ADVANCED MUSTANGOLOGY
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Year
LX
Convertible Sales
GT
Convertible Sales
Balance of
Mustang Sales
Convertible
Percentage of Sales
1983
22,445 (GLX)
993
97,435
19.4
1984
11,344
6,256
123,880
12.5
1985
9,561
5,549
141,407
9.7
1986
13,058
9,887
201,465
10.2
LEFT: Ford continued the “red” theme when
marketing the ’86 convertible.
BELOW: A whopping 68-percent price increase
didn’t stop the stampede to Ford dealers for the
convertible Mustangs.
’84 model year was closed, convertible production was still
strong and around the 10-percent
mark, besting the first-generation
Mustangs. This trend continued
through 1985 and 1986.
A little scorekeeping is in order.
By 1986, Fox Mustang convertible
production had reached 78,000
units. Those four years saw more
convertible sales than the six
years of Mustang convertible
sales for model years 1968-1973.
The Corvette hadn’t been available as a convertible since 1975.
Chevrolet brought back the convertible for 1986. They produced
7,315 of them. The Chrysler
Corporation made good inroads
with convertible versions of their
Chrysler LeBaron and the Dodge
600. But the ’86 LeBaron couldn’t
crack the 20,000-unit ceiling, and
the Dodge 600 (so named to
invoke a Mercedes-like sense)
barely reached 16,000. The Ford
14 FOXMustangMagazine.com
Mustang sales stampeded the
competition in this market segment year after year. In 1986, Ford
produced 22,945 convertibles,
nearly equaling their Fox Mustang
debut year. GT sales accounted
for almost 10,000 of these.
Ford did have competition coming from its sister company,
Mercury, during this period. From
1984 to 1986, Mercury Capris
were available at your local
Lincoln-Mercury dealer. These
Capri convertibles were really
roadsters as there was no back
seat. Built by ASC/McLaren, they
were never serious competitors to
their Mustang cousins. A handful
over 500 of these Capris were
converted over the three years,
with 1986 being the last year the
Fox-body Capri was available.
With the end of the Capri line
came the end of the ASC/McLaren
Capris, but they would soon be
replaced by ’87 McLaren Mustang
convertibles.
We’ll stop our analysis with the
’86 Mustang convertible production. A future visit to the Aero Fox
convertible will be in order, with
its own special story.
FMM
Marti Auto Works produces The Marti Report and is licensed by
Ford Motor Company with all of their ’67-later production records.
This information is available as various reports. Marti Auto Works
also has original invoices for millions of Shelbys and Mustangs. Visit
www.martiauto.com or call (623) 935-2558 for more info. Email Kevin
at [email protected]. Not all emails will receive a response.