Final Parking Space: 1984 Ford Mustang GT Convertible
Six decades after the introduction of the Mustang, Ford’s iconic pony car is now in its seventh generation. Earlier this year, we looked at an export-market second-generation Mustang in a Colorado car graveyard, and now here’s one of its third-generation successors in a different Denver-area facility.
This car is a member of the incredibly successful Ford Fox-body family, which debuted with the Ford Fairmont/Mercury Zephyr for the 1978 model year and stayed in production through the 1993 Mustang (or the 2004 Mustang, if you consider the Fox-derived SN95 platform to be a true Fox-body).
The 1979–1993 Mustang hits the sweet spot in which “old enough to be cool” overlaps with “cheap enough to build a race car out of.” I see plenty of these cars during my junkyard travels, although discarded examples of the 1974–1978 Mustang II and 1994–2004 SN95 Mustangs tend to be easier to find than reasonably intact Fox-body Mustangs nowadays.
Convertible Fox Mustangs are tough to find in places like this, since the appeal of rollin’ like Vanilla Ice in your 5.0 ragtop remains powerful to this day.
Yes, this car is a genuine, numbers-matching Mustang GT convertible with a 5.0-liter V-8 under its hood.
This Windsor-family pushrod engine was known as the 302 for many years, first appearing in production cars for the 1968 model year and powering new U.S.-market SUVs into our current century.
If original, this one is a throttle-body-injected version rated at 165 horsepower and 245 lb-ft. That was decent power for the first year after the end of the Malaise Era.
If you bought your 1984 Mustang GT with the base five-speed manual, you got a 175-horse 5.0 with an old-fashioned four-barrel carburetor. This car has the optional four-speed automatic.
Let’s take a look at the build tag, shall we? This car was born at the River Rouge complex in Dearborn and sold out of the Denver sales office. The paint is Light Canyon Red.
In fact, this car came off the assembly line right about the time I was graduating from high school in the East Bay. A new Mustang was about as far out of my financial reach as an intergalactic starship at that time, though I did own a 1969 Toyota Corona and a 1958 Volkswagen Beetle at that time (total purchase price for the two: $100, or about $309 in 2024 dollars).
This missing star-shaped dealer badge most likely came from Courtesy Ford in Denver, just a few miles from this Mustang’s final parking space.
There was a full set of “wire wheel” hubcaps inside.
If you wanted a factory hood scoop in a new 1984 Mustang, you had to buy the SVO. This car has received an aftermarket scoop transplant.
It appears to be two hoods glued together, in fact.
The interior must have been in pretty good shape, because junkyard shoppers bought nearly all of it.
I’m a little surprised that a rust-free and reasonably straight early Fox Mustang convertible with factory V8 ended up in a place like this, but you never know what you’ll find in the junkyard.
Such a romantic car.
looks good to me – just needs a little TLC, plus a few missing parts.
It’s definitely more of a project starter than I’ve seen a lot of people start with
Can you imagine a new-car dealership drilling three holes in the trunk lid of your new Mustang GT convertible to install their advertising? That is some nerve!
Amen! That would’ve been a deal breaker for me.
The car looks sad and has been picked apart. That aftermarket hood is awful. Maybe a starter project for somebody but it seems you will need lots of little parts.
I suspect that is a shade-tree modified factory hood
I wonder why they put ’79-’82 tail lights on that ’84?
IMHO, The original ’84 tail lights looked much better.
I’ve still got my ’84 GT Turbo Convertible 5 speed…not many people opted for the 2.3L Turbo vs. the 5.0 V8.
I still have my turbo also. Did you catch the part of the author saying you had to buy an SVO to get a hood scoop? He overlooked the Turbos which were the only factory hood scooped cars that year and SVO seemed more like an off center vent. This car doesn’t belong as a parts car.
I have a 5.0 1984 GT convertible, and only recall seeing one turbo GT of that year, and it was in New Orleans. I think it was beige in color. Certainly rare.
I had an 84 GT hatch with the 5.0 Holley 4bbl and 5 Speed. Such a fun car to drive. I know 175hp doesn’t sound like a lot, but they were pretty light and responded well to cheap mods. The hard part these days is finding one that hasn’t been treated like the one here, or doesn’t have a seller expecting to retire on the sale.
Also, that front end clip with the fog lights is a half year only run (mid-late 84). Someone should snatch that up while they can.
Yep – our 1984 GT convertible was built in September 1983, and has neither those fog lights, nor the power rear quarter windows. I would not mind having those lights.
I sold Fords in 1978/79. Not much fun to choose from. Fairmonts were painfully dull. The Thunderbids were ok, particularly the burgundy Heritage Edition. But the most excitement was over the new Turbo Mustang. I sold the first one right off the showroom floor. Kelly green. Within two weeks the owner blew the engine up. That poor 4cylinder just couldn’t handle the pressure.
I once owned an 84 GT convertible. The car in the feature didn’t have to end up in a wrecking yard. It looks solid and likely needed quite a few dollars to return to its former glory. What a shame.
As the owner of a 1984 GT 5.0 convertible, that is so sad to see…
I was watching and waiting, hoping the Mustang GT would pass the 200 Horsepower mark, and I promised myself, that once it did, I purchase one. That of course was the following year, 1985. 210 was the call for the H.O. package and I ordered one. It took almost 6 months to receive it due to stops and starts in production centered around the ever tightening C.A.F.E. standards. Once we did take possession, I figured I’d never give it up, until the new S550 platform came along. My wife suggested that we sell the ’85 to purchase the 2017 GT Premium/PP1, but surprisingly, our children had other ideas. They insisted that they would purchase the ’85 as it had been in the family longer than they had! Since at the time, neither had a place to keep it, we agreed to continue to be its caretaker. After winning several gold awards at MCA National Shows, and seeing the potential selling prices continue to rise, keeping my first Mustang has turned out to be a wonderful idea!
They were actually supposed to have 205hp in mid 84. I even have sales literature referring to it. I think there was an issue with heads or something. I dont remember specifically. When they figured it out, it was 1985 and they gave it 5 more hp. Still, a decent running 84 can probably just bust into the high 14’s, driven properly. Sounds slow today, but that was moving back then.