Going retro can be a digital tightrope walk if the goals on the other side is automotive mass appeal. Smear it on with a trowel, and the internet will call it heavy-handed. Waft its general scent across the room, and the internet will say it doesn’t go far enough. The solution, of course, is to log off of Twitter, touch grass, and listen to the soundtrack of a five-liter V8. This is the new Ford Mustang FX package, and it brings back just enough of the ’80s to be absolutely rad as opposed to clichéd.
Mind you, I’m specifically talking about the look of the late-’80s and pre-mainstream-grunge ’90s here, after everything stopped being 50 shades of Harvest Gold but before things went completely bubbly. In that era, the fox body 5.0 Mustang ruled the roost because it was relatively affordable, had huge aftermarket, and appealed to just about everyone from football jocks to retirees. Plus, America had firmly crawled out of the Malaise Era, and not only was the Fox Body 5.0 fuel-injected, it could keep up with a Ferrari Mondial. To celebrate Gen X’s pony car, Ford’s launching the FX Package for the next model year of Mustang GT, and it’s a box you’ll probably want to tick.
This special appearance package is available with two different wheel styles, both of which are painted white. Add the FX package to a Mustang GT Premium, and you get a set of split-five-spokes, but tick both the FX package and performance package boxes, and Ford will upgrade you to a set of turbofan-style alloys with ten raised spokes as a nod to the wheels on the 1993 Mustang Cobra. Between this, the Maverick Lobo, and the Mach-E Rally, Ford’s all-in on turbofan-look wheels, and we love to see it.
Of course, there are more white details to this Mustang appearance package than wheels alone, because the badges and grille inserts complement the factory rollers. However, the coolest snowed-out detail is the tail light treatment, a frosted clear appearance updating the previous-generation Mustang’s highly desirable euro-spec tails. Polishing the exterior treatment off is a new available color—Adriatic Blue—with a name that’s an intriguingly veiled hint at the teal in this hue. If you’re getting Calypso Green fox body vibes, I suspect that’s not an accident. It harkens back to an era when dealers actually stocked cars in reds and greens and purples and teals, and people bought them.
You know what else is a lost art? Fun fabrics. It seems like after the 2000s, almost everything got very toned-down, which is why I’m stoked to see the Mustang FX package bringing plaid seat inserts to the party. Sure, it’s not as colorful as the tartan in the Volkswagen GTI, but it’s definitely not boring. Plus, teal and white stitching punches up the rest of the interior, and the result is charming yet restrained. Even if you have an unnecessarily serious office job leveraging synergies with blue sky thinking, the cabin of this Mustang will make you think you can just about get away with bring it to the employee parking lot.
We don’t know how much the Mustang FX package will cost yet, but we do know it’ll be available for the 2026 model year on Mustang GT Premium coupes and convertibles. Given that Mustang model years tend to change early, don’t be surprised if order banks open soon. Now where’s my hair metal mixtape?
Top graphic image: Ford
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I’d like to see them come out with a 3dfx package… and it would make sense to pair it to a new Voodoo V8.
The boot screen for the infotainment better show that it’s booting from an AMI BIOS while we’re at it.
Or a Phoenix Technologies AwardBIOS.
I dunno. It just feels…off. I feel like this gen’s body does better with other rims, the seats don’t pop with enough color, and the white accents don’t do a lot to offset the black grill and hood vent. Make the grill and vent teal and this might work a lot better for me.
I do really like the teal, though.
I’ve been waiting for this piece all weekend!
I’m torn over how Ford is mixing two Fox eras here – the exterior color is of course very early 90s, but the plaid seats are early 80s; by I think the mid-80s, the plaid fabrics were gone (along with the matching fake wood dash appliques). It seems odd perhaps to combine two different era stuff like that…
Very similar to my reaction. I understand what they’re trying to do with the various call-backs, but it’s not really cohesive. It’s a bunch of trim bits that the long-running Fox body ‘Stang had at one time or another, but not necessarily all together at any point.
It’s more like the marketing department dug out a bunch of old Mustang brochures and cherry-picked their favorite images regardless of what particular timeframe they were from and packaged them all together — because it’s all “retro”, right?
My 89 GT had plaid seats.
Really! Well I stand corrected – I thought they ended the plaid upholstery with the refresh in ’85. The things I learn here!
They’re (almost) stealing the Autopian’s colorways!
I don’t hate it, but the white accents and wheels look like a can of Krylon in the garage job.
I don’t hate it. This color has been used in an out for quite a while by many. I imagine the color shifting gimmick will follow shortly.
Looks Dumb.
What’s it like to love with white rims? The car looks great, but I can’t stop thinking about how I would constantly fuss about getting my rims dirty.
I’ve never had white rims on a car but they were easier to clean on my bike (Suzuki GS500E) than regular alloy rims. It generally depends on the topcoat and how well protected they are. At a minimum, it’s easier to see the brake dust. I always hate it when the shadows from different light angles hide an area of my wheels when I’m cleaning them.
Had white wheels on my R53 MINI. Does drive you crazy, but helps to keep ’em waxed and hit ’em with quick detailer occasionally. White wheels with black paint was what they call “a lifestyle.”
