For $28,000, This Mustang Has A Checkered Past

Horse breeding is a noble profession requiring intimate knowledge of equine geneology in the melding of sire and dam. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Mustang is said to be a combination of '88 Fox and '03 Cobra, making far from pure-bred. But will is price also breed discontent?

The seller of yesterday's questionably legal 1991 VW Golf Country had dropped its price like a drunk prom date drops her Victoria's Secrets – all the way from fifteen grand to the twelve-five that we were considering. Unfortunately for him, the consensus exhibited in its 60% Crack Pipe loss was that there was still some dropping to be done.

That four-by-four Vee Dub probably wouldn't have had any issues with registration in Canada, having once come to the U.S. from that neighbor to the North. More lenient auto laws and La Fin du Monde beer are reasons enough to consider moving to what many below the 49th parallel derisively consider America's hat. Another reason may be today's custom-built 1988 Mustang Coupe SVT.

Offered up in the Canadian town of Degrassi Brantford, which apparently is south-west of Toronto, this Mustang may be crazy like a fox, but it packs a cobra's strike. The seller notes in his brief description that the only thing left of the '88 Fox-stang is the body and chassis, which of course is odd on a unibody car. Whatever. Everything else, he says, has been updated to SN95 SVT Cobra specs. That means the 235-pony 302 that had been the top Mustang motivator in '88 has been replaced by the romper-stomper DOHC 4.6, topped by a twin-scroll supercharger. The SVT engine for 2003 featured a number of changes, including a switch to an iron block from one made from old beer cans. Other updates included better oiling and stronger connecting rods considered necessary to more reliably cope with the engine's claimed 390-bhp. This one looks to have an aftermarket blower living down in the valley, but the ad doesn't note much in the way of mods outside of the Fox body clothes disguising the Cobra underneath.

That disguise is actually pretty thin as the car is wearing chrome 5-lug SVT wheels, and the entire interior – in an awkward metallic lemon and grey combo – is obviously lifted straight from the later SN95. Along with the crazy colors the builder has also chosen to add a sextet of gauges to dash and A-pillar, because you can never have too much information.

With the likely pony brigade corralled under-hood and the Cobra's T-56 funneling them to what is probably a very live rear axle in back, this melded Mustang must be a barrel of party monkeys to drive, and it's obviously a winner on track as well. How else would you explain the fact that it wears a checkered flag on its facia and hood? That adorns the car in the unavoidable manner of Mike Tyson's face tattoo and is equally discomforting upon initial discovery. Of course you wouldn't really notice that from behind the wheel, and not at all driving the car at night, so perhaps it wouldn't be that much of an issue.

The rest of the body looks to be in good shape, and with only 52,000 kilometers – or forty rods to the hogshead for us Americans – it should be. Dressing it up a bit are the aforementioned SVT wheels as well as smoked SVT tail lights and a whale tail bigger than Kim Kardashian bending over.

It's pretty obvious that a lot of work has gone into this Canadian contraption, and it raises the question as to whether there's an '03 Cobra rolling around the Toronto area with – to its never ending shame – Fox mechanicals. Another shame would be paying too much for this Total Modular Conversion Mustang, and that's what we're here for. The seller is asking $28,000 for the car, and warns against lowballers or test pilots. I bet he also disdains grab assers and fart-knockers. After all, who doesn't?

The question is, does that $28,000 Canadian – $28,222 in Washingtons – price make this Foxobra a bargain? Or, is that too much no matter how many Mustangs you're getting?

You decide!

Kijiji Kanada or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Bryan McNab for the hookup!

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