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
I’ve had some time to think about it and I’ve reconsidered.
I hope 100 idiots buy these things. I would rather the money be removed from their accounts and distributed among some people who may know how to turn a wrench.
I would rather the money be removed from their accounts and distributed among some people who may know how to turn a con.
Fixed it for you. I’m sure the vast majority of that price is going into the owner’s pocket while the guys actually turning the wrenches probably aren’t making much if anymore than they would someplace else.
Of course. But maybe one or two of those guys will go on to build some cool things. The rest of the guys are probably going to be no worse-off than if they were wrenching anywhere else and this has to be better than doing brake jobs on Altimas (j/k, no Altima has ever had a brake job).
Yeah I’d much rather be building one of these resto-mods vs working on any Altima or crusty old truck. Sure tear down will be dirty and you may find stuck or rounded off fasteners ect but once it is back from body and paint it is just assembling a “new” car.
Okay buying this is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the head with a gun. Let’s take an ugly underpowered car and adapt it as an even uglier car but with more power. Bad idea for the money you can buy a more attractive vehicle with more power why would anyone want this? Did they pay for a good review? I know you wouldn’t do that but this vehicle goes into the garbage as an ugly kitcar.
Where’s the Mod? I spent a lot of time in these things when they were new, I’m not terribly impressed with a ‘clean’ old fox body. Even as a teen I felt like the interior was deficient.
Not to the point that I’d pay six figures for a cupholder.
So that’s what, $70K in parts and $330,000 in labor? The $100 Autometer A-pillar gauges are a really nice touch, too. Just fucking no.
Yeah I get some work needed to be done to fit the parts but my god a quick google search shows a crate 5.0 coyote is about 10.6k, the super charger is about 10.2k and built versions of the trans cost about 8k or so all is this before taxes but toss in the rest of the parts and the car how the hell are they getting 400k? I could have seen maybe 100k (still stupid but I get it) but 4 times that these people need to lay off the coke.
Even accounting for the aftermarket chassis, it still doesn’t add up.
Unless they do a Capri version I’m out
Ooh, custom unibodies, I guess if I were to spend stupid amounts of money on something like this it would be on a LHD R32 Skyline.
For $400K you could buy a brand new 800 hp Mustang GTD and use the money left over to buy and restomod a nice Fox Body.
Or you could buy a great vehicle
Would say I would get a first gen Ford GT but the prices on those have skyrocketed in recent years.
You could probably have your favorite local shop build an equal to this, with that leftover money.
“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.”
I won’t knock the build, but even $100k sounds pricey for what it is.
I guess I don’t understand who this car is for (and I’m a mustang/ Shelby guy)
What will the market bear?
There is a target for this I’m sure, see if they bite.
Motion Raceworks just did a giveaway Fox Body that honestly looked way better.
I’m not saying this wouldn’t be an expensive project, but I would think an enthusiast of average means could build something identical over the course of a few years for considerably less.
Do people realize that these companies are laughing all the way to the bank on these things? I swear they just sit around and ask each other, “Well how much money do you think we need to charge in order to get to the Fuck-It-Rich people?”
There’s precedent for that. A college English professor wrote hee own textbook and priced it at the price of a normal book because she was tired of her students getting ripped off. Nobody bought it because they thought it was too cheap. So she raised the price until publishers thought it was actually decent. Still a relative bargain.
Yeah, the internet has really supercharged this phenomenon, hasn’t it? Back in the day, any knowledge of such things would be via glossy brochures that only some people actually saw, or maybe an ad in a car magazine if they were really ambitious.
Now (ala the Bishop’s article about his alt-80s Lincoln) I totally want to see a Torch-created C&D ad half-page ad pitching this.
OK, I love me some Mustang (obviously, look at my username), but $400K for a Mustang is goshdarn stupid.
Yeah, part of what makes a Mustang a Mustang is that they’re cheap; without that, this is a Mustang-themed custom car, not a Mustang.
Those A-pillar gauges are not matched in orientation. The in-focus boost gauge seems to need to be rotated 5 degrees clockwise compared to the out-of-focus gauge.
0/10, terrible build.
Yeah, that’s just some basic catalog crap. They didn’t even do custom faces and needles for that money!
I was working hard to ignore that. Thanks for not letting me slack.
Yeah, no.
Any appeal of an old mustang is that it’s rediculously cheap.
Things you can buy for $400,000:
A vacation condo in Palm Springs.
A new Bentley Continental GTC Speed V8 Hybrid – and the first-class round-trip to England to commission it.
Two new Porsche 911 Carrera Coupes with $65,000 worth of options each.
Two Certified Pre-owned Bentley Continental GT W12s
A Monceau EV Restomod R107, plus a pair of low-mileage vintage R129 SL500s.
A Six to Twelve Fox Mustangs purchased thru BaT – depends if you get a Saleen and an SVT or not. (A restomod with a Coyote sold for just @ $50K recently)
$400K for a Fox Mustang coupe – Not even a convertible! – is Crackpot.