I don’t really get it. The era that this is supposed to be a throwback to, was exactly the era when my bedroom was covered in posters of cars, and I would devoutly read every article in Car & Driver and Road & Track. If I saw this on the street, I wouldn’t think, “Wow, that reminds me of the 80’s.” I would probably think, ” Great color, too bad they ruined it with those hideous wheels.”
They remind me more of the old white OZ racing wheels, over the turbofans to be sure. those are also a love it or hate it thing.
The rings of powder white around the nostrils are by far the most 80’s thing about this car.
lol, except they are seem modern to me since they are RTR inspired. Still I can just see a clown rolling down the street in this stuttering Cooccococaaine!
Zazz Blammymatazz is a national treasure!
A….. rock ‘n roll clown, maybe?
I like the paint color, now add it to the Maverick and make a BEV version.
I’d buy that. Closest option… I guess you can get a Slate and wrap it this color.
Sadly so it seems.
would you buy one if they say, put the Ice up front the wrong way and made the Rear the EV drive wheels? Basically rear bias the power when flooring it, but give it FWD manners otherwise?
Nope. I’m done with ICE drivetrains.
then perhaps the Mousetang is not for you sir.
I miss fun interiors. Love the plaid.
I love it. I just wish it was available across the entire line of mustangs.
If there’s one Stang I’d trade in my ’22 Ice White model for, it’d be this.
But I won’t be able to afford it, even without the Performance Package which I really don’t need.
Will the convertible have a white top to complete the look?
That would be incredible! I doubt it, but there’s always the aftermarket
I love the color & wheels. I’m kinda more excited for the RTR Mustang (the EcoBoost track/drift package announced last year and developed by Vaughn Gittin Jr.) but that might still be a ways out.
I want to like it, but this feels like a minimal effort attempt by Ford that just doesn’t land for me.
Corolla FX and now Mustang FX? Should just be called Redwood editions since they’re leaning hard into the 80’s/90’s color themes.
Ford is really going all-in with gimmicks of late…
Love it
I miss teal cars.
I miss cars.
As a huge Fox body fan, this gets a solid meh from me. Teal paint and throwback seat fabrics aren’t enough of an homage. The white wheels are nod to the ’93 Cobra wheels maybe if you’ve never actually seen the ’93 Cobra wheels before.
In fact I’ve already seen this car rendered with 20″ ’93 Cobra replica wheels and it looks 100% better than this.
Ditto…as a former 5.0 Fox body owner. To me, the teal color is only ‘flashback’ item here.
This. The color is really it, here. The wheels aren’t really styled like any of the Fox body wheels, so it is just that teal doing the entirety of the nostalgia heavy lifting.
To be fair, we don’t yet know what the standard 5-spoke wheels look like, just the Performance Package wheels as shown in these press photos. I’m hoping the standard wheels will more accurately capture the look of either the ’93 Cobra wheels (though they were never offered in white) or the standard 5-spoke GT wheels that were offered near the end of the Fox’s run.
Much like white wheels, I like the idea but I’d never want to own them myself.
And if we’re really flashing back, you’d need to take the white wheels off after Labor Day.
I wonder if this is also available with the Molten Magenta paint that’s available this year. It looks good but the price will make or break this.
Less all black everything
More teal
While this car as a whole is shamelessly overpriced I will give Ford credit-they do still offer it in actual colors.
A GT Premium starts at $53,075. I assume this will add another 3-5000ish and the GT Performance Package that you probably want is another $5,000. So basically you’re paying as much as the (already laughably overpriced) Dark Horse….and that’s before dealerships get a hold of you.
This looks neat but it ain’t it. The S650 needs way more than a funky trim package with pleasant aesthetics to find its way back to relevance, and Ford having the audacity to charge M2/C8 money is the piece de resistance. I assume they’ll sell like 7 of these to rich boomers who will mothball them and another 3-4 to the influencer crowd.
Yeah, if it’s that expensive this is dead in the water
Even if the package was free (it isn’t), you’re still looking at the mid 50s without the performance goodies you want that should probably be standard on the GT. This will absolutely be well over 60 grand when all’s said and done, because you know dealerships are going to order them with every single option and the performance package (again, some of which I think should be standard kit-keep the magnaride as an a la carte up charge if you must but at this price point the Brembos and better differential should be standard).
They’ve pushed this car into a price point that it can’t compete in, and it’s no surprise they’re not selling very many.
Yeah, I test drove a new EB Mustang and they drive great but an EB Premium is $40k after taxes and that’s a hard no.
The late 80s 5.0 Stangs were known as ‘best bang for your buck’ in the Auto press.
This.
Even after owning several Mustangs from my 65 to 70 I had pretty much had enough.
But this idea is sort of appealing to look at, but needs some meat on the bone vs 1990s retro vibes. (sort of still has a Pep Boys look)
You know it also has that look of someone with some extra white spray paint, and time to spend playing with it in the garage.
The cost though is total BS.
Unfortunately, the Mustang’s competition has vanished again, leaving Ford unchecked on pricing, which I’m sure will soon be followed by headlines saying Mustang Sales At All Time Low.