By the late 1980s, the Ford Mustang had managed to stave off a front-drive replacement vehicle named the Probe and Ford was trying to figure out how to improve on the next-gen muscle car. Meanwhile though, cars like the Mitsubishi Eclipse were slowly but surely gaining favor with younger buyers looking for a turbocharged driving experience.
The overlap between Mustang and Mitsubishi owners is small, but there was a time when the Fox-body Mustang had a four-cylinder turbo of its own. We’re not sure if that is what inspired this incredible combination of a Fox-body Mustang and a Mitsubishi 4g63 turbo engine, but the result is clean, powerful, and slightly offensive to just about everyone.
Now we know what you must be thinking. “Heresy! Madness! Kill the witch!” But hold up just one second there. Granted, nothing will ever be remotely as cool as a V8-powered Mustang, but there are quite literally millions of those still on America’s roads. If you’re like us, you can still appreciate a clean, stock Mustang, as well as something a bit more…out there.
Besides, it is hard to argue with the results of this Mitsu-powered Mustang, and as strange as it is to hear the buzz of a four-banger under the hood, at the drag strip the numbers speak for itself. This ‘86 Mustang screams down the quarter-mile in ten-seconds flat using that turbo motor, faster than most V8 Mustangs we’ve seen at the drag strip.
So say what you will, but if you ask us this Mitsubishi-Mustang crossbreed is different done right.