Heater

They came factory with small tube headers and a Holley 4 barrel carburetor, I can't remember what shocks came on them from the factory.

7998

iTrader: (1)

^This^ The Mustang had a Holley 4V since 1983 and they came stock with shorty headers and they were roller motors.

unit213

The trans am in the view was exactly like my first car.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (8)

I miss the Saturday night car shows at that Dairy Queen in the video. To keep things in perspective, if you drove into that show in the mid-late 80s with a 12 second street car, everybody took notice. 11s or quicker were running Cam2 and trailored in to make money

7998

iTrader: (1)

Haha, yeah the 11's were only obtainable by the big money guys or the hardcore gearheads who lived and worked for their cars. Around my way there was a bad *** 327 Vega, a 1970-71 Monte Carlo Big Block, and then came a Vorteched GT 5.0, but the T-5 got changed more often than the oil.
But I have to say an 11 sec car back then was a total beast. I remember riding in a few of them and they would scare the **** out of you. Loud, rattling, shaking, and at speed you really held on because the line was very thin between control and wrecking. But what a thrill. Now you need a 9 sec. car to give you the same sensation.

1ltcap

mustangs came stock with holleys. they came stock with headers. they also came stock with roller cams, and i believe roller chains.

1ltcap

i used to like my buddys 58 fairlane. 390, 4 speed, pair of holleys sitting on top. 10.90's all day long. but he gave up a LOT to go that fast.

LS1LT1

iTrader: (16)

I believe that only the SVO Mustangs (turbo 4 cylinder) came stock with the Koni shocks, Mustang V8s just came with regular ol' performance oriented factory gas shocks.
The earlier cars (82-84?) did have a sort of ladder bar/traction bars type set up but the later cars (85-93?) swapped that for a 'quad shock' (two vertical and two horizontal) set up at the rear.

LEO

iTrader: (3)

The mid 70's through the mid 80's were dark days for the automotive industry. Those cars were such absolute crap, kids that did not live through it - feel blessed, very blessed.

1ltcap

the trx suspension had this sort of "hopper" bar. i don't know if that's the right name for it, but it was bolted to the diff housing, and it basically hit the lower control arms, much like the old style slapper bars on leaf sprung cars.
from the factory on mine, they didn't really do ****......after some minor adjustments though.....they really did work well.

adamantium

iTrader: (3)

190hp out of an 8cyl is weak even for that year, in the 60s muscle cars were making double that power.

Heater

IMO, the Trans Am's were some of the best looking Pony cars in the mid 80's. They had real sharp paint schemes and rims when optioned out.
From what I remember, it was just like in the video; the Mustang wasn't the best looking at the time but was the quickest.

adamantium

iTrader: (3)

brb let me save this thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp9qGSikrdA

It'llrun

Why am I not surprised someone would say this... Pssst... The Mustang did come stock with those parts...

I'll point out, I've read several articles over the years on this topic. There are some which say Koni and others, Tokico. At least 1 said the Koni was used for all 85-86 Mustang GT and SVO models due to the specific "handling package" offered. Another said the SVO models(after early 1984) and the 1993 Cobra were the only models to get stock Koni's. One article states both of those last two...

Whatever the case in reality, it's not just a guess that the Mustang in the video was on stock shocks. You didn't just go to the store and order up special stuff back then because Mustang was just about the only car using its specific style of suspension and the performance market was all but non-existent at the time.

Without a doubt, there were several options for Mustang in 1985. That was a great model though, because it got a good 4bbl (though autos apparently got the same type of garbage CFI system most cars were using at the time). It also missed the "TRX" days, thank God. You could still order things like rear gearing though, and option manual or power windows, etc.

The GT would have had 1.5" primary short tube non-equal length headers and the Holley carb though, regardless of which version(of 2) shocks the rear got. All of them had "quad shock" suspension by then. It wasn't until 1986 though, that all V8 Mustangs got standard dual exhaust... Someone correct me if 85's got dual too, but I don't think they did.

The rating system was different. Besides, the pre-1973 cars didn't have the government hand reaching down and plugging their intakes or exhausts, let alone the cylinder heads themselves. A 1985 I-ROC Z would whip just about any "muscle car era" entry. There were some quicker, but the number is low. The number which would handle as well is probably "zero." "Weak" or not, it was far better than the then recent prior years and still better than the less recent prior years.

Hard to argue against that... For me, the best looking and perhaps best overall pony car of the 80's was the 1989 Pontiac Trans Am GTA(350) and TTA tuuuurbocharged V6! It looked great, performed admirably, managed decent or better economy, handled quite well, etc. The only drawback with it was the same with any "high end" F-body. It was greatly over-priced as compared to the average budget of the pony car buyer. That's the real reason, I think, the Fox body was so much more successful in the end. It was cheaper, by thousands in many cases. My personal favorite, however, would have to be the 98-02 WS6.

That's the reality that pretty much everyone remotely involved at the time has etched in their mind. Pretty simple too: The Mustang weighed around 3200 lb sans driver. It had comparable or better hp than it's typical GM rival, which weighed more and usually had worse rear gearing. GM put its car at a disadvantage for drag racing. Ford put its car at a disadvantage for track racing(save perhaps the SVO/Cobra models).

LS1LT1

iTrader: (16)

THREAD SAVED!

adamantium

iTrader: (3)

lol i was 8 when this came out and i saw this posted on honda-tech yesterday and it blew my mind because i actually remember this commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euwshCke0-s

Heater

Yes, that makes this thread relevant now.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (8)

Those 60s muscle cars needed over 300hp to run with a mid 80s 190hp Trans Am, both weighing nearly the same.

adamantium

iTrader: (3)

Wasn't talking about actual performance we all know the cars of the 60s weighed alot and didn't handle well, i was talking about HP figures. As to them being weak. But apparently they cut their horsepower figures in half because of emissions? 190hp is something you see out of 4cyl cars.

LS1LT1

iTrader: (16)

Not during 1983-1985 (with very few exceptions) LOL.