The Fox-body Ford Mustang is an absolute muscle car icon, though it’s hated by just as many as those who love it. The style had a long lifespan from 1979 to 1993, as Ford wanted to squeeze every drop out of the platform as possible.
Throughout the 15-year reign, the Fox-body ‘Stang kept true to its original concept, with a V8 engine on the spec sheet, the choice between notch, hatch, and convertible styles, and rear-wheel drive. There were a few deviations from this setup, but for the most part, the car stayed consistent. That being said, it had as many haters as it did people who loved it.
There were many great, landmark years for the platform, including the ’85 GT or the ’93 5.0, or any of the GTs from 1989-1993 as they started using bigger brakes. But the Fox-body that sticks out to us the most, as the best, is the 1993 SVT Cobra—the last model year of the style, and one of the most important Mustangs ever made.
The ’93 SVT Cobra was the first year of the high-performance pony “Cobra” designation and was built through 2004, until being succeeded in 2007 by the Shelby GT500.
The ’93 Cobra deserves praise for quite a few reasons: it has the best performance out of any other Fox-body. It had the best brakes and the best looks. It was legendary, and even while others came close, if you’re looking for the “best” Fox-body (rather than the cheapest), you can’t go wrong with For’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) ’93 Cobra.
Cobra Performance
The SVT Cobra Fox-body Mustang was designed to showcase the four hallmarks of Ford’s Special Vehicle Team: Performance, Substance, Exclusivity, and Value. With its 302ci 4.9-liter V8 that packed 235 hp, it was the most powerful of the Fox-bodies, with the 225-hp GT coming in a close second.
All of the Mustangs from ’89 and up had fuel injection and a mass airflow system. Up through ’92, the 5.0s had forged pistons, which was good for adding nitrous or forced induction, but as a base car—especially for modifying or restoring—the ’93 Cobra couldn’t be beaten.
The SVT Cobra’s short block engine was carried over from the GT model but tuned to provide a little more power. It could run a quarter-mile in 14.5 seconds at a trap speed of 98 mph, and it took 5.9 seconds to go from 0-60. The drivetrain had an upgraded transmission, rear disc brakes, and 17” unidirectional wheels—a first for a factory Mustang. It was even a softer drive than the GT, thanks to model-specific springs and sway bars.
The Cobra R
If you want even more exclusivity and power, the Cobra R was also introduced in 1993 as the higher-performance variant of the already-high-performance SVT Cobra. The Cobra R is legendary still and is considered one of the best Mustangs of all time—not just the best in the Fox-body style.
The Cobra R was race-ready but also street-legal. Check out a tuned Fox-body here taking on a Dodge Demon in a track race. The Cobra R was extremely exclusive, with only 107 built in 1993, and while it had a more subdued body style and a cleaner ride than the GT, it was also 450 lbs lighter thanks to it being stripped down.
The Cobra R had larger brakes than the traditional Coba, plus Koni shocks and struts, Eibach springs, engine oil cooler, power steering cooler, and rear seat delete. It had a stiffened chassis with a pair of V-braces, massive 13” vented rotors on the front, and 10.5” vented rotors on the back.
The Cobra R could go from 0-60 mph in 5.7 seconds, had a top speed of 140 mph. The car was intended to be a “best of the last” model for the Mustang, to go out with a bang before the next generation, and it worked—together with the 1993 SVT F-150 Lightning, Ford’s Special Vehicle Team got off to an auspicious start.
You Can’t Go Wrong
At the end of the day, if you love Mustangs then you really can’t go wrong with any Fox-body car, especially for the price. These cars aren’t rare (except for the ’93 Cobra R, as mentioned) and they run and perform well.
These are the perfect tuning/modding cars, especially for beginners, because the parts to work on them are so prevalent (because there were so many made—over 2.6 million made between 1979-1993, making it one of the most popular Mustang models ever produced.
But in terms of pure performance specs and quality, the Cobra—and especially Cobra R—ekes out the competition in pretty much every way. It would be the closest, objectively, to being the “best.”
That being said, there are a few rarities that collectors glob onto: an original Cobra R can set you back up to $70,000+ these days, while the turbocharged-four Cobra is pretty rare as well. Normal ’93 Cobras can cost anywhere between $15,000-$30,000 or more, which is decidedly more than any other Fox-body Mustang. But there's a reason Fox-body Mustangs are becoming so valuable these days.