You seldom see a Mustang SVO these days. Come to think of it, even when new they were as scarce as Republicans in Hollywood. In retrospect, Ford's product planners practically guaranteed such rarity for the four-cylinder SVO when they rolled it out with the same horsepower rating as a concurrent V8 GT, but at a price point nearly two-thirds higher. But we doubt that lofty SVO production numbers were ever truly on FoMoCo's radar anyway. This wasn't a bean-counter volume car; instead, the high-tech hatchback was a halo product meant to tempt up-market buyers out of their usual European/Asian imports and into the Ford fold, much as Mercury would attempt with the similarly turbocharged Merkur.
There were good reasons for its lofty asking price. The SVO was engineered and equipped like no other Mustang of its day, with disc brakes at all four corners (something no V8 Mustang would get until the '93 Cobra) behind unique 5-lug, 16-inch rims wearing 50-series rubber, while adjustable Konis damped its suspension. The SVO's exclusive T-code turbocharged 2.3-liter four-banger was fed by multipoint electronic fuel injection overseen by one of the first applications of the EEC-IV processor. Boost and spark were electronically controlled via a knock sensor, and the SVO's turbo was intercooled (fed by the offset hoodscoop) for greater power and efficiency. All this at a time when the V8 GT still relied on a dumb old carburetor. Plus air conditioning, power windows and locks, a rear defroster, and Premium Sound were all standard SVO inclusions, making a flip-up sunroof and leather upholstery about the only options.
1996 Ford Mustang SVO |
You may surely count Brighton, Michigan's Mark Haas among that cult, as he has a garage full of low-mileage and/or significant SVOs, including the two we photographed for this feature (not to mention the one-off '84 Oxford White Mac Tools SVO road racer). He is a true, dyed-in-the-wool SVO enthusiast and refers to his collection as "The SVO Trust," a name that suggests he assumes some responsibility for preserving the integrity of the breed.
1984 Ford Mustang SVO |
Ford Mustang SVO Side View |
Dark Sage initially became available at the beginning of the '85 model year. Ford was building some SVOs for the Hertz rental fleet, and it's been suggested that the rental giant specifically wanted the color among its allotment. Despite the Hertz order, this turned out to be the least popular SVO hue-from the start of '85 to the end of SVO production in 1986, only 47 SVOs were sprayed in code 4E Dark Sage, and, as we said, only four of those (two with cloth interior, two with leather) were of '85 1/2 production (build data courtesy SVOCA.com). That's why this one is such a prized member of the Haas collection.
Ford Mustang SVO Design/Exterior |
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