as they finally injected some power and performance back into their pony car. It was a revival, and a hero car to signal the end of the Malaise era.

This 1979 Mustang drawing represents a Cobra trim car that has been modified to go drag racing. It has “big and little” white letter tires mounted on Weld Draglite wheels for traction and weight transfer. Finally, the exterior-mounted tachometer on the hood just screams “racecar” to me.