This Red 1967 Mustang Is Hiding Ford’s First Big-Block Under the Hood

A plain red 1967 Mustang doesn’t look like it’s hiding much, until you check under the hood and find Ford’s FE-series S-code 390, the big-block that finally gave the pony car a genuine performance option. Read on to find out why this overlooked engine option still counts as one of the smarter buys in the classic Mustang market.

A plain red Mustang parked on a sunny street doesn’t look like it’s hiding anything special, until you check under the hood and realize this is an S-code car, one of the Mustangs that finally gave Ford’s pony car a genuine big-block option. Before 1967, the hottest Mustang you could order topped out with a 289, quick enough for the era but nothing that could hang with a real muscle car in a straight line. Ford solved that by shoehorning its FE-series 390 cubic inch V8 into a chassis that was never designed around one, and the redesigned ’67 body, bigger and wider with more room under the hood, existed largely to make that swap possible. So what exactly does a factory S-code Mustang bring to the table that the small-block cars couldn’t, and why do collectors consider it one of the more overlooked bargains in the muscle car world?

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The Engine Ford’s Pony Car Was Never Built Around

The S-code 390 arrived rated at 320 horsepower and roughly 427 lb-ft of torque, numbers that don’t sound enormous by big-block standards but represented a genuine leap for a car that debuted three years earlier as a secretary’s special. This wasn’t some warmed-over small-block, either. The FE-series V8 traced its roots back to 1958 and would go on to power everything from Thunderbirds to Cammer-powered drag cars and Le Mans-winning GT40s, so dropping a detuned version of that lineage into a Mustang gave the pony car a genuine performance pedigree overnight. That combination of proven architecture and fresh application is exactly why FE-powered Mustangs still command genuine respect among big-block specialists today.

Rare, But Not for the Reason You’d Guess

Ford actually built a healthy number of these, with roughly 28,800 S-code 390s finding buyers in 1967 alone before the number dropped off sharply in the following two years. What makes the S-code genuinely scarce today isn’t low original production, it’s survival: these were driven hard, raced, and eventually parted out or rusted away like most affordable muscle cars from the era, leaving relatively few clean, numbers-matching examples on the market compared to how many actually left the factory. Survivors that avoided decades of hard use and neglect are correspondingly harder to find, which is a big part of why a clean example commands real attention when one surfaces.

An Overlooked Value in a Market Full of Shelbys

Because the S-code shares a body with every other ’67 fastback and coupe, and because it never carried the Shelby name or GT500 badge, it’s routinely overshadowed by flashier siblings that command far bigger money at auction, despite offering a genuinely similar big-block experience for a fraction of the price. That’s exactly why enthusiasts who know what they’re looking at treat a clean S-code like this red example as one of the smarter buys left in the classic Mustang world.

1967’s Redesign Made the Big-Block Possible

Ford widened and lengthened the Mustang for 1967 specifically to make room under the hood for engines the original 1964 pony car was never designed to carry, and the S-code 390 was the direct beneficiary of that extra real estate. Without that redesign, shoehorning an FE-series big-block into the Mustang’s engine bay would have required the kind of custom fabrication work that aftermarket builders, not Ford’s own assembly line, typically handle.

GT Package vs Standalone S-Code Order

Buyers could order the 390 as a standalone engine option or bundle it with the GT equipment group, which added dual exhaust with quad tips, a handling suspension package, and GT-specific badging and stripes. A plain S-code without the GT package, like this red example, delivers the same big-block performance under a more understated exterior, which is exactly the kind of sleeper combination collectors have started paying closer attention to.

How It Stacked Up Against Chevy’s Small-Block Camaro Rival

1967 also marked the launch of the Camaro, and a big-block Mustang like this S-code was Ford’s direct answer to buyers who wanted more than the small-block 327s most early Camaros carried. The FE-series 390 gave the Mustang real torque advantage low in the rev range, a trait that made it a genuinely quick street car even against Chevy’s more nimble but less powerful pony car rival.

What to Check Before Trusting an S-Code Badge

Because the 390 shared its basic block architecture with several other FE-family engines, verifying a genuine S-code comes down to checking the casting numbers and the data plate rather than trusting badging alone, since S-code emblems have been known to migrate onto cars that started life with a smaller engine. That verification step matters just as much on a value-priced S-code as it does on a six-figure Shelby, even if the stakes feel lower.

Restoring an S-Code Without Overspending

Because the S-code shares so many parts with more common FE-family applications, sourcing period-correct rebuild components tends to be more affordable and straightforward than restoring a Shelby-specific big-block, which relies on harder-to-find, Shelby-only parts. That relative affordability is a real advantage for owners who want factory-correct performance without chasing rare NOS parts across the entire country.

Why the Red Paint Makes Sense on This Car

Ford offered a wide range of factory colors on the 1967 Mustang, and a straightforward red paint job like this one lets the car’s clean fastback lines do the talking instead of relying on stripes or a GT-specific badge to draw attention. It’s a fitting look for a sleeper big-block that would rather surprise people than announce itself.

The Long-Term Appreciation Case for S-Codes

As genuine GT500s and Shelby-badged cars climb further out of reach for most collectors, S-code Mustangs like this one have started attracting buyers who want authentic FE-series big-block performance without competing at Shelby-level auction prices. That shift in the market is exactly why clean, numbers-matching S-codes have quietly appreciated over the past several years, delivering nearly all of the character that makes a GT500 desirable at a fraction of the price. That combination of authenticity, drivability, and relative affordability is exactly what serious Mustang collectors look for once the six-figure Shelby cars price them out of the market entirely.

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