Why Mustangs Keep Crashing After Car Shows (Explained)

[espo]

20 hours ago, deuces wild said:

Yep! That's the way I like it.....😁😁😁😁😁👍

And I've never been pulled over for it...🙂

You are very lucky that you haven't been stopped, even if you have been obeying all traffic laws. As a much younger man I had a '69 Camaro in Hugger Orange. I would get stopped when I wasn't even doing anything wrong. I was the second and fourth owner of the car for a total of 9 years and it almost cost me my license through no fault of my own. So, count your lucky stars, and enjoy that beautiful ride. 

[Scott8950]

Mustangs are affordable therefore they end up in the hands of kids and wannabe race car drivers  who have zero driving skills that's why you see them crashing. It's nothing about the car it's these idiots doing dumb things who crash them.. Most of these clowns crashing the cars aren't qualified to drive a shopping cart much less anything with power.

Mine has never been crashed 😉

Edited June 8 by Scott8950

[johnyrotten]

7 hours ago, Scott8950 said:

Mustangs are affordable therefore they end up in the hands of kids and wannabe race car drivers  who have zero driving skills that's why you see them crashing. It's nothing about the car it's these idiots doing dumb things who crash them.. Most of these clowns crashing the cars aren't qualified to drive a shopping cart much less anything with power.

Mine has never been crashed 😉

Nice mustang, I spotted the nitrous immediately. Looks like a pretty serious car.

[Scott8950]

2 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

Nice mustang, I spotted the nitrous immediately. Looks like a pretty serious car.

Thanks... it runs high 5s in the 1/8 on the nitrous...

[johnyrotten]

30 minutes ago, Scott8950 said:

Thanks... it runs high 5s in the 1/8 on the nitrous...

Yup,serious. I grew up working on a 68 roadrunner, it used to run in heavy eliminator, now it's a 9.50 index car,all motor. Fox bodies are an awesome platform, Swiss army knife for the strip. Awesome ride👍👍

[Radretireddad]

On 6/5/2025 at 9:01 AM, Bainford said:

Yup, that's it exactly.

 

I quite like modern Mustangs (well, the ICE ones, anyway). Very good road cars. I like driving them, great for road trips.

As Bill pointed out, my comment was of a general nature regarding all modern American performance cars (and perhaps, more generally, most modern cars). If a car such as yours weighed 2000 lbs less, it could be fitted with a 200 hp, 2.0 litre engine and run circles around your current car. It would use 1/3 less fuel. Tires, brakes, and some suspension components would last twice as long. It would out accelerate, out corner, and out brake a 4500 lbs car by a huge margin. And it would be all-round easier to drive. In fact, many of the post-car show wrecks that inspired this thread would not have occurred without the added inertia of an overweight modern performance car.

To take the point to an extreme, my ancient-technology Lotus Europa weighs less than 1500 lbs and is fitted with a 113 hp engine and skinny tires, and it will absolutely embarrass many 400+ hp modern cars on a twisty country road. Bloated Corvettes are a favourite. Oh, and Subaru WRX too. I don't know what it is with those guys, but they all want to tangle with the Lotus, they all try to stick with it in the corners, and they all create a huge dust cloud in my rearview mirror from which emerges a much slower travelling Subaru with a driver who needs to change his shorts.

The Europa is my very favorite Lotus, especially the JPS twin cams. Although at 6’2” they may be a bit snug on me. I’ll trade you a spin in my E Type for a spin in your Europa.😁

[Bainford]

44 minutes ago, Radretireddad said:

I’ll trade you a spin in my E Type for a spin in your Europa.😁

Count me in!!

My Europa is a Special, so the same as JPS except it's not black. It's my favourite Lotus road car also, though I would very much like to have a Super Seven.

At 6'2" you can fit if you are long in the legs. If you are long in the torso, it will be an uncomfortable squeeze. I know a Europa owner who is 6'5" and manages to fit, and he is long in the legs. He is also in his 20s, so is much more supple and bendy than I am.

[Radretireddad]

To the guy who made this video:

Thanks captain obvious.

I’ll chime in with what everyone else is saying. A Mustang that weighs as much, or more than a 70’s Country Squire has at some point in its past been betrayed by its product development team. I’ll leave it up to the individual enthusiast to pinpoint exactly when that happened.

I’ll also send back a hearty hear, hear to what Bainford and others are claiming. A well balanced, lightweight GT car with a properly sorted drivetrain will bring down the lumber on uninformed modern lead sled owners in environments where actual driving skills need to be summoned.

My E-type weighs about 2400 pounds and was factory rated in the neighborhood of 260 hp upstream from a factory installed 3.56 r&p and big discs at all 4 corners. I don’t believe it’s happenstance that these cars were endowed with the most perfectly matched horsepower and torque curve to gearing and weight of anything I’ve ever driven. The most frustrating part of ownership is not having anywhere nearby to drive her the way she begs and pleads to be driven. A future SCCA track day confirmation event is definitely in the cards.

