Growing up I never had brand allegiances. My taste in cars changed with the season, and without any justification beyond the automotive ADD that follows my ownership habits to this day.
For a time, the Ford Mustang occupied my aspirations. Maybe it was the copy of Bullitt I found at the library. Watching the lieutenant fling his fastback around the hills of San Francisco, double-clutching every shift, and destroying tires in pursuit of the baddies can have quite the impression on a 12 year-old. Especially since up till then, the most I saw of these cars were static examples at the local Show n’ Shine.
A few years later, I got my first lesson driving a manual in a Mustang. And while it wasn’t the 390 powered tire vaporizer I’d seen in films, the Fox Body SVO reintroduced me to the nameplate, sending me off into the classifieds and my first visits to Craigslist.
Somehow, I’ve managed not to buy one yet. And despite over 50 years of history, none of the other variants have caught my fancy. If it wasn’t a ’68 Fastback or a Fox Body, I didn’t care.
Until now.
Maybe it’s the independent suspension (welcome to the party), the muscular lines that shame the last 20 years of Mustang “styling”, or maybe…
To hell with it, it’s that damn motor.
The Coyote motor itself is fun to play with, and makes a good noise with the right set of pipes. But the Voodoo V8 is on another level entirely. A 5.2 liter V8 with 12.0:1 compression, 101hp per liter, and a rev limit of over 8000RPM sounds stupendous on paper. But god almighty does it sound even better in the metal.
Surveying the showrooms of today, it’s quite obvious the time of the Naturally Aspirated motor is at its end, following carburetion and distributors into the heap of technology deprecated in the face of tightening emissions and fuel economy standards.
But of all companies, Ford seemed to have had at least one more trick up its sleeve. Considering the force fed mills that power the rest of their fleet, such as the Focus RS, the mid-range Mustang, and even the Le Mans winning GT, it’s amazing the lengths they went to for a motor meant for this one model.
If it turns out this is Ford’s final salute to the Naturally Aspirated motor, it’s certainly a fine one; twenty-one pops, crackles, and bangs all.
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