As the saying goes, competition makes us faster, collaboration makes us better. A perfect example of this is the Ford McLaren Mustang. Ford wanted to capitalize on the success of the Fox body Mustang and worked together with McLaren on the M81 project to create the fabled McLaren Mustang.
Ford's styling and fan base combined with McLaren's engineering expertise to create a handful of these rarer than rare cars. All of this good work eventually gave birth to Ford SVO (Special Vehicle Operations) and unfortunately, the McLaren Mustang got almost forgotten. Let's take a look at where it all began.
Ford Scrapped The V8 Mustang
In the early 1970s, an oil embargo led to restrictions on oil supplied to the United States. This directly impacted the development of the automotive industry. Discussions began around the topics of fuel economy and emissions. On the back of this, Ford introduced the Mustang II, the second generation. As we know, the first Mustang was a roaring success. The Mustang II, however, was less popular. 1974 was the first year that a Mustang was not available with a V8 engine. Instead, the base motor was an inline-four. It's not hard to imagine why everyone was so disappointed.
Many considered the Mustang II to be a glorified Pinto, and Ford realized that something needed to change. In 1978, they started producing the infamous Fox body Mustang. This was a turning point for the Mustang, as the Fox body was very well received. Ford decided to try to make the most out of this situation and thus, the M81 project got underway.
Motorsport Is The Perfect Marketing Tool
As a car manufacturer, if you want the masses to fall in love with your latest offering, there is no better avenue than motorsport. Witnessing a car tearing around a racetrack, that you can then go test drive in a dealer's lot, makes certain cars irresistible. That's one of the reasons NASCAR works so well. Ford sent a marketing team to talk to the F1 and engineering gurus at McLaren about the possibility of creating a race car and a select few street-legal variants. McLaren and Ford had already achieved success together in Formula 1 in the '70s, and so the plans were set.
Fast-forward a couple of years and, in 1981, the Ford McLaren Mustang made its racing debut in the 24 Hours of Daytona. The car managed to finish the race, despite an early crash, and came home in a respectable 21st position. This was more than enough to cement the Fox body Mustang in the minds of a generation as a proper sports car, and they continued selling at an astounding rate. Ford and McLaren produced an initial ten road versions of their Mustang. But what made the McLaren Mustang so special?
McLaren Breathed Life Into The Mustang
McLaren got their hands on the 2.3-liter turbocharged power plant that was one of the factory options in the Fox body Mustang. Working their magic, they blueprinted the engines, ported the heads and did lots of fine-tuning. With the boost turned up, these put out 175 hp, and rumor has it McLaren were confident of getting over 200 hp out of the motor with the right funding.
The engine was only one piece of the jigsaw. The McLaren Mustang received Koni suspension, stiffer anti-roll bars, BBS wheels and Firestone tires to keep it planted in the corners. In the interior, it was clear that this vehicle was race-focused with a roll cage, Recaro seats and a Racemark steering wheel.
The exterior might be where the most obvious changes took place. Wide wheel arches gave the McLaren Mustang a much more aggressive look, as did the fiberglass hood with its huge scoop to funnel air into the turbocharger. This level of modification meant that if you were one of the lucky ten to get your hands on a McLaren Mustang, you had a genuine race car on the road.
The McLaren Mustang Paved The Way For SVO
The M81 project was an undeniable success. It may have seemed ambitious, but Ford and McLaren pulled it off. The road-going versions sold for $25k (over $80k today) and Ford considered a very small production run, limited to less than 250 units. However, in their eyes the McLaren Mustang had already done exactly what they needed it to do, and they decided to channel the finances elsewhere.
This frankly crazy collaboration laid the foundations for Ford's Special Vehicle Operations Division, also known as SVO. SVO became Ford's in-house tuning shop, enabling them to produce performance variants in limited numbers. They released the Mustang SVO in 1984 which was hugely successful and the McLaren Mustang project was no more. The M81 was an incredibly impressive feat of engineering and design, and it's a real shame that Ford cut it short. Imagine what McLaren would create if given free rein with a modern Mustang.