I'm betting the chances of anything like them ever being affordably mass produced again are slim and none and slim just left town.

[Radretireddad]

1 hour ago, Bainford said:

Count me in!!

My Europa is a Special, so the same as JPS except it's not black. It's my favourite Lotus road car also, though I would very much like to have a Super Seven.

At 6'2" you can fit if you are long in the legs. If you are long in the torso, it will be an uncomfortable squeeze. I know a Europa owner who is 6'5" and manages to fit, and he is long in the legs. He is also in his 20s, so is much more supple and bendy than I am.

Twenty something Europa owners are something we definitely need more of.

Cheers and good hunting to you!

Edited Wednesday at 07:03 PM by Radretireddad

[deuces wild]

On 6/7/2025 at 1:46 PM, espo said:

You are very lucky that you haven't been stopped, even if you have been obeying all traffic laws. As a much younger man I had a '69 Camaro in Hugger Orange. I would get stopped when I wasn't even doing anything wrong. I was the second and fourth owner of the car for a total of 9 years and it almost cost me my license through no fault of my own. So, count your lucky stars, and enjoy that beautiful ride. 

Thanks! I do cross my fingers and do the sign of the cross ✝️ every time I get in to go somewhere.....🙄🙂😉

[Tyreman]

I have crashed a Mustang in the UK I am ashamed to say! not a car show i was late for work in the wet...ended up sideways in on comming traffic...thankfully no one hurt! but did some damage to a poor guys car...ended up an insurance claim...then of course years of double insurance costs for me and rightly so! full 6 years no claims wiped out,but the most important thing no one hurt! i have been trying to pretend it never happened.

Edited Thursday at 01:32 AM by Tyreman

[OldNYJim]

I drive my ol’ 2007 all year around, including right through the winter with the inches upon inches of lake effect snow we get here.  

Rarely ever even got it a little sideways when I didn’t intend to, even with the super icy un-plowed un-treated rural roads we get here.  No traction control, no ABS, stick shift - gets me around just fine all year round.

It definitely WILL get away from you if you’re not careful, even if the roads are just a little wet…so I drive to the conditions, and my abilities.  Teaching THAT mindset is as important as whatever they actually teach on driving tests nowadays…

[johnyrotten]

4 hours ago, OldNYJim said:

so I drive to the conditions, and my abilities

"Key" statement right here. 

[Beans]

10 hours ago, OldNYJim said:

I drive my ol’ 2007 all year around, including right through the winter with the inches upon inches of lake effect snow we get here.  

Rarely ever even got it a little sideways when I didn’t intend to, even with the super icy un-plowed un-treated rural roads we get here.  No traction control, no ABS, stick shift - gets me around just fine all year round.

It definitely WILL get away from you if you’re not careful, even if the roads are just a little wet…so I drive to the conditions, and my abilities.  Teaching THAT mindset is as important as whatever they actually teach on driving tests nowadays…

 

Drove my 2010 from WA to MS during a multi state winter storm.  Performance in the snow was way better than I thought it would be.  But like you said, driving within the limits is the most important factor.

[OldNYJim]

And when I say snow, this my wife’s Civic at the limits of it’s plowing abilities on the highway by my work…

Weirdly, I’ve got THAT stuck before but not the Mustang (yet…)

[Tyreman]

On 6/13/2025 at 3:50 PM, Beans said:

Drove my 2010 from WA to MS during a multi state winter storm.  Performance in the snow was way better than I thought it would be.  But like you said, driving within the limits is the most important factor.

I used to drive in the snow no problem....expecting things could go wrong..my embarrassing misshap in a car i had been driving daily for 3 years no problem all weathers and conditions ... it was unexpected and i could not react fast enough... i am no race driver and it possible to go over that limit ever so slightly and find out the hard way....i am not annoyed with you  just sharing my mistake.

[Tyreman]

On 6/13/2025 at 4:59 AM, OldNYJim said:

I drive my ol’ 2007 all year around, including right through the winter with the inches upon inches of lake effect snow we get here.  

Rarely ever even got it a little sideways when I didn’t intend to, even with the super icy un-plowed un-treated rural roads we get here.  No traction control, no ABS, stick shift - gets me around just fine all year round.

It definitely WILL get away from you if you’re not careful, even if the roads are just a little wet…so I drive to the conditions, and my abilities.  Teaching THAT mindset is as important as whatever they actually teach on driving tests nowadays…

My Mustang crash was in the 1990s....late 2000,s i had a 64 Falcon Sprint tribute... it was no seatbelts..drum breaks...4 Speed and despite powerful V8 the suspension did not match...death if things go wrong!...friends family knew about my Mustang crash...no one would be a passenger! i wonder why? only me ever in that car.  but She looked and sounded the part!

Edited 13 hours ago by Tyreman