10 Best Ford Mustangs of All Time

Hello everybody it is Mike here from AutoGuide. Today let's talk about Mustangs. Now with the GTD

just being introduced as basically the Super Mustang and there already being some special

editions I thought I'd go back and take a look at the 10 best Mustangs of all time. Now I'm not

talking about a specific year make model I'm talking about the best 10 packages that came

on the Mustang. Now I know you'll probably be screaming at your screen during this video saying

I got it all wrong but this is my personal list. That said I do think I've covered 10 very important

Mustangs over the years if not the most 10 important but that's free to decide so let's

get right into the list. The Dark Horse was the new kid in town until the GTD showed up and it

was also the best performing Mustang of the new generation until the GTD showed up. But unlike

that car, the Dark Horse is not a full-blown race car wearing a Mustang costume. It is more like

the boss models of old, a track-ready version of the street Mustang. With 500 horsepower, big brakes

sticky tires, an adjustable suspension, and other goodies here and there, it's the perfect weapon

for the weekend track warrior that's looking for a brand new Mustang. So way back in 1968, California auto dealers convinced Ford to create a special version

of the Mustang for their state only, although it ended up being sold in many other states

and everywhere down the road. But that's beside the point. Called the GTCS, California Special, the car borrowed a lot of styling elements from the

Shelby Mustangs of the time to look sportier and faster. Although performance was unchanged

the car had its own unique look that sort of split the difference between regular Mustangs

and the Super Shelbys. Now, not many of the original California Specials were made and since

they didn't really grab the headlines, they haven't all been kept. So there's even fewer

available today, which makes it quite a collector special. Starting in the mid-2000s, around 2007

Ford started using the GTCS package again on Mustangs, and for most of the years up until today, it's been offered

And once again, it's more of an appearance package than an actual performance package

EcoBoost? EcoBoost what? Turbocharged four-cylinder engines in a Mustang aren't anything new

In fact, it wasn't even anything new when the SVO showed up. Ford had been doing it for years, although the early turbo 4s didn't make much power and weren't that great

When the SVO showed up in 1984, power was now up to 175 horsepower

which might sound like nothing in today's standards, but back then that was quite a bit of power

And during the SVO's run, power would eventually go up to 200 horsepower, and a few lucky individuals even got 205 horsepower

But the Mustang SVO was more than just an engine. The brakes, steering, transmission, and suspension were all upgraded

You may be noticing a theme in this video about these special packages. The rear came standard with a limited slip differential

and the car had some very distinct aerodynamic styling along with a big functional hood scoop

So, it's pretty much impossible to talk about the Mustang without talking about the GT

Since it was introduced as an equipment package in 1965, The GT badge and high performance Mustangs have a long history together, they kinda go

hand in hand doing burn outs across North America. Who knows how many hundreds of thousands of Mustangs have the GT badge glued to their trunk lid

Although there was a big gap through the 70s without GTs from the Fox body days right up until now GT meant you had the right engine under the hood more or less a big growly V8

And although it may not be as track dedicated as other vehicles on this list, the GT usually also came with visual upgrades along with better mechanics to put all that power to the ground

so the first bullet mustang wasn't actually called that but it earned its nickname due to

its iconic role in the movie that was called you guessed it bullet starring steve mcqueen

the car chase really sort of cemented its legendary status it was a 1968 mustang with

a 390 engine with a lot of the exterior dress up stripped off and it came of course in dark green

Although it took a long time, in 2001, Ford finally released an official Bullet Mustang to commemorate the original 1968

It had upgraded mechanics, including a bump in engine power, it wore retro-inspired wheels, it had grippy tires, and of course it could come in dark green

For the 2008 and 2009 model years, Ford once again introduced the Bullet model

and it also had a bump in power, could come in dark green or black, and stripped off any exterior flashy bits that weren't needed

