Ken Block Gets Fox Body Convertible, Promptly Does Burnout
King Hoonigan gives ‘clapped-out’ Fox Body droptop destructive burnout to match its rough paint, leaky nitrous setup and broken shifter.
Believe it or not, despite having driven a variety of high-performance Ford vehicles, which includes a souped-up Raptor, freakishly powerful ’65 Mustangs and bonkers Fiestas, Ken Block has never owned a Fox-body. Until now. In this video, he flies from Utah to Colorado with fellow Hoonigan Zac Mertens to buy a rough 1990 Mustang GT convertible, then drives it more than 500 miles back home.
Block, Mertens and their colleagues are all hanging out at Hoonigan Racing Division headquarters in Park City, Utah when they get the wild idea to buy a Fox-body off the internet. They soon find the perfect one. OK, OK…they basically just go for the only one for sale remotely close to them. The Facebook Marketplace pictures they pull up show a 1990 Mustang 5.0 convertible with some obvious cosmetic issues. But it runs and the seller is willing to accept $4,000 in cash, so off Block and Mertens go to the Denver airport to pick it up. As Mertens puts it, “We’ve elevated the game to buying a used, pretty much clapped-out, 5.0-liter Mustang.”
Just in case the Fox Body has more than just cosmetic problems, Mertens packs a variety of tools, including radiator stop-leak, a wrench, zip ties and duct tape. When the 5.0 rolls up at the desolate Denver airport, it looks even more “perfect” than it did online. The silver paint is faded, chipped and worn through. One of the fog light openings is a nonfunctioning void. The side molding on the driver’s side is as wavy as a celebrity on a parade float. The rag top’s motor is pretty much shot. Then there’s the big blue nitrous bottle in the trunk. None of that keeps the 5.0 from firing up, though.
The guys start the long drive back to Utah the right way: with the top down. Block has been preparing for this exact moment. He removes his ballcap to reveal a mohawk hairdo that’s just as ’90s-tastic as his new purchase. The Beastie Boys tape in the tape deck came out in the ’80s, but considering how far back the Fox Body goes, it still fits the vibe.
On the way through Wyoming, Mertens nicknames Block’s new car “Destiny.” Block initially said destiny was calling for him to buy a Fox-body. And as Mertens explains, “She’s a Fox. And she’s topless. And it’s kind of a stripper name.”
The two of them arrive back in Park City with Destiny in the wee hours of the morning. It was a long trip, but they made it back in one piece (two if you count the broken shifter). Mertens says, “This is the first time we have ever flown and bought a shitbox sight-unseen without a single problem.”
The next day, it’s time for Block to properly welcome his Fox Body to its new home with a burnout. But first, he gives the nitrous system a shot. A noticeable leak means it gives him nothing in return. Block tells Mertens, “I heard something, but it felt no different.”
Given how beaten and battered his fevered purchase already is, Block has no incentive to take it easy on its tires. In fact, we’re surprised they had enough tread on them to survive the 500-mile trip from Denver to HRD headquarters. Block lights them up. It doesn’t take long until the back passenger-side rubber blows out in a scattershot of hot chunks of rubber. Its counterpart on the opposite end of the rear axle follows soon after, disintegrating into a cloud of white smoke and black shrapnel. Even after Destiny is down to just 2.5 tires and one rim, Block keeps the wheel locked and his right foot down to cook up some unusual donuts.
At this point, it’s uncertain what Destiny will become. Perhaps a drift car for Block’s daughter or a sideways machine for his entire family. No matter what, it’s going to be fun — especially once he fixes that nitrous leak.
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