What’s a Fox Body Mustang?

Question: What’s a Fox Body Mustang?

Answer: The “Fox Body” Mustang, as it’s known, was the third generation of Ford Mustang. It was built on the Fox platform. The car first appeared in 1979 and spanned the entire 1980s through the 1993 model year. The car was lighter than the second generation Mustang II and it was also faster. In 1982 Ford matched the “Fox Body” Mustang up with a 5.0L V-8 engine. This is commonly termed the “5.0 Mustang”. In all, the “Fox Body” Mustang was more European visually, with less traditional Mustang styling cues throughout.

Other Mustang nicknames include:

SN95/Fox4 (1994-1998): This name signifies Fourth Generation Mustangs 1994-1998. These Mustangs were built on the SN-95/Fox4 Platform. They were larger than the original “Fox Body” Mustangs and they were engineered to be stiffer than their predecessor. They featured soft curves and rounded edges throughout.

New Edge (1999-2004): This name signifies Fourth Generation Mustangs 1999-2004. Although these cars were based on the same SN-95 platform, they featured sharper design lines and an aggressive stance in addition to a new grille, hood, and lamps.

S197 (2005-2009): In 2005 Ford ushered in the fifth generation of Mustang. This car was built on the D2C Mustang platform. The D was the vehicle class, 2 represented number of doors, and C represented coupe. Codenamed the S-197, the car brought back styling cues seen on classic Mustangs. Its wheelbase was 6-inches longer than the previous generation, it featured C-scoops in the sides, and it touted the famous three-element tail lamps.

Nicknames don’t always relate to the vehicle platform. This is because vehicle platforms are shared between many vehicles. Take the Fox platform for instance. This platform supported 1980-1988 Ford Thunderbird, 1980-1988 Mercury Cougar, as well as many others. In this instance, however, the Mustang became the most relevant Fox platform vehicle, hence it’s nickname.