Driver Quality Collector: 1993 Ford Mustang Cobra
To me, one of the greatest finds is the collector vehicle that is just slightly down on its luck but not yet put out to pasture. I almost followed this advice with my junkyard find Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 – almost, because it was pretty much put out to pasture – but the seller of this 1993 Ford Mustang Cobra is much smarter than me, starting with a car that had been sitting and had poor cosmetics but wasn’t all that far from starting up once again. The Cobra is now a healthy runner with clean paint and listed here on eBay where bidding is approaching $30,000 with the reserve unmet.
The idea is you buy a car that presents poorly and the previous owner thinks will require a great deal of work to get running again. And it may very well need more than you think – but the goal is for it to need less than the seller believes. The current owner of this Mustang Cobra notes he did buy it as a runner but that it had been sitting under a carport for five years and was weathered. Being a black car, I can almost guarantee you it presented terribly. Fortunately for him, the paint came back to life.
The seller refers to the Mustang as having a “…. million-mile odometer” which I believe is a cavalier way of indicating the true mileage is unknown (that’s an assumption on my part). The listed mileage is a hair under 40,000 which seems like a possibility based on the interior condition, which looks decent from here. The listing notes that this Cobra is car number 98 and that it comes with a factory sunroof. The A/C will need a charge, of course.
The engine bay isn’t concours by any means, but that’s what makes this Cobra so appealing: it’s an actual driver-grade example of a model we rarely see offered as such. That means you can actually use it from time to time for a spirited run to the convenience store without fear of incurring rock chips or a careless ding. The paint was wet-sanded back to life and the seller notes the hood isn’t original, but otherwise, this looks like a very smart buy for him assuming he bought this Cobra as a needy-looking example for relative peanuts.
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Comments
Interested in a highly-collectible Fox Body Cobra, but still want to have fun driving it? This is an appropriate specimen. Looks to be in good shape overall, but could still use a bit of attention. Relatively low miles, but not so low that you would be reluctant to drive it.
I remember not that long ago when this price would buy a very low mileage ultra stock 93 Cobra. It illustrates the rising prices for Fox Mustangs.
Weekend track car no doubt -pass
This is a low mileage car with under 40k original miles on it. It has a somewhat rare “million mile” odometer cluster because it was sold new in NY. State law in ’93 required cars to be sold with odometers reading in the hundreds of thousands so Ford installed the clusters in cars shipped there. So the owner is just pointing this out as something a little rare and unique.
I never knew that .Cool.Like to learn new stuff.Very interesting.
I never knew that .Cool.Like to learn new stuff.Very interesting.
So the reserve not met yet. Must be $50,000 but AC not working radio issues etc. I understand he but in time money to make it look great. Why not finish it off. Get everything working then it’s worth the price. Good luck to the seller .🐻🇺🇸
Son needed a car in 1999. Bought a 4 cylinder ’93 Mustang for $3,000, body and interior were prime, but who wanted, or wants, a 4 cylinder Mustang? He drove it for years, back seat good for groceries, easy on gas for the time, handled quite well, all that was missing was rocket ship acceleration. Eventually rusted out and went to the crusher. Lesson is, buy the most exotic version of whatever it is, garage it, baby it, and maybe it will be worth something twenty years from now. And, maybe, like the Allante, the Reata, the LeBaron convertible, and to some extent the Avanti’s, it won’t be. And the prime vehicles of the ’40’s, the Continental, the ’41 Caddy 60 Special, the ’49 Caddy Sedanette, which peaked 15 years ago, hold it too long, and the value drops. This is a very nice one.
I hear you man. My Brother in Law has the nicest $3,000 Chrysler TC by Maserati on the planet. It’s 30 years old. It’s probably still going to be a $3000 car in another 30 years!
I would think the seller referring to the “million mile odometer” is suggesting that if the odometer had rolled over 100 thousand miles it would show the correct miles instead of going back to zero?
I am skeptical of any old, low milage vehicle. It usually just doesn’t happen?
Just my opinion!
In the last 10 days, there were 2 ’93 SVT Cobras sold on BaT, one red and one black, that went for $62.5k and $68k respectively. Granted those were both super low mileage examples that were well preserved. But if that’s any benchmark, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one fetch $50k.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see the early 90’s Fox body models commanding these kinds of prices. But having owned a couple of Cobras, I can assure you that low mileage doesn’t mean easy miles. I always took great care of mine. But these cars almost beg to be “ridden hard and put away wet”. 🙂
These are coming out of the woodwork, back in Feb I just shared a 1993 black/grey with 65k miles to a buddy of mine who is a Mustang fanatic,, it was from Texas though and needed some paint work and possibly front seat covers
I like this Mustang… I love all the 80s performance cars I am a GM guy but I like Ford two in this one seems to be in good shape. What I don’t like is are people always putting the 80s cars down… The 80s where the last generation where the car companies where not afraid to take a chance on something new granted the quality of certain cars was in question… But the same is nowadays look at the recalls now that EVERY car manufacturer has. IMO these cars will only go up in value because there are not many left that didn’t get driven hard and wound up in scrap yards.
Bought my Son a one owner Cobra a 1993, I was a car dealer then)Teal with Grey leather. He has had it since Nov. 1999, 23 years. Only thing about it is,every time he drives it and parks, he comes back and there are notes all over it wanting to know if it is FOR SALE! (it is not and never will be). These cars will do nothing but keep going up price!