We Americans can’t seem to get enough of ranking lists. It must be in our collective cultural DNA. Even though a good case can be made that the decade of “the Noughties” does not really end until December 31, 2010, the math-challenged media has obliged us all sorts of “best” lists as of late. Hagerty Insurance, a leading collector car insurer (and a big sponsor of some television programs BangShifters probably watch) joined the best List-O-Rama with its “2010 Hot List: A Decade in Review.”
“Hagerty’s top picks from 2000 to 2009” are the cars it claims have “the highest probability of becoming collector cars in the future.” Although the list is heavy with interesting modern muscle and sports cars, most fans of the Detroit 3 will contend it shorts their favorite brand. In truth, it was almost devoid of Ford products. Only the 2007 Shelby GT500 made Hagerty’s cut.
To Dearborn’s disciples, that’s simply ridiculous!
In the friendly spirit of rebuttal, here’s a list of Ford products that Hagerty mostly missed. In the spirit of the BangShift Top 11 traditions (and to satisfy both sides of the “when-does-a-decade-end” question) I’ll start with 2000 and end with 2010.
2000 Mustang SVT Cobra R — The GM camp gleefully points out that Ford sold no “regular” SVT Cobras in 2000 because of “horsepower recall” fiasco. But Ford’s SVT did whip out a precious few hundred 5.4 DOHC “R Model” Mustangs. Deemed by most experts as collectable from day one and priced well beyond the budget of nearly all Mustangers, the 2000 SVT Cobra R was a “fast and furious” street-legal homologation car. Its most memorable visual cue was an oddly-styled rear wing that only a blurry-eyed import tuner…or an engineer…could love.
2001 SVT Lighting — A twenty-horsepower bump for the “Gen II” SVT Lighting F150 created a 380hp supercharged legend for 2001. In short order, Johnny Lightning and other modular tuners jacked the power far higher, mostly with simple bolt-ons. The SOHC 5.4 Lightning ruled the OEM muscle truck roost until Dodge saw fit to ram a Viper V10 into a short-bed mid-decade and Ford mistakenly backed off from the whole SVT deal for a while. And it pointed the way to other factory supercharged V8s in Ford’s future.
HONORABLE MENTION – 2001 Mustang Bullitt — This homage to Steve McQueen’s seminal chase movie, the SN-95 Bullitt was a brilliant marketing move. The formula was simple: Strip off the “excess” Mustang GT badges, add an aluminum intake for a slight bump in power, retune the exhausts, add some subtle “Bullitt” badges and retro trim, and paint the thing in dark “Bullitt” colors. That the car ended up more “sizzle” than “steak” won’t matter to collectors.
2002 SVT Focus — While many BangShifters will never accept a FWD anything as a BangShiftable collector car, Ford’s SVT Focus deserves at least passing recognition, if not a little respect. Undoubtedly one of the best handling “wrong wheel drive” cars ever offered by an American manufacturer, the domesticated version of the Focus ST-170 was Ford’s modest attempt to court the tuner market. Although several hot imports and even some cross-town rivals eventually were more than a match for the SVT Focus, Ford’s forgotten little “hot hatch” still is a fun, practical drive. It also marked Ford’s first use of a six-speed manual transmission in something young BangShifters could afford.
2003 SVT Cobra — The Terminator. Underrated at 390 hp, the supercharged DOHC Cobra was one of the most BangShiftable cars ever. Although its dodgy IRS was a mildly weak link, the prospect of 700 hp with mere bolt-ons made the Terminator an instant legend.
2004 TIE: Mustang Mach I and Mercury Marauder — Seemingly unrelated, these two second-year cars shared derivations of Ford’s DOHC modular 4.6. They were also revivals of “heritage” performance models.
The Mach I was overshadowed when it appeared in 2003 by the Terminator. It was little more than an improved, restyled, retro-infused beam-axle Cobra. However the belated return of the Shaker hood scoop helped the Mach I upstage the Terminator on style points. An available automatic transmission made Mach I attractive to those put off by SVT Cobra’s decade of manual-only offerings.
The Marauder is more of an enigma. The Mach I mill, sans shaker and implanted into a vehicle 900 pounds heaver, didn’t strike many as the second coming of the traditional muscle car. Traction control, relatively quiet mufflers, and the DOHC’s rpm-biased torque curve sanitized the musclecar experience. And without a hood scoop, badges, stripes, or a swoopy coupe body, most couldn’t look past Marauder’s prosaic origins as grandma’s 1998 Grand Marquis. Dealer gouging on a lofty MSRP killed off most of the early demand.
However, for a brief moment in 2003-2004, the Marauder became probably the last traditional separate-frame, rear-wheel-drive muscle sedan ever to be produced in America…and arguably the only body-on-frame Ford musclecar ever with an intermediate-sized wheelbase. While stock Marauders are probably more cruiser than bruiser, they can put a hurtin’ on many “mainstream” 1960s muscle cars. Modified Marauders now visit the 10s with some frequency. 2004 gets the nod for collecting because of lower production numbers and additional color choices. Besides, ever try to road trip with three adults in the back of a Mustang?
2005 Ford GT — No list of collectable Fords would be complete without mention of Ford’s heritage supercar. 2005 was the year that Ford’s mid-engined GT carried the Ford performance banner without any sharing. Even the most dense appliance motorist knows deep-down that the GT is something special. Sure, they cost as much as a house and have almost zero practicality, but Ford GT will always harken back to happier times in Detroit…and will always generate a covetous crowd.
2006 Shelby GT-H/Shelby GT — Another “more sizzle than steak” pair of models, these twin Mustangs appealed to nostalgic fans of the Shelby legacy. Amazingly, some buyers paid ridiculous money for old Hertz rental cars with little more performance than a stock SOHC Mustang GT. That’s a testimony to the hypnotic power of the Shelby brand.
2007 Shelby GT500 — Hagarty got this one right. A factory Mustang with five hundred supercharged horsepower would have been unthinkable twenty years before. No doubt it will be venerated as long as automobiles are collected. Fitted with Shelby badges and a host of sybaritic features (and a sticker price to match), it was enough to drive some loaded Shelbyites stark raving mad…at least until the “real” Shelby GT500s started coming out of Las Vegas.
2008 Shelby GT500KR — Some will say the KR was grossly overpriced. But the true believers in all things Shelby will reply that the KR and Super Snake GT500s extend the proud line of true “tuner” Shelbys. That prejudice alone will make them interesting collector cars. The fact that no four-place American production car has yet eclipsed their performance is just a bench-racing bonus.
HONORABLE MENTION: 2008 Bullitt Mustang — The profit-center known as Bullitt was back for 2008. While the excitement was probably a notch or two lower this go-round, the latest Bullitts were at least stylistically more in-line with the original Bullitt Mustang.
2009 Mustang FR500CJ — The mainstreamers will try to sell you on the Flex as the collector Ford for 2009. Not hardly. Maybe if Ford’s new-age station wagon is pulling one of the fifty 2009 FR500CJs…Brian Wolfe’s masterful return to factory-supported sportsman racing through a limited run of supercharged Cobra Jet drag cars was undoubtedly the Bangshiter/collector highlight of the short 2009 model year.
2010 SVT Raptor — Arguably the first truly high-performance factory off-road pickup, the SVT Raptor will most certainly be of interest to many collectors long after its production ends. Whether it’s just an anomaly or the start of a dirt-slinging new niche remains to be seen. But the SVT Raptor is undoubtedly the most interesting light truck still available in the U.S.A.
