In 1981, Ford formed the Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) group to design and develop performance parts and accessories related to the company's racing programs.
The group also built a special model to showcase these parts, the Ford Mustang SVO. The SVO Mustang was designed to compete directly with European sports sedans like BMW's 3 Series. To reduce costs, they used the existing 2.3 L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine and Borg-Warner T-5 5-speed manual transmission from the Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. The car had a different computer and air meter and added an intercooler, a Hurst shifter, KONI shock absorbers, and 16 inch wheels, a novelty at the time. The car produced 175 hp (130 kW) for the 1984 model year (MY) and the first part of the 1985 MY, 205 hp (152 kW) after mid-1985 MY, and 200 hp (149 kW) for the 1986 MY. In total, 9,844 were built.
SVO/Ford Motorsports was later renamed Ford Racing Technology (FRT).
Read more about Special Vehicle Operations: SVO Australia
Famous quotes containing the words special, vehicle and/or operations:
“In this century the writer has carried on a conversation with madness. We might almost say of the twentieth-century writer that he aspires to madness. Some have made it, of course, and they hold special places in our regard. To a writer, madness is a final distillation of self, a final editing down. It’s the drowning out of false voices.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“Its idea of “production value” is spending a million dollars dressing up a story that any good writer would throw away. Its vision of the rewarding movie is a vehicle for some glamour-puss with two expressions and eighteen changes of costume, or for some male idol of the muddled millions with a permanent hangover, six worn-out acting tricks, the build of a lifeguard, and the mentality of a chicken-strangler.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“You can’t have operations without screams. Pain and the knife—they’re inseparable.”
—Jean Scott Rogers. Robert Day. Mr. Blount (Frank Pettingell)