I absolutely adore Fox Body Mustangs. For cheap muscle car thrills, I don’t think there’s a better used buy right now. They’re affordable, plentiful, and come with seemingly endless levels of aftermarket support, whether you’re just trying to keep the car legal for your state’s yearly inspection or want to build a seven-second dragster.
Having ended production in 1993, the Fox Body is primed for an ultra-expensive restomod treatment, a la something similar to Singer’s Reimagined Porsche 911s. While a handful of restomodded Fox Body offerings have popped up over the past few years, nothing comes close to the level of reengineering and attention to detail as this one from Velocity Restorations.
The Florida-based firm has been restoring and restomodding Ford and Chevy trucks for over a decade, but it’s never taken on a vehicle as new as the Fox Body. But going by the car’s decidedly subtle appearance and the supercharged V8 under the hood, I’d say they’re doing this generation of Mustang justice.
What’s A Restomod Supposed To Look Like, Anyway?
At first glance, Velocity’s Fox Body doesn’t exactly look too different from an unmodified, well-kept, low-mile Mustang. There’s no big wing out back, no outlandish fender flares, and no painfully out-of-place modern headlight design. The only notable differences from stock are the hood, which has a center section that rises two inches from the base, and the wheels, which are three-piece, 18-inch billet units from CCW.
As for the interior, there are a few things I love, and a couple of things I don’t love so much. Velocity managed to keep the original Fox Body cabin’s character alive here, which is good. I adore the steering wheel shape; I’m glad Velocity kept the late-model Fox Body airbag wheel design. It’s a totally new piece, naturally, done by Sparc Industries to include a little “V” logo in the right lower corner, where the Ford embossment would normally be. I would’ve preferred if the wheel had stayed all leather rather than having Alcantara sewn into parts of the rim, but I bet buyers can just option that away if they want to.
Then there are the seats, which I also love. They’re Recaros wrapped in a lovely cloth that’s covered in a funky retro pattern, which matches inserts found in the custom door panels. The dashboard remains incredibly simple, with controls for climate and a period-correct-looking radio—no screens here. Similarly, the gauge cluster, made by Dakota Digital and Autometer, doesn’t stray too far from the Fox Body’s design. The cost for this thing isn’t going to flashy new upgrades, but rather a deep, measured enhancement of what’s already there. Which is how I like my restomods.
That being said, I’m not really sure what’s going on with those A-pillar-mounted gauges. While it’s appropriate for a ’90s Mustang, I’m not sure those gauges have a place here. Again, I’m sure you can customize your build as much as you want at this price level. I wouldn’t have them.
Onto The Good Stuff: What’s Underneath
Paying six figures for a Fox Body Mustang is absolutely insane to me, and I don’t think there’s any realm where I can confidently say “you get what you pay for” regarding this build. But you do get a whole lot. In fact, you’re pretty much getting a new car built from the ground up.
Instead of improving on the existing chassis setup, Velocity decided to throw out the stock Fox Body equipment and bolt the body to a new chassis and suspension setup from Roadster Shop, an Illinois-based firm that fabricates new chassis for old performance cars. According to Velocity, this unlocked more room in the rear end for a bigger nine-inch Ford rear end, more space to route the exhaust, and allowed the company to remove the front shock towers to make more room for the engine. Stopping power is provided by six-piston calipers from Baer.
The engine, if you’re wondering, is pretty nutty. It’s a brand-new 5.0-liter Coyote crate motor with a 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger bolted to the top. It’s connected to that nine-inch rear end through a 10R80 10-speed automatic transmission and a carbon-fiber driveshaft. Velocity says the setup is good for 800 horsepower at the rear wheels. That’s more than three times what this car was making at the crank when it was new.
This restomod costs around $400,000, according to Velocity’s PR firm. While it’s true you could probably build something close to this level of Fox Body when it comes to power, dialing in the interior and all of the chassis work underneath is probably a bit tougher. And as other big-dollar restomods have shown, there are a bunch of people with a lot of money who would rather just have something like this delivered to their door without having to lift a finger – so I don’t think Velocity will have trouble getting deposits.
