Bret928

So I’m putt’n down the main drag in ye Ol’e Shark mind’n my own business, when I glance in my rear view mirror & see this old Box body (80’s something) Mustang GT weaving in & out of traffic.

Half expecting them to pass me on the right I was somewhat annoyed that they came right up on my bumper and started riding my **** for the next few blocks. Well I could tell that the guy wanted to “play” but I wasn’t biting. Besides in this cop rich environment of this little town – I wasn’t about to get involved in a stop light grand prix on the main drag. So I maintained my calm & tried to ignore the Pony try’n to crawl up my ****.

But as luck would have it we were approaching the freeway and it had a nice long sweeping two lane oval (~360 deg) onramp. As I suspected the Mustang gunned it & darted to the right, taking the inside lane of the onramp doing about 30 mph or so. But just as his tires started to whine & squeal as he noised past me on my right – I down shifted into second and rolled on the throttle blowing past him on the “outside” left like he was standing still. I probably exited the onramp doing about 60-70 mph in 2nd.

Now that we where now on the interstate – I left the ol Fox body in my rear view mirror with it driver’s mouth dropped wide open. Oh he tried to catch me but despite a lot of noise and smoke – the Stang never saw nothing by my tail lights fading away into traffic.

At about 90ish (give or take ~20mph ) I backed off as the Mustang was completely out of sight.

V2Rocket

was this the pomerado onramp? thought i heard a shark in the distance..

Bret928

Actually it was the Poway Road & Rancho Penasquitos on ramp to south bound I-15.

aggravation

Some of those little Mustangs can pack a lot of ponies, I was thinking of getting one to fool around with but the one I like is a 2004 or thereabout and they still command too high a price for a second toy.

Bret928

Don't get me wrong. I actually love Mustangs & personally prefer the styling of the fox body Mustangs to the body style of the last generation – before the “retro” Stang’s came along in 2005. That 5.0L V8 has a lot of potential and lends itself well to modifications.

But a stock 80’s something Mustang GT isn’t much of a threat to a Shark unless it’s seen some tweaking. But even then the handling is a joke compared to a stock 928.

IcemanG17

Old Mustangs can be VERY fast.....but not many handle well!!

Back in the early 90's I was raced a late 80's 5.0 in my turbo Conquest Tsi... I got him off the line...he caught me by about 70mph (Conquest was stock and quickly ran out of breath)....5.0L is on the outside line and we are coming up to a sweeping 90' corner at about 90mph...I was thinking "he's not gonna make that" but I knew my car could no problem....sure enough he waits WAY too late to turn in....car quickly pitches sideways (his headlights pointing at my passenger DOOR)....I keep my foot in it to pass him....then I see him hit the brakes (not a good idea).....then BOOM...right into the curb-plants-fence-parking lot....

I consider it a win since I drove away... :>) I did quickly switch cars and come back to see him waiting for a tow truck with the cops!! HA HA

icsmike

I cant see a 78 shark beating a 87-93 anyway. No offence but look at the Hp/weight , not to mention there native smaller gearing. Most of them are just worn completely out.

The_Remora

I got into a race with a new 'retro' style Mustang GT a month or so ago on the highway south of Boston late one night. It was a dark green GT, the kind with the extra set of round fog lights inside the grill. I came up on him in the S4 cruising about 15 over in the fast lane, he moved right and then came up behind me and rode my tail for a bit. It had New Hampshire plates and he had a passenger, I was solo. He would get in the right lane and come up next to me like he was going to nail it and then we'd come up on some slower traffic and he'd tucked in behind. This went on a couple of times as we cruised along. So when I saw a break with no cars in sight ahead, I downshifted to 4th kinda sneaky with a slow clutch release so he wouldn't know I was getting ready to go. Then I pulled right to the middle lane, going about 80, and he came up on the side and they looked over and when he hit the gas and I buried the throttle. I thought it would be a close race (hence, the downshift) and I'm currently down quite a few hp due to plug wires caps and rotors being shot and needing replaced. I stood on it until I reached about 140 or so and pulled on him hard, enough car lengths ahead in a short while to wonder whether he was still racing... we came up on some traffic and a fork to exit onto another highway that I was taking, so I coasted down, and then sure enough as I'm exiting, dude comes flying blasting by traffic going well over a hundred. They went the other way so we didn't get to do it again. I was surprised, I thought it would be much closer or that maybe I would lose, but it was an easy victory. He had extra weight in the car, he might have had an auto box, I don't know, but that particular 'Stang wasn't as fast as I thought it would be. And my relatively new S4 made me appreciate it that much more and put a big grin on my face.

Kaz

As the former owner of a 1988 5.0GT, I can say that the cars are fairly bulletproof and can be easily modified for high horsepower. Still, that only takes care of speed in a straight line and preferably no more than a quarter mile. They can't handle worth a damn, they certainly can't stop unless the brakes have been upgraded, something very few owners choose to do. Lastly, in stock form they simply run out of steem upwards of 90mph and it sounds like the car Bret is referring to was a pretty beat example.

aggravation

Yea the new Mustangs are a performance disappointment. Maybe there are some easy/inexpensive upgrades to be had but stock the power to weight ratio is a big turn off for me.

Bret928

Granted I'm not an expert – but I was quite clear about it being an early 80's Mustang GT (say 79-86). I believe that if you check the numbers for those, you find them far less than impressive. Even as 87’ approached the 5.0L was only pushing between 200 & 210hp. Sorry but that coupled with lackluster handling made it easy pickings for any Shark.

Now perhaps it of been a different story coming hot off the line in a strait drag race, but again things didn't start getting interesting until we were “at speed” and in a sharp banking turn.

Kaz

87 5.0L Mustangs had 225hp and 300lbs of torque. They typically ran 14.8 or so in the quarter mile. A 1978 928 could easily pull away from a 5.0L, especially as the cars approach 90mph.

BC

Ah - great entrance ramp. A bit banked, at least in my memory. Its long enough that most people slow down....

ryanm6100

I once had a similar experience when a 928 pulled alongside me on the highway. I really expected him to put up more of a fight.

Bret928

I’ve learned this a couple of times that the long legs of the Shark really come into play “at speed”.

Again we where in a hard banking turn - he had the inside lane, while I had the outer. He was breaking loose trying to put power to the ground, while the Porsche didn't skip a beat – sling-shoting around the Pony car with little effort.

Another thought is that the mere act of me passing him as easily as I did in the middle of turn (while he was struggling to keep from losing it) might have taken any desire to pursue the issue further out of him. But again all I know is that when I entered the freeway – he quickly became a memory in my rear view mirror.