Yahoo Autos Junkyard Gem: 1981 Ford Mustang Coupe
After building Mustangs on a Pinto-derived platform from the 1974 through 1978 model years, Ford moved America's original pony car over to its new Fox platform for 1979. There it remained through 1993 (or 2004, if you believe—as I do—that the SN95 platform was still a Fox), and along the way created some of the most beloved Mustangs of all time. In the early days of the Fox Mustang, however, it wasn't as apparent that this new horse would be so superior to its predecessor, and I've found one of those Late Malaise Era cars in a Denver-area boneyard recently.
The build tag (aka data plate) tells us that this car was built at the San Jose (actually in Milpitas) assembly plant in California, where the Great Mall of the Bay Area now stands. It was sold out of the Denver sales office, its exterior paint is Medium Red and its interior is red to match. Ford build tags of this era are much easier to read today than their fade-prone GM counterparts, by the way.
This Mustang appears to have been a lifelong Colorado resident, with an original badge from a dealership in Golden (best known as the home of Coors beer).
The ossified tires and nuked upholstery indicate that it was parked outside decades ago and never drove again.
Before the High Plains sun did its work, this car might have been in fairly good cosmetic condition.
It appears that frustrated junkyard employees resorted to drastic measures to deal with a stuck hood latch.
Under that mangled hood, we find the base engine for the 1981 Mustang: a 2.3-liter SOHC straight-four rated at 88 horsepower and 118 pound-feet. This engine is popularly known as "the Pinto motor," though it was installed in everything from Rangers to Argentinean Falcons. Several optional engines were available in 1981: a turbocharged version of the 2.3 with 150 horsepower ($610 extra, or $2,116 today), a 200-cubic-inch pushrod straight-six with 94 horsepower ($213, or $739 now), and a 255-cubic-inch Windsor V8 with 115 horsepower ($263, or $912 after inflation). Those who needed to be like Vanilla Ice and roll in a 5.0 Mustang had to wait until the 302 V8 returned in 1983.