Oh, and it sounded great thanks to a reworked air intake and exhaust

The bullet did appear for a third time, again from 2019 to 2020

and guess what, it was available in dark green and black, and it stripped off a lot of flashy exterior bits

and it sounded great with a more powerful V8. Let's get the dad jokes out right away

No, this Mustang could not hit Mach 1. But like the ambitious name alludes

these were some very fast Mustangs. First introduced in 1969, the Mach 1 was a performance

version of the Mustang. It could be had with a trio of beefy V8s including the ridiculously powerful

Cobra Jet 428 cubic inch Monster. In 1971, there would be an introduction of a second generation

Mach 1 that some argue may be the best styled one and it again had a trio of V8 engines. It would

last all the way through the rest of the first generation mustangs run and then when the mustang

two came along you know that mustang the mach one name remained and in 1975 it only came with a 105

horsepower v6 as the base engine yet ironically that was its best sales year but i think people

got turned off pretty quick because in 1977 that was the mach one's worst sales year and the car

would only last one more year and when the Fox Party arrived there was no more Mach 1. But don't

worry after a long hiatus the Ford Mustang Mach 1 did return in 2003 and it had a more powerful V8

and other mechanical upgrades and of course the exterior was reworked to look like some of those

original Mach 1s from the 60s and 70s. Then in 2021 just a couple years ago the Mach 1 came back

again once again sporting the stripes and stickers package that mimicked the original Mach 1s and the

The V8 under the hood made anywhere from 470 to 480 horsepower depending on the year

And there were a lot of mechanical bits borrowed for this car from the Shelby GT350, which we'll get to later on this list

The 1969 was a pretty banner year for the Mustang. And another special edition, well, actually two special editions, arrived

And they were the Boss Mustangs. So starting with the Boss 302, it had a small block V8

and it was pretty much a race car for the street designed for the SCCA Trans Am series

you know, to go take on the Camaro, which will be doing pretty well. The exterior removed any unneeded body cladding

There's a front spoiler added. There a rear spoiler added And the V8 was worked on and although it was rated at 290 horsepower it probably made a lot more So the other Boss introduced that year was the complete opposite It was a drag race monster

called the Boss 429 and you guessed it had a 429 big block cubic inch V8 under the hood and

it had 375 horsepower but it's more the Olympic pool size torque that really made this car special

Now those two cars would last for another year, but in 1971, a very limited edition Boss showed up called the Boss 351

And a lot consider this maybe the most special vehicle, because it sort of split the difference between the 302 and the 429

It was quicker in a straight line than the 302, but it handled much better than the 429, so it was kind of a best of both worlds approach

But these cars, even in 1971, were ultra rare with less than 2,000 produced, and there's a lot fewer of them left around today

Like a lot of the other vehicles on this list the Boss name did return but unlike a lot of those names it's only come back once so far

In 2012 Ford revived the Boss 302 name and it once again was a very track focused version of the Mustang

It had a 5 liter V8 engine again much like the original car but it was quite different and all of the tires brake suspension were upgraded to get the most potential on a road course

But if the Boss 302 wasn't quite enough, there was the Laguna Seca version, which looked fantastic and upped the performance ante even further

I still really want one of those cars. Alright, moving on to the most famous tuner of Mustangs, and that is Shelby

So in 1967, Shelby decided to add another Mustang to their already successful GT350, which we'll get to later

And that was the GT500. In this new car, Shelby stuffed the 428 cubic inch V8 and various other exterior upgrades and basically made it a drag strip monster

A year later, the car became the Mustang Cobra GT500KR for king of the road

And now Ford was factory installing a big block V8, the 428 Cobra jet

But then the year after that, in 1969, it would once again be called the GT500 before disappearing in 1970

Now, like Michael Jordan, this car keeps coming back. So in 2007, Ford revived the trim with a 500 horsepower, 5.4 liter supercharged V8

And once again, there's also a GT500 KR model available that made 540 horsepower, which at the time was basically a stupid amount of power

