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I've compiled a list of the 10 quickest 1/4 mile Mustangs, as delivered from Ford, from reputable sources. I know, you guys will argue with me on this, but I only went off of test data from valid sources, and not old wive's tales, your grampa's stories or "my buddy's car" stories. Just the facts. I also didn't put any "tuner" cars on the list, such as the KR, Saleens, Shelby GT's, etc., just the cars as they came from Ford. There are TONS of conflicting magazine times, but I took the ones I could easily find that are relatively current, and, in my opinion, accurate. Here's how they fell:
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07-08 Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500 - 12.6 @ 114.2, Motor Trend - No surprise, here. 500 horsepower
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03-04 Cobra, 2000 Cobra R - 12.9 @ 112, Car and Driver, 12.9 @ 110.8, Motor Trend - Tie. 03-04 Cobra gets it on mph, but ET is a tie. We did say "quickest", not "fastest".
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03-04 Mach 1, 5-speed - 13.2 @ 106.7, Motor Trend - Sure quick for a stock 4.6 with no power adder. The auto is slightly behind it, but I didn't want to quibble over auto or standard. Automatic comes in as an honorable mention. Mach 1 owners, you get the nod for 3rd quickest on my list.
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96-01 Cobra - these all perform very closely, and slightly behind the Mach's. Car and Driver went 13.5 @ 105 with an 01 Cobra, which is the last of the natural Cobra's and the one with the most horsepower. The 96-98 cars are down a little on power, but also on weight.
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08 Bullitt, 68-70 Cobra Jet Mustang - Car and Driver says the new Bullitt runs a 13.6 @ 104. I've got an old issue of Road and Track from 1988 that picks the 68 Cobra Jet to run a 13.6 @ 106.6
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05-07 Mustang GT - 13.8 @ 103, Car and Driver - These cars run well box stock, and love to be beaten on the strip - see the other blog on our guy that's running twelves in one of these cars with bolt ons and slicks, and no gears.
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71 Boss 351 - 13.9 @ 102, howstuffworks.com - The quickest early Mustang on the list. Its solid-lifter 351 Cleveland outperformed all prior big-block stompers in stock form.
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99-04 Mustang GT, 93 Cobra, 95 Cobra R, 69-70 Boss 429 - Motor Trend, MMFF, Car and Driver, and howstuffworks.com, respectively, pick these cars to run 14.0 @ 100, 103 for the Boss. 99-04 GT? An upset for sure. Don't tell a Boss 429 owner that you'll run him in your stock 150k-mile 99 GT for "pinks". He might get a little pissed - and he just might lose.
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68-70 Cobra Jet Mustang - This is not a typo. I've listed the Cobra Jet twice, here, because so much legend surrounds the Cobra Jet's quarter mile prowess. I'd say this time that cobrajet.org is on the money when it lists a stock 4-speed 68 on polyglas tires running 14.25 @ 101.27. The time I quoted earlier on this list from the Cobra Jet, in my opinion, is skewed. You be the judge. We may never know, as the all-stock cars tend to be trailer queens, and the ones tearing up the strips are far from stock. There are a lot of "tall tales" about Cobra Jet cars, but they are true favorites of the die-hard drag racers and they have tons of potential. One of the baddest Mustangs on the strip? Sure. The quickest from the factory, no.
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87-93 5.0 HO Mustang - this was the hardest one to find a time from a reputable source. You can't just Google 5.0 Mustang 1/4 mile times and expect any simblance of accurate stock times. I remember an old Motor Trend showing one running 14.5 @ 94. I'd say that's on the money. These cars have gotten almost folk-lore status, with reports of stone-stock cars running in the twelves. I've seen some quick ones, but never in the 12's on the stock tires, with no mods at all. I'd say the norm is 13.8-14.9 depending on the driver. I won't call this the quickest Mustang from the factory by a long shot. I will, however, call it the most favorite for the drag strip, and the one with the most potential.
Honorable mention - Not on the list here by a long shot, but Car and Driver ran a 15.3 in a 07 V6 5-speed Mustang. Old timers, that's only 4 tenths off the best times I found for the fabled Boss 302.....
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