By now, we’re all acquainted with and correctly obsessed on the Ford Mustang SVO – aka the pondering individual’s Fox physique – with its concentrate on lighter weight and superior dealing with. It completed this by ditching huge displacement, going with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and including a a lot sharper-tuned suspension.
What if I instructed you that there was one other Mustang, just like the SVO, that elevated that very same line of pondering to its illogical conclusion? There was, and it was constructed as a partnership by McLaren Engines (based by Bruce McLaren because the US-based racing arm of McLaren) and Ford’s SVO staff. It was imagined to be restricted to round 250 examples, however a stratospheric (for a Mustang) price ticket of roughly $92,000 in at this time’s cash ensured that solely 10 examples had been ever constructed.
The modifications that Ford and McLaren carried out on the M81 prototype had been myriad, and so they’re well-outlined on this stellar article by Silodrome. For the Tl; Dr crowd, they included a totally ported and polished, balanced and blueprinted 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine with an in-cabin guide increase controller. It additionally obtained huge ol’ metal fender flares and a Koni suspension and BBS wheels, amongst different issues. (The complete story is price a learn.)
While the McLaren Mustang was by no means going to be successful, it did pave the best way for the SVO, the ASC McLaren Capri fashions, and, ultimately, the superior EcoBoost Mustang. So, let’s all pour one out for this near-Ferrari-priced pony and the offended turbocharged future it promised us.
Source: jalopnik.com