I wouldn’t pay $400k, but I’d rather have the restomod Mustang over everything else you listed.
I’m sure you can add your own list of things you’d rather spend $400K on.
“Things you can buy for $400,000:
A vacation condo in Palm Springs.”
Sure if you like cults, sketchy “healing centers” and golf.
I’m too busy with the pool parties, vintage car shows and mid century house tours to know.
Well.when you’re ready the cults, sketchy healing centers and golf.courses won’t be hard to find.
I don’t think you could pay me $400k to get me to move to Palm Springs. In fact, I’m sure you couldn’t.
I guess Fox bodies are still having a moment maybe. I don’t see it. But it wasn’t so long ago you would see restomod 60s and early 70s mussle cars that cost $350k to $400k to build. I don’t understand either but some of those guys had both first gen mustangs and fox bodies and skip over all the 70s nonsense. They often say collector cars and restomods go so high because emotion of people that grew up with the vehicle strive for one and are finally at a place they can spend an insane amount for what they want. This just looks like the newest version of that. I’m sure you could build a version much cheaper but those people don’t want to deal with it.
It’s a steel body-on-frame chassis, not some carbon monocoque. Chassis work like this can be done at any hot rod shop, or even yourself given the huge aftermarket support for the Fox Body platform. It sounds like most of the effort went into relocating the front suspension to fit the massive engine, which sounds like a self-inflicted problem to me.
Interior work really isn’t as scary as people think. Find a good local upholstery shop, test them out on a smaller project, then go nuts. Having done interior restorations on several of my cars with a local shop, the costs are really as much as you want to spend, but you can get a lot for a couple grand. Would I do it myself? No, but it’s not insanely expensive to have a pro do it either.
I see a $100k resto-mod with a 300% markup. There’s some serious money in that engine and chassis, but CP on the list price.
To be clear this is a unibody car, so the unibody is basically dropped on the Roadster Shop chassis and also takes the place of the stock front K-member. This isn’t just adding subframe connectors and strut tower braces to the stock car.
There are plenty of Coyote swapped Fox Mustangs which still have the stock shock towers. The SLA conversion wasn’t necessary for it to fit.
But I agree that $400K still seems steep.
The real question is can you buy that chassis retail directly from the Roadster Shop. If so, you can have the same thing without paying that middle man and turning the wrench yourself. It seems like most of this build can be catalog purchased, so its some assembly required, but not crazy if you have a clean body.
Yes you can, starting at $15K. It was linked in the original article.
https://roadstershop.com/product/spec-foxbody-mustang-chassis/#engine-mount-options
Yep, I totally missed that. At $15K, thats at least half of what I expected it to cost. That almost seems like a deal.
As LTD mentioned, it’s an entire new chassis, which is a massive improvement, but the price still seems ridiculous. I don’t understand these kinds of overpriced stock-looking (or 2nd owner 2 looking, considering the common mod of raised hood) builds, though. Maybe if it was a sentimental car, something like I’d have done to my Legacy (not at $400k, though, but it’s chassis didn’t suck as much as a Fox, either), but I wouldn’t spend that on any other Legacy, just as I don’t get someone picking up any old 911, Mustang, or any other common car and having this done.
100% of hardtop mustangs look better as a fastback (if a fastback was available).
$400k… and it’s still a notchback.
Notchback fox bodies always look like 4 cylinder rental cars to me.
Yet in the Mustang world the notchbacks are more coveted and worth more. Go figure.
Well at least on the Foxes they are lighter and stiffer and hence “better”.
Yeah, the fastback Foxes were a lot less structural, fun anecdote, as a teenager I found a year old Mustang GT fastback in a junkyard with the entire driveline ripped out. The doors and hatch were open and I couldn’t close them. I assume someone had taken it drag racing, and flexed it so hard they ruined the chassis as there were no signs of an accident. Probably crammed a big block or something stupid into it, I didn’t know enough at the time to be able to tell if the subframe had been modified.
Looks like an ex-CHP car to me.
It has to do with rigidity in the unibody structure. The notchbacks can handle a lot more torque from modern engine builds than the hatchbacks.
And knowing that, while I like Foxbody Mustangs, I think I might have even more fun building a 2-door Fairmont sleeper. Or a Futura, if I wanted something flashier.
Fox bodies are made of swiss cheese regardless…same with SN95’s.
But i agree, I’d rather do a fox fairmont/futura/MarkVII/T-bird/etc.. sleeper.
“Alternative” Fox chassis cars are coming up in value too. People got priced out of Mustangs so they’re looking at similar cars, and the rising tide lifts all boats. I just bought a rough Ford Durango and I’m possibly considering transfering the bed onto a Fairmont Futura shell, but I can’t find one of those for less than $2500 either.
With a replacement, much improved chassis, that increased stiffness shouldn’t matter much, so it’s probably only the customer’s preference here.
yep, sounds about right.
