If you grew
up in the 80’s you know what an SVO Mustang is and most likely you dreamed of
owning one. Let’s face the facts, the 80’s were not the most popular for car enthusiast
due to lack of real muscle cars with any power or torque. However, there are a
few exceptions and the Ford Mustang SVO was one of those cars that grabbed lots
of attention.
Ford had a
newly formed internal group called Special Vehicles Operations Department (SVO)
and their job was to oversee both the companies racing programs and production
of their limited-edition and high-performance (street-legal) vehicles. They had
a new secret weapon that was about to hit the streets in 1984 and was packing a
2.3 liter inline 4 cylinder turbo with 175 HP and 210 lb-ft. of torque. Not
impressive in today’s world, but very respectable for the mid 80’s. Eventually
reaching 200 HP and 240 lb-ft. of torque by the end run in 1986 (Only a three
year run for the SVO 4 cylinder Mustangs).
The 1985 ½ SVO Mustang was and still
is the most sought after with its looks and power (205 HP and 248 lb-ft. of
torque). Each year of the SVO production run also had a few other performance
goodies that I will not take time to address, but added to their street cred. (Suspension,
gears, brakes, etc.)
Now, let’s
fast forward 35 years and Ford is once again offering a 2.3 liter inline 4
cylinder turbo Mustang and it’s also gaining lots of attention again. This time
around the Ford engineers have been putting in the extra hours to extract a lot
more ponies under the hood. The current 2.3 liter EcoBoost version is rated at 310
HP and 350 lb-ft. of torque and is capable of 0-60 mph runs well under 6.0
seconds. That’s some serious performance from the little engine that could!
Not long
after the dust settles from the praise-worthy articles about the 2019 EcoBoost
Mustang, we get breaking news from Ford that they have once again tweaked their
4 cylinder Pony car and this time the gloves are off and they come out swinging
for the knockout punch.
At the New York
Auto Show Ford reveals the 2020 Ford Mustang EcoBoost High Performance Package
(longest name EVER) will pack even more ponies under the hood. The 2.3 liter
turbo 4 cylinder will now sport 330 HP and 350 lb-ft. of torque and is projected
to blaze from 0-60 mph in the mid-four-second range! It will also borrow many
other performance upgrades from its older brother, the Mustang GT, such as GT
front brake rotors, upgraded sway bars, quad-tip exhaust, and specially
calibrated magnetic dampers.
Most purist are
already asking the question, will this new performance minded 4 cylinder turbo
carry the famous SVO badge again as its younger brother did in the 80’s? For
now, the answer is no, Ford has even created a snazzy new High-Performance
badge with checkerboard trim. But when a spokesperson was asked about bringing
back the Iconic SVO badge, they responded and said “Not on this one”.
So I guess
we can stay hopeful that the little pony that could may still get branded as an
SVO Mustang soon, but for now let’s just enjoy those incredible performance
numbers Ford just unveiled. The streets will again be filled with young car enthusiast
who will want to gain the bragging rights to those street light challenges that
have been known to take place in any small-town USA. Maybe Ford won’t make us
wait much longer to shout “Hey…look at that SVO” as we attend those Friday
night cruise-in’s and Saturday Cars Shows.
Congrats to
you Mr. Ford, way to keep pushing the boundaries and continuing to elevate the
performance bar on the American Sports car.
See Ya down
the road……..Joseph P. Scott
