The modern Ford Mustang lineup provides customers with all the thrills of muscled styling, powerful V8 engines, and even instantaneously available electric torque in the Mach-E. But the Mustang's long history has seen plenty of ups and downs, as Ford lost track of what made the original Mustang so great. One high point, especially looking back with hindsight, came in the form of the Fox-body, or third-generation, Mustang, though in today's high-performance era, the Fox-body simply can't keep up. Not so for this hardcore Fox-body that just featured in a video from Holley's YouTube channel after being filmed at Holley Ford Fest 2020.
Original Owner Still Racing
The car still belongs to its original owner, Greg Creamer, who bought it 31 years ago in July of 1989 and has spent all his time since then drag racing. The car began its life as a 5.0-liter equipped Mustang LX, though it has since received significant modifications as Creamer climbs up the ranks of Holley's NMRA Coyote Stock class, including, of course, the Coyote V8 that's been dropped in under the hood.
Still Stick Shift
Over the years, Creamer says he's bolted on superchargers and installed stroker motors—and yet, still retains the manual transmission despite the widespread tendency to switch to automatics for drag racing. He even daily drove the Mustang for about 10 years, which sounds amazing considering he also claims it wears all its original paint (other than the bulbous hood, obviously).
One Awesome Mustang
The years of drag racing have taught Creamer that learning what the car likes is just as important, if not more so, than making extensive modifications. He's been focusing on clutch tuning and nailing his shifts right at the ideal RPM, since even being a few hundred RPM off can hurt his quarter-mile times. At Holley Ford Fest 2020, he got it all right and logged his personal best time of 10.18 seconds at a trap speed of 129 miles per hour. Just listening to the Coyote V8 wail as he warms up the tires before a quick sprint should be enough to get anyone searching for how much that engine swap might cost for their own car.
Sources: youtube.com and fordfest.com.