The fifth generation of the Mustang, known as the S197, debuted for 2005 on a new platform. On the upside, the new D2C platform shed the last vestiges of the old late-Seventies Fox body architecture that had lingered through the preceding SN95 generation.
It shared much of its front end with the new DEW98 rear wheel drive platform that underpinned the Lincoln LS, new Ford Thunderbird, and Jaguar S-type. On the downside, for reasons of cost and weight, it had a live rear axle, unlike the independent rear suspension of those DEW98 cars.
Base cars had the latest 4.0L SOHC version of Ford's Cologne V-6, the basic lump of which dated back to the early Sixties. The GT came with a 3-valve-per-cylinder variant of the 4.6L Modular V-8.
While the GT versions made 300 horses, even the base V6 cars, like this V6 Deluxe Convertible in Vista Blue Metallic, put out 210 SAE net horsepower, which is almost as much as the 5.0L GT of the Eighties and Nineties.
Motor Trend tested a 2006 V6 convertible with the automatic transmission and recorded a 7.3 second zero-to-sixty run and a quarter mile time of 15.5 seconds at 90mph through the traps.
This car has the Sport Appearance Package, with the spoiler and rocker panel stripes, and someone's retrofitted a GT grille with the fog lamps.
This one was photographed with a Nikon Df and a 24-85mm f/2.8-4D zoom lens in March of 2026.
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