One of the nicest Terminator swaps in the land is Gus Markou’s 1987 Mustang LX. But before you get to thinking it’s just a show queen that sits in the garage between shows, that’s not why Markou built the car. He built it to enjoy as often as Ohio weather will let him.

The LX was given to Markou by his father when he was 15, and it has gone through a few transformations throughout the years. However, after purchasing a 2003 Cobra convertible, and knowing the ins and outs of the Terminator drivetrain, he set out to make the swap.

Markou’s Termi-Swap Fox appeared in SCT’s booth at the Mustang’s 50th Celebration at Charlotte Motor Speedway in April of 2014.

Using a wrecked Cobra donor car, the swap took place with help from his friends Brandon Phifer and Dan Watts. The guys used the donor’s car wiring from headlights to taillights, and even the wrecked car’s cluster. Using his friend’s garage, the swap took four months to complete. Once the swap was complete, Markou had a 650-rwhp Terminator-swapped Fox LX capable of knocking down 20 mpg on the highway.

The 650-rwhp is courtesy of the stock engine utilizing a Whipple 2.9-liter supercharger, a Lightning Force Performance heat exchanger, an Accufab throttle body, a JLT Performance air intake, an SCT BA3000 mass air meter, and a free-flowing exhaust using Bassani mid-length headers and X-pipe, Corsa mufflers, and Flowmaster tailpipes.

Along with sponsorship help from JLT Performance, SCT, and Aeroforce gauges, Mod Motor Mustangs recently took notice of Markou’s hard work, adding him to the MMM fold.

He decided to exercise all 650 horses at the most recent NMRA Norwalk event in True Street. “Never having raced on a drag radial, let alone 18s, I wasn’t too familiar on where to have the tires’ PSI set,” Markou says. He had a learning curve with the tire situation, but the event also had its share of rain, which compressed the run schedule. He was able to make the car’s first time trial Saturday morning, and he ran an 11.3 at 135 mph, but with a 2.2 60-ft time. “I figured with some traction I was sure in the 10s,” Markou says.

He adjusted the tires again, but it was time to go on the True Street cruise. “After the cruise we had minimal time to cool down,” Markou adds, “and although the car was hot, and the air temp even hotter I managed to run a 11.5 at 130 mph.” That time was also his True Street average, which placed him sixth for the top eight stick shift cars.

“Better luck next year,” Markou says.