The Fox-Body Mustangs are one of the hottest platforms on the car guy planet right now because they are cheap and easy to build big power.
Darrell McGorman thought about that reality 31 years ago when he bought his 1992 Mustang LX as a gently-used car—but he was really looking for a daily driver.
Jerry Sutherland
He drove the Mustang for a few years as a daily, but eventually it became a summer car. Darrell said it was “a run of the mill car” at that point, but he had a vision for his Mustang because he knew the car had “reliability issues”.
The car sat from 2010 to 2015, so Darrell said he “started throwing money at it”. This was a barebones car at that point with minimal options like power door locks—but manual windows and a stock 302 V-8. He wanted more out of his old car buddy.
Darrell focused on the undercarriage of the Mustang because he wanted a car that could handle the extra power he had in mind for his Fox-Body. That meant upgrading things like the brakes because stock ’92 Mustang brakes held no hope of handling the power he envisioned in his game plan.
He upgraded the brakes at all four corners to high-end aftermarket discs, then he lowered the car and upgraded the suspension to another level. Darrell did this because he wanted a car that could carve corners and brake before he upgraded the power.
Darrell painted the car in 2015 and continued to modify the Mustang. He added strength to the undercarriage with subframes because he knew a stock Fox-body couldn’t handle the extra power. Stress fractures in the A-pillar are an obvious sign—even in the Mustang coupe with the extra pillar.
He also ditched the T-5 manual in favor of an aftermarket 6-speed because Darrell knew the T-5 couldn’t handle the extra horsepower number. That number turned out to be 420 horsepower at the rear wheels of a 2900-pound car, so Darrell’s Mustang has an incredible power-to-weight ratio.
Darrell also added some personal upgrades to his car—things like factory power windows, upgraded seats and air conditioning. The air conditioning turned into a nightmare because the aftermarket supplier became very unhelpful when Darrell ran into serious installation problems.
That meant Darrell had to tear down the interior more than once because the factory fan didn’t push air like it should, so he learned everything the hard way.
Darrell is almost there with his Mustang and he’s definitely having fun with it. He lives close to the Canadian Rockies, so he makes annual spring runs to southern British Columbia, Canada to pound on the car over the twisty, light-traffic roads in the area.
He said the power is awesome, so when he needs to pass on the mountain roads, Darrell has no worries. His dad is a practical man, so he asked Darrell what kind of mileage he gets.
Darrell’s reply was simple;” It’s got a 3:73 rear end in it—those are things I don’t even think about”. He summed it up this way.
“It’s a hoot—I enjoy this car so much gas mileage is something I never think about”.
Darrell McGorman
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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