20 Years Later - This 2000 SVT Cobra R is Still Highly Desirable - And Available

20 Years Later - This 2000 SVT Cobra R is Still Highly Desirable - And Available
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I may be telling my age a bit here, but the first Mustang I really remember lusting for was the 2000 SVT Cobra R. I spent countless hours pouring over the pages of Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Road & Track, etc. just to absorb every tidbit of information possible about the beastliest of all Modern Mustangs. Friends and family just didn't understand. How could a Mustang with no radio or air conditioning cost over $50,000? We all now know the answer to that.

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This interior screams "I'm all about business".

The 2000 was the last Pony Car to carry the R designation for well over a decade. What it lacking in creature comforts it more than made up for in performance and attitude. SVT Cobra Rs typically came in a single color and configuration. For 2000 that meant red with a massive wing, stripped interior, and a drivetrain that gets any blue blooded Ford fan's heart pumping. Beneath the prodigiously bulging hood lived a unique 5.4L DOHC V8 backed up by a Tremec T-56 6-Speed manual transmission. At 385HP it delivered levels of performance its domestic competitors had no hope of matching.

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One of the defining features of the Cobra R is it's hulking 5.4L V8. Just look at that alternator pulley.

What the 2000 Cobra R bought to the table in guile and performance was only outpaced by its scarcity. Officially, only 300 examples were produced (we're not counting pre-production and test cars). Over the years quite a few have been modified and raced extensively. Another group were stored away still wrapped in shipping plastic as an investment or museum piece. Not many lived a life of daily driver duty. However, one that is somewhere between doesn't come up all that often.

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The styling may have been controversial, but the effects of the the R's wing were undeniable.

Recently, friend of the site and car dealer extraordinaire Morgan Eldridge of Naples Auto Collection let me know that he had a very special Ford gracing his showroom floor. It happened to be a extremely clean 2000 Cobra R with just enough miles on it to keep you from feeling guilty about taking it for a Sunday drive. At just over 4,200 miles on the odometer it appears that the previous owner actually got to enjoy the car a bit, which I consider a good thing. I don't have space for garage art to just hang around.

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This front-end just looks angry. That hood was a popular mod at the time for standard Cobras and Mustangs.

However, owning of the rarest and most uniquely badass modern Mustangs is a different story. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the reasonable asking price of ~$55,000 burning a hole in my pocket. But it you happen to have the scratch on hand, head over to Naples Auto's website to check out all the car's details and a ton more pics. I'm here to tell you that this car looks cherry. The Recaro seats look like they've barely been sat in, and the engine bay is clean enough to eat off of.

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This was the competition's standard view of the 2000 SVT Cobra R.
To me, this car is the best of all worlds. It's clean and rare enough to grab onlookers' attention, while still having been driven enough to keep everything performing properly. While I probably would end up turning it into a garage queen anyway, it's still nice to know that it could be driven a reasonable amount without fear of destroying its current value. Sounds fun to me. Nearly twenty years after her introduction, the 2000 SVT Cobra R still has a level of mystique that few cars can muster. If you're interested in picking one up check out the link to the listing from Naples Auto Collection below:

Naples Auto Collection - 2000 SVT Cobra R Mustang

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These cloth Recaro seats were a hot item back in the day. I have a tricked out leather set in my Lightning.

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The marked the first time a Ford Mustang came factory equipped with a 6-Speed Manual Transmission.

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It's a common misconception, but due to production costs all 2000 Cobra Rs came equipped with power windows. It would have been prohibitively expensive to produce them with manual cranks.

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I wouldn't ticking off a few more miles on this one.
-SID297
 
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Is it possible to view the car over the weekend even if you don’t plan to buy it? (don’t get me wrong I’d love to buy it) I saw the website states only open to appointments on the weekend. It’s one of my favorite mustangs and I’ve always wanted to see one in person. Some of the cars in the background I’d also like to see if at all possible. I’m only there for the weekend, reason I ask.
Edit: Sorry Sid, I just realized you were the one that said it and not Morgan.

Pick your poison.

I've got a brick, I'm sure we can get in on the weekend.
 
I still remember the joke in the magazines on how John Coletti somehow created the most efficient drive-train in history as many R's were consistently putting almost all that crank rated 385hp to the rear tires.

Trumpet intake runners plus one of the few cars with a smog legal fuel cells. Straight up gangster.
 
IMO '73 and earlier Mustangs just had a quality of soul not seen since. And it wasn't just the mechanics of the device. Probably much was due to the other events going down during the era as well...it was along with the fuel of youthful lust, and ridiculous levels of optimism with so many people seeming to consider themselves to be immune to so many consequences worth worrying about...at least nothing that couldn't be psychologically remedied with a 6-pack of Bud lol.

there was often a pervasive lack of fear surrounding behavior that was far more risky than it was almost ever given credit for being...back when it was still fun to be just plain deliberately ignorant enough to not have a sensible amount of fear connected with doing felonious sh!t lol. back when you had buddies who for example, one of them just 3 weeks ago got killed doing some of the same foolishness that you just did together a year ago and afterward laughed about while drinking a beer on his parents' porch together with his Dad. back when unlawful blood alc level was .015.

can you recall a time when one year was a genuinely long f**king time? remember that??? to me now, 12 years thinking back on something is like what 2-years-ago felt like when i was a teenager.

Back then, other peripherals besides just driving/riding went into the mix of all that was a blast about what you did with your Mustang. There was a degree of something magical in the air and it wasn't just the everywhere-you-look amount of chemicals so easy to be gotten. Mustang fun was so much more than just going from point A to point B quickly and noisily. ...you could do it all barefooted if you chose!

at some point in time, ..."In The Beginning"...there was no Mustang yet, and then sometime later, it came into existence. just the newness of this vehicle was a "thing" back then at some point. black and white TV commercials advertised it after the Marlboro commercials...not too much before that time there were no black people in commercials yet. nor did anybody on CBS or NBC say "hell" or "damn." now, Mustang's been out so long, Ford has "retro-ed" the hell out of it for decades.

I'm for sure not a rich guy, but i have way more material means nowadays than i did back then. and to be honest, i'm probably less happy more often than i wish i was. so much depends on attitude though. deliberate ignorance IMO isn't necessarily always such a bad option. it's definitely possible to think too much. i can say that for sure...as i approach the senile stage of life, lol. i don't know that i'd call ignorance bliss, but it's for sure less uncomfortable sometimes.

and it's a wonderful and joyful part of life to own a performance vehicle and to be able to go someplace called, "online" from time to time and practice the skill of "dodging trolls" whatever the hell that is....oops! i said "hell"
 

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