History Rhymes: Looking Back at the 1982 Mustang GT
When looking at the 1982 Mustang GT, it’s easy to see parallels between its era and today’s performance landscape.
Mark Twain famously said “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Now, even for someone known for great quotes, it’s a great quote, and Twain’s words kept circulating in my head while I watched this new video from Old Car Memories. In a brisk eight minutes, the narrator opines that the 1982 Ford Mustang GT was the most important Mustang of all time. And for the record? I think he makes a compelling case. Because it’s safe to say that if the Blue Oval hadn’t pivoted away from the tiny, anemic Mustang II, the Mustang as we know it today wouldn’t exist.
Of course, by today’s standards, the performance of the first Fox body was almost laughable. Or more accurately, totally laughable. The 5.0-liter V8 produced just 157 horsepower and 240 lb-ft of twist, which translated to a zero-to-60 time of 8.1 seconds, and a quarter-mile “sprint” of 16.2 seconds. Even with the knowledge that the contemporary Corvette had a similar zero-to-60 figure, and managed to run the quarter only three tenths faster, it’s hard to imagine that kind of performance blowing anyone’s hair back. So remember that next time you hear somebody blabber about how modern cars “don’t have any character.”
Now obviously, the automotive world is far different than it was during the opening years of the Reagan Administration. But the shift toward electric cars is presenting challenges similar to what buyers saw in the fuel-starved 1970s, and as I wrote last week, Ford just released a new Mustang that’s less powerful that the old one. The good news is that — unless something completely out-of-left field happens — we’re not going to see a drastic decrease in performance going forward. From the sounds of it, a hybrid V8 is on the way, so we can expect that after this mild setback, Dearborn’s engineers will again deliver the kind of ever-more-potent powertrains which have come to define the modern Mustang.
Because though I love the smell of gasoline, and will always appreciate the sound of a flat-plane crank V8, I have high hopes for the all-electric Mustang. Sure, it’s going to be different than the Mustangs of the past, but there’s so much potential for the platform, it’s hard not to be optimistic. Hell, Elon Musk figured out a way to make an electric sedan hit 60 mph in under two seconds — and Tesla’s been building cars for less than 20 years. So with all due respect to Old Car Memories, while I think that the 1982 GT was important, it can’t be the most important. Especially since Ford no longer makes any other cars, and the Mustang’s arch rival, the Camaro, is currently limping out to pasture, unlikely to ever return. For me, that means that the most important Mustang is — and will always be — the next one. And the one after that. Let me know if you think I’m crazy.
Photos: Ford, YouTube
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