Top graphic images: Velocity Restorations
Nostalgia is a helluva drug, but buying this would require some of the real, tangible drugs as well.
If you want a really nice sleeper car, there are better ones to use.
Am I glad they made this? Kind-of?
To totally pile on the hate, for this kind of money:
I’d rather:
Buy the GTD or
Buy a Boss 429 and a Boss 302, and a Cobra rep, and a GT40 rep and a Cobra Daytona rep and….
Why?
Are we missing something, maybe this is all carbon fiber under the paint? Decimal mistake? Money Laundering or tax write-off?
Hmmm…I could try to get a Mustang GTD for this price. I could get a 04-06 Ford GT for this price. I could buy a 2020 GT350R, a 2022 GT500, a ’70 Mach I Twister Special, a ’67 convertible or fastback and a truck to tow with for that price. It’s nicely done but man, that price is ludicrous.
I’m at a loss as well, Oh and add Boss 429 to your list.
If I wanted a restomodded fox body, I wouldn’t put in a supercharged Coyote with a slushbox. It’s too much power. And I prefer the hatchback GT over the plane notchback.
If I was making a Fox body restomod, I’d start with an LX or GT hatchback, likely install a Tremec 6 speed (or reuse the stock Tremec T5) and mate it to the 305hp 3.7L Duratec V6 out of a 2010-2014 Mustang. That would give it enough power to be fun, but not so much power that you can’t wind it out on public roads without losing your license and it won’t overpower the chassis.
Plus with a good exhaust (as I’ve heard 1st hand), the Ford Duratec V6 is a sweet sounding engine in its own way.
That V6 is indeed a great motor but don’t think it was ever called a Duratec – Cyclone is the name I remember.
Well the Cyclone is part of the Duratec V6 family. But yeah, the Cyclone version of that V6 is what I’m referring to.
Restomods are one thing, but by the time you’ve swapped out the chassis for a new one of different design, the Ship of Theseus has sailed. This is a Mustang the same way Toyota is running a Camry in NASCAR.
My first and only personal experience with a Fox body Mustang was having a SVO model as a rental car in Atlanta almost 40 years ago. It had a manual transmission (!) and still smelled new. Sure, the interior felt low-rent, but even stock, it was torquey, tail-happy, and relatively petite… I remember liking it a lot. 🙂 I was sent down there to take some IBM tech training in networking for my employer, and that week was also my first exposure to Fuddrucker’s.
Jeez, that was so long ago. I’m old.
What a wickedly cool way to point out how desperately broken our economy is!
For $400k, I’d expect a bespoke interior with lots of milled aluminum and custom switches and other fine touches. The fabric is nice, but for this kind of money, I want more.
400k and those are the wheels they picked? That was… a choice.
I guess if you’re dropping $1500 for a mullet haircut and the double wide is paid off in full it could be something to consider.
Just giving people different options to launder their money.
Came here to say this
Wait, this is an option? Man, I need to get a shop open like NOW!
When it comes to money-laundering, I’d rather have this than a banana duct-taped to a wall.
That duct taped banana was just a real life NFT. Whoever paid millions for it paid to own the original concept and not the physical item itself.
Just wait in 10 years when new edge mustangs are being laundered for $500-800k.
Jokes on him because I have a banana and duct tape at home.
The glue they are sniffing. I want some.
The one motion race works just gave away is better and I know they built it for at least 300k or more less than this thing.
What the hell is this
What the what
This thing has two too many zeroes. Those gauges look like AutoZone crap and are $400 the set (Auto Meter Products gauges). I wonder if it comes with a case of Miller Lite. This is the crackest pipe I’ve seen in a long time.
P.S. the wheels are ugly
As others have mentioned definite crack price as it is mostly just parts from a catalog bolted onto a hopefully never rusted or busted Foxstang with a fresh coat of paint.