In 2010, the Mustang got restyled and tweaked, and now all GT500s had the 540 horsepower engine

and a year later with the revision of the engine it was now 550 horsepower. But wait Ford wasn't

done yet. In 2013 an all new Shelby GT500 was introduced and now it had an insane 662 horsepower

5.8 liter supercharged V8. It of course had significant upgrades all around to handle this

extra power and the exterior was special with GT500 stripes so people knew what you were driving

But the real king of the GT500, well that came in 2020

So it had a 5.2 litre supercharged VIA. So it's smaller than the last one, so it's less powerful right

Well no, this made 760 horsepower and 662 pound feet of torque

There were massive sticky rear tires trying to get that power out of the ground and when

hooked up this car absolutely blasted in a straight line. Okay we're almost at number one and maybe a lot of people won't agree with this but I think it's

pretty cool maybe because I grew up with them but from 1993 until 2004 high performance mustangs

wore a SVT Cobra badge They had more power better handling and they enhanced the driving experience as well as looked really cool These Cobras were a step above V8 Mustangs but if even more performance was needed there

were a few special Cobras called the Cobra R. So the first Cobra appeared in 1993 and although it used the Cobra's 235 horsepower 5 liter

V8, everything else basically was upgraded. Upgraded shocks, larger brakes, bigger wheels, extra cooling, bigger tires and any unneeded

items inside like the rear seat, air conditioning, stereo, they're all tossed aside for better weight

In 1995, Ford's SPT department took things a step further. Now it ditched the 5 liter V8 for a 300

horsepower 5.8 liter V8. And other track ready upgrades included a fuel cell, heavy duty springs

thick stabilizer bars, front strut tower brace, and again weight savings was a huge focus. So rear

seat it's gone again power windows air conditioning nope radio who needs it but it's the final cobra

r the 2000 cobra r that holds a special place in the mustang community so like the previous two

models any unnecessary weight was ditched so stereo rear seat air conditioning all gone and

the car now had a 5.4 liter v8 that made 385 horsepower but it was the exterior that was really

the biggest change. It had full race car aerodynamics including a massive rear spoiler

which wasn't really a thing back then although nowadays everybody seems to have 8 foot spoilers

on the back of their cars. To say this car has become a bit of a collector's item is

understated as they're fetching crazy amounts of money at auctions. I'm someone who likes a vehicle's overall performance so it should come as no surprise

that the number one car on this list is the Shelby GT350, which has always been a very

track-focused version of the Mustang. So only a year after the original Mustang was released

Ford and Shelby teamed up to make the GT350. It was a Mustang designed for the track. The 289

cubic inch V8 was tweaked to about 306 horsepower, and any extra weight like the rear seat was ripped

out. Now that first year, it was only painted white, and the GT350R absolutely terrorized

racetracks. And although the GT350 would last till 1970, none were ever as raw and potent as that

first vehicle. The Shelby name was kind of bounced around on different Mustangs over the years and in

2011 there was a Shelby GT350 but it was more of a aftermarket deal where Ford would ship a

completed Mustang GT to Shelby's factory to get the GT350 conversion. This would last for a couple

years but then in 2015 Ford brought back a factory created Shelby GT350. Now any worries that these

new cars wouldn't live up to the legends of the 60s were quickly squashed. Under the hood was a 5.2

liter flat plane crank V8 that made 526 horsepower and could scream to over 8,000 rpms and oh man did

it sound amazing. But the engine of course wasn't the only part of the story unlike the drag race

ready gt500s that have been around for years the 350 was once again meant for track duty and it

could go toe to toe with corvettes and 911s of its time but if an even more track focused gt350

was needed there was the gt250r which had less weight and grippier tires the model lasted until

2020 and we were very sad to see it go so there you have it there's the top 10 mustangs according

to me let me know in the comments which ones you would have put in instead or what order you would

have had you know you could be nice in the comments don't have to yell at me but if you want to

whatever let me know what your thoughts are there should be more lists like this coming down the

road so let me know what other cars makes or models you'd like to see