1979-93 MUSTANG THE NEW WAVE MUSTANG
When it debuted as a 1979 model, the third-generation Ford Mustang represented a change of direction for Ford’s original pony car. It’s perhaps hard for some to imagine now, but at the time, its styling was fresh and contemporary, paving the way for a whole host of aerodynamic and tantalising North American Ford products in the Eighties.
Larger than the Mustang II it replaced, the new car was originally offered as a two-door notchback and three-door hatchback. Using a version of the ‘Fox’ platform which has led to these cars becoming known colloquially today as Fox Bodies, the third generation featured unitised construction with stamped steel frame rails, a modified MacPherson strut suspension with the coil springs mounted inboard of the dampers and a solid rear axle with four links and coil springs. At launch for 1979, engines were essentially carried over from the Mustang II with a 2.3-litre four cylinder (rated at 88bhp), a 2.8-litre V6 sourced from Ford’s subsidiary in Cologne, Germany (rated at 109bhp) and a 302cu in (5.0-litre) V8
