A reliable source has told Garage 419 Ford is considering a revival of the SVO Mustang. Stang heads remember the original SVO as an upscale, European-flavored special-edition Mustang powered by a somewhat blasphemous turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Were told the new model will likely be powered by a 300hp version of Fords EcoBoost four hooked to a six-speed manual transmission. The new SVO could be up to 500 pounds lighter than a Mustang GT and, if the story pans out, could easily outperform the GT on a racetrack. Fuel economy would improve by as much as 25% over the GTs current 15/23 rating. If the spirit of the 1986 Mustang SVO is anything to go by, and the gas prices arent anywhere near peaked, I say build it.
But first, lets put the SVO in context. In the early 1980s, rising gas prices and oppressive emissions regulations sent the muscle car market straight into the toilet. The Corvette, supposedly the best sports car America had to offer, barely put down 150hp. The Fox-bodied, V8-powered Stangs didnt do any better, managing just 140hp. That was the reason why, in 1981, Ford created the Special Vehicle Operations Department. SVO was designed both to oversee Fords racing program and build high performance, limited-edition street vehicles. The teams first complete car, the Ford Mustang SVO, arrived in 1984.
Where engineers once would have insisted on a V8, the SVO sported the kind of turbocharged, intercooled 2.3-liter four-cylinder most often seen in a European rally car. And the SVO was no econobox; it was the best appointed and most expensive Mustang ever built. The 1984 version made 175hp, but by 1986, that figure was lifted to 205hp by way of a new cooling system. A fuel grade switch was standard, giving the car more power or better economy depending on the type of fuel used. But just as the SVO was taking off, the pendulum swung back. After just 9,844 units, gas prices plummeted, making the much cheaper, V8-powered Mustang GT a better value. The V8s low-end torque arrived at just the right time, as Americans were thirsty for some real muscle.
What have we learned? Well, for one thing, the boys at SVO may not have been far off a solution that would work perfectly today.
