Car of the Week: 1979 Ford Mustang Cobra
After almost 45 years it’s only got 34,000 miles on the clock and remains a nearly perfect 1979 Mustang Cobra specimen.
Greg Pieczynski still laughs at the thought that he’s held onto his 1979 Mustang Cobra since it was new.
And he says the fact that he even stumbled onto it and bought it in the first place is even harder to believe.
The Plover, Wis., resident just happened to be driving through the tiny nearby town of Milladore one day and spotted one of the hot new Mustangs sitting on the small Ford dealer lot. The next thing he knew, he was driving it home.
“I heard every Ford dealer was going to get a Cobra — at least one — to start off with, and I happened to be coming through Milladore, and I spotted this one that was sitting out there underneath their sigh,” Pieczynski recalls. “It was just dumb luck…. They had just gotten it in not too long before that."
“I wasn’t a big fan of the Mustang II. I had owned a couple of the original Mustangs. Then they came out with the Fox body and I kind of got interested in it because of the turbo-charged four-cylinder. That was new technology back then. That was state-of-the-art, high-tech stuff… I just stopped in and took it for a test drive, and said ‘Yup, I'm gonna buy this one.”
As is often the case for vehicles that spend many decades with their original owners, the Mustang started off as daily transportation, but then got elevated to summer car and then finally hobby machine. After almost 45 years it’s only got 34,000 miles on the clock and remains a nearly perfect specimen. At the time that he bought it, Pieczynski said he would have wagered plenty on the long odds of ever owning the Cobra this long, or keeping it in such pristine shape.
“I was 23 years old when I bought it. I just liked the car and thought it was cool — great for going out and chasing around,” he laughs. “I just thought it was cool. Then after I had it a few years I started thinking it’s really a fun car and I paid it off, and I thought, well, I’ll just hang onto it. Then I wound up getting married and I thought about selling the car, and my wife convinced me not to. She just said, ‘You may regret that. You ever think about just keeping one car for you whole like?’ And I thought that wasn’t a bad idea. There aren’t many people who get a new car and just end up hanging onto it, so that’s what I decided to do."
“I drove it that first winter, of course. I got it on December 11, and of course it was the start of the winter and I drove it through the winter, and when the next winter came around I decided I just park it and save it. I remember my dad saying, ‘Are you kidding me? You just bought a new vehicle and you’re going to park it in the wintertime and not drive it?’ [laughs] But I bought an old Chevy pickup and that’s what I decided to drive in the wintertime.”
Dawn of the Fox body
If the second generation lacked some of the magic and broad appeal of the original pony cars, the dawn of the new “Fox body” ‘Stangs for 1979 gave the model a chance to reclaim some of its former glory. All-new sheet metal created an all-new machine, at least in the looks department. The chassis came from the Fairmont, but was shortened and modified for the new body. The new model was 4 inches longer than the 1978s and was said to offer 20 percent more passenger space. Soft urethane bumpers added to the longer look, but weight was actually cut by 200 lbs. The aerodynamic wedge design featured a sloping front and hood and sculptured roofline. A lowered window gave the Mustang great glass area for improved visibility. As in the prior year, a two-door notchback and three-door hatchback were offered in base and Ghig trim levels. There was also a sport package and a Hi-Po TRX package.
In addition to the German-built 170-cid (2.8-liter) V-6 and 302-cid V-8, both carried over from 1978, there was a new 140-cid (2.3-liter) turbo four-cylinder. The base engine remained a non-turbo four. Later in the year, Ford’s inline six replaced the V-6 as the first option above the base model. The turbo was optional on other Mustangs.
For buyers wanted some fun, the Cobra package was the way to go, but at $1,173 it wasn’t cheap! The Cobra goodies included the 2.3-liter turbo four-banger, turbo hood scoop with “Turbo” nameplate, 190/65R x 390 TRX tires on metric forged aluminum wheels and a special suspension. Cobras had blacked-out greenhouse trim, black lower bodyside tape treatment, and wraparound bodyside moldings with color-keyed inserts. The Cobras also had color-keyed grilles and quarter louvers, dual sport mirrors, black bumper rub strips with dual color-keyed inserts, an 8000rpm tachometer, engine-turned instrument panel, sport-tuned exhaust and bright tailpipe extensions. Rocker panel moldings were deleted on Cobras. Optional hood graphics were an extra 78 bucks. All of the 17,579 Cobras sold in 1979 carried a manual transmission.
Car and Driver magazine gave a resounding thumbs-up to the new Mustangs when they came out, and although the writers didn’t offer a report on the Cobra specifically, they put a nicely equipped turbo Mustang through its paces. “Although a V-8 that performs like this one is news, the turbo motor is News [with a capital N],” one writer commented. “ Ford has fitted a Garrett AiResearch turbo to the basic 2.3-liter four-cylinder, and with the extra help the engine produces 132 horsepower, a nice increase from the standard version's 118. And it's smooth, unobtrusive power. There's no neck-snapping surge when the turbo is doing its job: just a steady pull as the revs rise and the engine feeds on its own gases. In our early testing this engine was good for zero-to-sixty times of 9.1 seconds and ran the quarter in 17.4 seconds at 82 mph… Ford, obviously, has done a Very Good Thing with its Mustang. These cars are not only what we've been asking for, they're an indication of things to come throughout the domestic industry. And that is indeed good news.”
Defying Father Time
Pieczynski had to pony up $6,533 for his new Cobra before he could take it home, but the hit was softened when he traded in his Jeep CJ-5.
“I think the difference with tax, title and license was $3,677,” he recalls. “Back then in ’79, $7,000 was a lot of money for a car. It was a really expensive option for that car, but you did get quite a bit. You got the special tuned suspension, the metric wheels, the turbocharged four-cylinder 2.3, or you got the 302 V-8. You couldn’t’ get an automatic with the turbo engine, but you could get an automatic with the V-8… It’s got the low back bucket seats — cloth and vinyl, the accent group, power steering, power brakes, AM/FM, tinted glass.”
Other than a couple of belts, some spark plugs and regular oil changes, Pieczynski says the only thing he’s ever really done to his black Cobra is swap out the wheels. The rim and rubber switch was more for convenience and practicality than anything else.
“The original tires that were on there were the Michelin TRX and they were an oddball size. They were a pretty good tire, and I didn’t have very many miles on the tires, but after about 30 years they started getting so weather-checked that I didn’t feel safe driving on them anymore. I did buy another set (of tires and wheels). They re-popped the Michelin wheels and 16-inch tires … They were only like $1,000, $1,2000, so you could buy tires and wheels in one shot. The only thing is they are about an inch bigger than the originals. But if I had to, I could throw the originals on there — if I was getting it professionally judged or something.”
Pieczynski insists that the main reason his ’79 Cobra still trips his trigger today is the same reason he liked it to begin with — it’s frisky! By modern standards it might be a trail horse, but it was plenty fast for its time and still feels and sounds quick when the turbo starts howling.
“They have a warning system on ’em that tells you when you are getting over-boost, and it lets you know about it! [laughs],” says Pieczynski. “That’s fun. I’ve gotten those bells and whistles going! Those turbos, they want you to hammer on them if you want to get power out of them. You’ve gotta just go, and they are built to take it. The turbo motors were definitely beefed-up over the regular four-cylinders.”
Pieczynski has three other hobby cars that are all older than his ’79 Mustang Cobra. He certainly still views the Mustang as the youngster in his stable, even as the Cobra passes gracefully into middle age.
“I can’t even believe it’s been 44 years!” he says. “To me it still almost seems like a new car. It’s still got the new car smell… It feels like, ‘I just bought this thing, didn’t I?’”
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