The public was excited about the new 1980 Ford Mustang and all went well in 1979 so Ford was feeling a little better, too. In 1980 the changes were minimal to the exterior yet the performance this year was pretty bad. The engine just was not up to par and did not perform well at all. In addition to this the usual price increase from year to year was more from 1979 to 1980 than normal. However, there were 271,322 Mustangs sold in 1980.
1980 Mustang Lineup
Powertrain and Performance
Power and performance for the 1980 Mustang changed somewhat, in fact it was one of the worst years Mustang had experienced under the hood.
The 2.8 liter V6 and 5.0 liter V8 were no longer available. The six was available and included the 3.3 liter straight six. Only one V8 was available and it only powered out 119 horsepower on a good day. It had 4.2 liters and 255 cubic inches on a small block. This V8 had two distinctions in 1980, it was the smallest V8 ever and it was the worst. The lack of horsepower may be a reason for slow sales of the V8.
Somehow the Mustang's most powerful engine in 1980 was the 132 horsepower turbocharged 2.3 liter. In fact, this model was advertised as the Mustang's performance engine for 1980. However, it had plenty of mechanical problems itself.
Exterior
The 1979 pace car replica was so popular with American consumers that the popular features were included as the 1980 Mustang Cobra package. This package also sported a cobra hood decal. There was a carriage roof option available as well in 1979 that cost an extra $625. The option gave the vehicle the look of a convertible when the top was up because it was vinyl stretched over the roof. This was as close as the Mustang would get to a convertible until 1983. Although, the public was certainly desperate for a convertible Mustang to make an appearance.
The exterior colors available in 1980 were silver metallic, bittersweet glow, polar white, black, medium gray metallic, bright bittersweet, medium blue glow, bright blue, light medium blue, bright caramel, dark cordovan metallic, bright red, dark chamois metallic, bright yellow, and chamois glow.
The tu-tone exterior color combinations included silver metallic/medium gray metallic, bittersweet glow/dark cordovan metallic, bright bittersweet/dark cordovan metallic, silver metallic/dark cordovan metallic, chamois glow/dark chamois metallic, polar white/bright yellow, dark chamois metallic/chamois glow, polar white/bittersweet gold, dark cordovan metallic/bittersweet glow, and light medium blue/bright blue.
Interior
There were not too many changes in 1980 as far as the interior went. However, there were some nice interior factory options available. These included tinted glass, deluxe seatbelts, rear window defroster, rear wiper/washer, premium sound system, AM radio and AM/FM radio with 8 track and cassette,
Interior color options included black, caramel, wedgewood blue, vaquero, bittersweet, white/blue, red, white/caramel, white/red, white/vaquero, and white/black.
Final Thoughts
Although plagued by mechanical problems and not so powerful engines the 1980 Mustang still had a pretty good year. Sales were not as strong as the year before, but more than 271,000 vehicles were sold.
Ford realized some of the problems that occurred in the 1980 engines, probably from the thousands of complaints received, and ended up offering fewer engines in the next model year to try and combat some of these problems. With each new generation of Mustang Ford had to recognize the strengths and weaknesses and then do its best to capitalize on the strengths. The third generation of Mustangs had some kinks that needed to be worked out and Ford was focusing on that after the poor engine performance in 1980.
