Get an 85 5.0. Bone stock. Spend your money on the motor. You would not believe the amount of speed and HP you can get out of that 302. Smoking fast and if you do it right 400 Lbs lighter than a corvette.

MUSTANG COBRA. getting the new COBRA is the way to go. Save a bout 18,000. in the process. that’s a lot of upgrading if you wish or tires you’ll keep burning off.

i have 2 suggestions you might want to consider:

1) 03/04 mustang cobra….(terminator series). these cars used 4.6 short block, but were hand built and assembled with forged internals and with race ready equipment. exceedingly limited production (for example in 04 only 3796 cobra coupes were produced & only 1896 convertibles). they came factory equpped with a supercharger and were only mustang to offer:
-independent rear suspension
-6 speed narrow gate transmission
they also came stock with brembos, upgraded suspension/chassis set-up and custom leather/suede interior.

out of the box they ran 0-60 in 4.5 & 1/4 in high 12’s….but because of the strength of the engine’s internals they can be easily enhanced to run up to 600rwhp without doing work inside the block.

because the production was limited a lot of cobra buyers have kept their cars stock & limited mileage
for example i saw this one on craigslist a few days ago
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/cto/895961500.html

also a number around (always for sale) that have been modified ( lots of high boost superchargers, or turbo kits available for 03/04 cobras).
here’s a vid of what is probably typical cobra build (at about 520rwhp)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB0cuYujW50&NR=1

…..a good forum if you have any interest in strong mustangs is
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/index.php
(they have individual forums dealing with terminators, mach 1’s etc).

(bottom line is the 03/04 terminator series settled all arguments as to who was king of muscle cars in 03, and the modified ones that are around today will likely shut down the “reborn challenger” nice looking car, and dearly love the hemi….and the next edition of the camaro, great vette engine, but the car sure is ugly).

2)wait for spring 2010, there are rumors that ford may announce a new mustang twin turbo, v-6.
shelby has already developed a supercharged pkg for a bonestock existing 6 cylinder that will take the car up to the range of 350 rwhp and because its lighter, will handle most any modified gt’s on the road. here’s the link for that build.
http://www.shelbyautos.com/cs6.asp

over and above that the team terlingua has their 6 mustang presently running at about 385 rwhp (if interested, do a search under mustang terlingua).

that is the type of build i am most interested in (have opened discsuuions with a shelby approved pro shop) taking a new bonestock 6, upgrading internals, and via high boost s’charger or twin turbos getting it up to over 420 (higher) rwhp…..

good luck with your car search (from 04 cobra running 575rwhp)
http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/show_image.pl?image=http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/1/web/3169000-3169999/3169967_8_full.jpg?191110-286

You could get a Shelby GT500 KR… but that would be 80 grand… so I would go with a Shelby GT500 convertable @ $43000. it has 500hp and gets 20mpg

http://www.shelbymustang.com/past_inventory.shtml <—- check these out and find your flavor,,