One of Eight: 1985 Ford Mustang SVO in Dark Sage

By John Coyle - March 1, 2021

Rare doesn’t always equal valuable, but this cream puff Mustang Fox Body is interesting if nothing else.

In the Bring a Trailer listing, the chief selling point of this 1985 Mustang Fox Body SVO seems to be that it’s one of just eight produced in Sage Green for the model year. Even if Mustang production wasn’t as robust during the Reagan era as it is today, that makes it an exceptionally rare bit of kit. Given how many vehicles the Blue Oval cranks out on the daily, any statistic in the single digits has to be something of an anomaly, and it’s unclear whether any of its similarly hued siblings are know to exist.

Given the low production, and the fact that it’s nearly four decades old, it’s not all that unreasonable to think this fine-looking Fox Body might be the very last Sage Green 1985 Mustang in the world.

Depending on how you bank account looks, that little tidbit of info might be worth the cost of admission along. Just think about how much fun it would be to reveal to fellow car geeks in the parking lot of your local Cars and Coffee, or better still, Radwood. Also, as someone who’s stilled bummed about the Bullitt dropping off the order books, I happen to think the color looks quite handsome on the potent little pony car.

Aside from the cool color, this Mustang has quiet a few other factors working in its favor. First, there’s the fact that it’s only rocking a little over 50k on the clock — which is peanuts for a vehicle of this vintage. I’d probably say that’s just about perfect, as any less time on the road might make me suspect it had spent too much time sitting, and could need to have a host of issues with the plumbing and other rubber bits.

Since I’m a proud member of the Save The Manuals club, the five-speed stick makes it even more attractive, as do the gray leather seats, and general spic-and-span appearance. While the listing said it spent time salt-happy states like New York and Pennsylvania, there’s no mention of rot anywhere, and everything seems to indicate this is an extremely well maintained survivor. Under the hood, it’s packing a turbocharged 2.3-liter I4, which was rated at 175 horsepower, though some of the BaT comments indicate the mill got a bump to 205 in the middle of the model year.

Maybe some of the experts here on Mustang Forums can chime in as to whether that’s correct?

Now, at the risk of burying the lede, I have to say that what first drew me to this auction wasn’t actually the color or the great condition, but the “aero” front end, with its unique recessed headlights. As a pretty keen observer of cars in general and Mustangs in particular, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an example of these in person, despite having been in a budding gearhead when they were rolling out of the factory.

Overall, I’m getting a kind of a Merker XR4TI feel from it — which is amplified by the double-decker spoiler at the back. Have I just been missing these babies, or are they actually rare? Hit me up and let me know, and make sure to head over to Bring a Trailer for more details on this killer Fox Body!

Photos: Bring a Trailer