GT Spirit - LB Works vs Roush Stage 3 Mustangs

Form vs function for Ford’s muscle car icon

- MATT BOYD

What a strange, wonderful time it is to be a muscle car enthusiast. Fifty years ago the height of the muscle car era featured a host of factory offerings with monster motors and outrageous graphics. Various aftermarket tuner shops with names like Tasca, Yenko, and Mr. Norm were packing them with even more performance and wilder styling. Streetcars with 400, even 500 horsepower were not uncommon, and Ford’s Mustang was right there helping lead the way. We were so awash in horsepower that insurance companies felt the need to drop their iron hand, slapping hefty surcharges on the biggest powerhouses just as the first of the fuel crises hit and stringent new emissions regulations strangled performance. Almost overnight the big-power muscle cars were gone. The Mustang was among the few that remained, but it was a shadow of its former glory. A glimmer of hope crept back in the mid1980s when the H.O. 5.0L started nudging power back up into the 200s, and the Fox-body Mustang became the platform of choice for handling and cosmetic upgrades too. This helped spark a renaissance for modified Mustangs that continues to this day.