The 1985 mustang gt was the best mustang built in 15 years without a doubt.The only downfall was the 7.5 rear end and the brakes that were both weak but after an upgrade on the brakes and adding the 8.8 rear end your looking at a definite collector car.First mustang with factory headers,world class t5 tranny,first stang to crack 200hp in a decade are just a few of the features to make this a camaro killer.Drop the cats and add some flows and your looking sweet while cruising for some pink slips.The 1985 stang is a stand alone year and would eat a corvette of the same year for half the price.
I drove one an 85 GT for my machanic. It had been running rich and someone had to drive it, and me a regular there was waiting for a bay to work on my Camaro. Well, he need someone to drive it :) I said yes, I suppose. Well the car was a stock manual, 5L, with 80,000miles. Well I owned a 89 Lx 5.0 before this and when I started this car it was louder. Also it seemed to be less refined when driving. Tipcle of compairing a caberator to fuel injected. Well I pulled out and noticed the cars handling and braking seemed slugish but similar to any 5.0 of the 80s. But the torque was lot of fun. It made the Stang come to life. I didn't go over board because it wasn't mine, but it accelerate nearly as good as my 89. The shifts were from the same awsome T-5 trans that was used up until recent. This is the first year of this option. I was glad to not be a auto. The auto's in stangs are known to be slower and well boaring, and 85 was the first of the 4sp standard. Though steer clear of the 79-84 auto. They are a headache and not only feature poor preformance are unable to receive mods. Well performance was fun. The 5L makes 210hp with manual, with auto its a 185hp.(keep aware)
So the interior is very 80s, but atleast the caberated engine went out with a bang, though small. If you mod these engines you only receive a max of 350hp, and 300 leagally. So keep that in mind when changing you 5.0 to carberated or pick this year to tune. You are limited to carberated math. Displacement+tourque over RPM. You will reach a limit early.
All in all this isn't worth collecting, its not a mind blowing or addictive, and not a great everyday car. So I don't know what its worth to own to day, then a poor kids first mustang. It aged far worse then the later years 5.0s. I feel like for performance its a deadend.
