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Random Car Review: 1992 SAAC Mk 1 – Prelude To A Snake Bite


Random Car Review: 1992 SAAC Mk 1 – Prelude To A Snake Bite

When the Shelby Mustang went away after the last of the re-VIN stamped 1970 models sold out, there was going to be fans of Carroll Shelby’s work who would miss the idea of a Ford Mustang that sported the Texan’s extra touches. Even though the GT350 and GT500 had swayed away from stripped racer towards lager, more comfortable tourer, the last Shelby Mustangs of the Musclecar Era still could throw down at a moment’s notice. Comparatively, when the Ford Mustang Cobra got shuttered in favor of the 1982 GT, not many were too upset. The Fox body platform wasn’t the problem, it was that the Cobra was really nothing more threatening than a week-old garter snake. The turbo 2.3L four and the even more disappointing 4.2L V8 just didn’t do the name justice, leaving the Cobra to be one of the last “Decal GT” cars, wearing the 1979 Indy Pace Car’s bodywork and stripes and a Cobra hood decal that could be spotted from space.

Over the Eighties, the Mustang made ground up. Power increased, the SVO righted the wrongs of the earlier turbo-four cars, and the fans even managed to save the machine after Ford threatened to dump the car for a front-driver. With the 5.0 getting hotter and hotter, and the cars of the 1960s and early 1970s suddenly becoming white-hot items, anything that tied back to the old days suddenly was desirable. Out of all the people who didn’t need to be told this were the folks in the Shelby American Automobile Club (SAAC), who had the idea to do a modern-day Shelby Mustang. Now, at this point in time, Ol’ Shel was helping out old friend Lee Iacocca, turning front-drive Mopars into sucker-makers, so officially his name could not be emblazoned on the car. In fact, this had been a bit of a teething issue with the 1984 20th Anniversary Mustangs and their GT350 callouts. But SAAC had Ford and Shelby’s blessing for the project, and they had an inside man at Ford who helped spec out the whole setup.

The recipe: take a Ford Mustang 5.0L hatchback. Get digging into the Ford Motorsport catalog for parts like the GT40 intake and cast-iron GT40 heads, a larger throttle body, underdriven pulleys and headers. Go digging through the Ford options list and score the 3.27 Trac-Lok rear axle that was normally only for automatic cars, the World Class T5 manual transmission (with a Centerforce clutch!), the nose cone of the GT with the fog lights turned into air ducts, the tail lights and rear spoiler of the LX model. Oh, and don’t forget the five-lug, 11″ discs raided from the old SVO to take care of the sketchy brake situation. Tap the aftermarket for Eibach lowering springs, Koni shocks, a strut tower brace and a four-point roll bar, find 17″ Simmons wheels, and of course, Goodyear Eagle ZR Gatorbacks. Paint it white, stripe it blue, and you had a 295 horsepower, 326 ft/lb take on retro performance. It’d be another five or so years before the basic V8 pony cars would touch those kinds of numbers, and that’s before you hear about the performance figures this baby would crank out.

SAAC, as an auto manufacturer, created 62 total cars. Only thirty of them were Mk 1 levels…the others were Mk 2 drop-tops. Come 1993, and suddenly the Cobra name has returned, with a very familiar-feeling build theme…


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