At some point in the last two decades, this 1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra was pushed into a storage container. According to the car's current owner, his brother bought it brand new and blew the transmission, at which point it was parked. Presumably, the intent was to eventually fix it. Sadly, that never happened. The brother passed away last year, and now, the owner wants it back on the road to honor his memory.
Unfortunately, the car wasn't stored with care. The owner says it's been off the road for at least 15 years, but the last registration on the car was in 1997. That's 28 years, and in that time, mice have laid waste to the interior. It sat outside for at least some portion of that, because the black exterior is faded. The tires are flat. The engine bay is a mess. And the Cobra-specific "fanblade" wheels are filthy. It's a sad fate for any car, never mind a first-year SVT Cobra. An upgrade from the GT, Ford tweaked the suspension, added some aero bits, and bumped the old 5.0-liter V-8 to 235 horsepower.
With all that in mind, Larry Kosilla of AMMO NYC fame dives into this challenging cleanup with both feet. An entire day is spent simply disassembling the interior, followed by another full day just rinsing the exterior. The full interior cleanup finally begins on day three, with Larry still wearing protective gear to fend off any nasty viruses from the mouse infestation. It was so bad that the seat rails were rusted into the carpeting.
The rest of the components were salvageable, and the end result is simply extraordinary. Dare we say, the old fox Mustang looks nearly new inside. The same can be said for the black exterior, though some blemishes are still visible on the hood. And the iconic Cobra wheels look fantastic, too.
Now, it just needs to run. And thanks to Kosilla, it's now presentable enough for a mechanic to get to work. Getting the engine to fire could be a whole other challenge if the car has indeed been dormant for almost 30 years. Aside from the transmission issue, hoses and seals are likely dried up. The entire fuel system could be in ruins. The good news is that, even on something as rare as a fox body Cobra, parts are still plentiful.
Hopefully the exterior reconditioning motivates the owner to keep the project going. We suspect his brother would love that.
