I still have the '89 LX that I bought new from the dealer.  For me the
real charm of the Fox Mustangs is their lack of refinement.  They are
the last of the old style muscle of car.  The '89 reminds me of the '66
GTO I drove in that neither car was very refined but they were a blast
to drive.

I can't think of another car that can take a beating like a these cars
can.  IMO, they are as close to indestructible as you can get for a
production car.  I drove mine like I stole it every chance I got for
120k miles before the first non-maintenance repair was required which
was the replacement of a tie rod end.  The original clutch lasted for
about 120k miles too.

After all that beating I installed heads, cam and a KB blower (up to 16
psi of boost) on the stock short block and beat the hell out of it for
another 35k miles.  It currently is sitting in the garage with an
"issue" that I haven't bothered to diagnose for a couple of years.  It
might be something minor or major but for now it will set until I can
get into a 427W engine swap.  The engine still doesn't burn any more oil
than when it was new and the compression was good across all the
cylinders the last time I checked.  My story has been experienced by
many Fox Mustang owners.  Getting well over 200k from basically stock
cars before ANY major repair is not uncommon.

I will never sell my Fox car.  My wife will go before it does.  It's a
good thing she knows the pecking order.  This way she won't ever ask me
to sell it. :)

   Personally, I would have shot him dead as soon as I knew
the Mustang was out of gear. This would never have happened
of course because I would NEVER toss my Mustang keys to
someone, I don't care if God him self had asked. And if he'd
done that in front of *my* house, he would definitely been
waiting for the blowtube truck and spending the night in
jail for DWI and whatever. That's just plain stupid doing
something like that in a residential area.