Frankly I think that the best looking Fox Body Mustang was actually the bubble back Mercury Capri.
Same here. I also like the later SVOs for the wing and scoop and the later ones had the better headlights.
I suppose looks really are subjective because I would consider 100% of fox bodies to look better as notchbacks. The hatchback is cool, but looks a bit chunky at the rear compared to the notches. It’s for this same reason I think the base “2M4” style Pontiac Fieros look far better than the block-of-cheese shaped Fiero GTs
But when 100% of fox body mustangs look horrible, your 100% still looks horrible.
Oh…wait… it’s a company in Florida? Now I see.
Can we just speed up time to when they inevitably get arrested for fraud of some kind?
Who is this for? The current point of the Fox Body is a dirt cheap platform to put whatever mods you want on and go way faster than the car was ever initially designed to go. I mean either that or to cos-play Vanilla Ice
I love Fox Bodies, restomods, and modifications done so subtly that they could be factory, so I dig this car, but man, for $400K I’d want a car that stands out a bit more. Externally this looks like a mild $20K build.
I’ve never seen the Roadster Shop chassis before. That’s pretty cool, especially ditching the front struts for an SLA setup, but I’m surprised they stuck with a stick axle in the back and didn’t adapt SN95 Cobra IRS.
Not sure I agree with your narrative that these are cheap muscle anymore. I just bought a Ford Durango and now I’m looking for a Fox Mustang for a complete powertrain, electrical, and suspension donor, and the prices I’m seeing for rolling shells without an engine are about what a complete running car was 5 years ago.
They are definitely having a moment. It’s hard to find one for $3500 now they used to be $1500 all day long. The TikTok kids are obsessed with them apparently because they look like a car in a japanese cartoon that’s supposed to be an ae86. They don’t know what an ae86 is so they want a fox body. Sn95s seem to be going up too I guess because it’s 90s and people want 90s things. I bet a lot got taken off the road from cash from clunkers too. New fronts are still cheap as dirt. But with them ways the kids are going full boar on early 2000s maybe not for long.
Yep. I almost bought a wrecked ’91 GT for $2000 just as a parts donor a few weeks ago because it was cheap compared to what I’ve seen, but it got sold before I could look at it.
Check the salvage auctions kids are buying them and wrecking them. I’ve seen several for under $1k.
I’ve had my eye on Copart. Not a lot on there.
Yeah typically 15 to 30 on each of the two big ones. Iaai keeps retail value more toward insurance replacement value. But I just saw a donated 35k mi example that had a $2k replacement value go for about $8k. The write offs are still going for realistic money. I knew some honda and Corvette guys that got in good with the tow yards and they would kinda get a preview and knew when the auction was. That got them some ok results.
This one is local and currently up for auction. I’m betting it will go for more than the $2500 I’m willing to pay but it was enough for me to sign up to AutoBidMaster and give it a shot.
https://www.copart.com/lot/84835185/clean-title-1989-ford-mustang-gt-ca-san-diego
I bet that will go for at least $8500. But maybe the ca title issues will keep it lower.
Bastards. Auction was due to end at noon on Friday. I noticed it dropped off the Copart site, and after seeing a $600 high bid so far on AutoBidMaster it dropped off there too. Someone got an inside deal.
It’s been happening a lot with clean title low milage collectors vehicles by many accounts. I’ve heard speculation they are going to do special auctions with cars they deem collectable. Sometimes they pop up on the gov auctions site like govdeal or govplanet most of the time it’s mainly sn95 or new edges though.
I’m not a Mustang fan, per se, but I am an admirer of the brand. The appeal of the Mustang, to me, is that it’s a relatively affordable everyman kind of car, relative to other sports cars. I thought the $330K GTD was stupid and antithetical enough, and I think this is dumber still. $400K? For a 80s Mustang? I guess it’s an interesting thought experiment. What would happen if you lavished your favorite Fox-body with a Rolls-Royce worth of money and attention…but that’s just it; even with the chassis and powertrain swap, I don’t see $400K worth of work or value here. It seems like something that’s expensive for the sake of it, as a flex for whoever’s commissioned the thing. Wherein the glory of it is for someone to say “That’s a Velocity Mustang. You know those cost $400K, right?” And, again, it seems like a betrayal of the brand values.
I very much hope it doesn’t spawn a trend of talentless dorks nursing half-a-million-dollar Fox-bodies to their nearest Cars & Coffee, the way the Singer Porsches have.
As a former 89 LX 5.0 Stang owner, I like it! Mostly stealth. Now the $400k tag? Not so much, but then again, I’m not the ‘target customer’ for something like this.
$400,000 and no option to row your own? While the vehicle is indeed pretty cool, you’re basically getting a bespoke car that so happens to use a Fox body as a starting place. For that money, this car probably isn’t even on my shopping list… if I ever had that much.
Bwaaaaah haaaah haaah haah hah… heh…
No.