One Fat Foxx: Ray Blankenship’s Wide 1991 Mustang LX Stands Out

There are many different types of car enthusiasts in this world. Many automotive enthusiasts are loyal to a certain make or country of origin, while others enjoy just about anything rolling on four wheels as long as it possesses that cool factor. Within the large realm of car lovers, some are certainly more traditional than others. In the world of Mustangs, traditionalists may cringe at the thought of somebody else sawing into a car that they believe to be left alone. In this case, it is what people think is a 1993 SVT Cobra.

That’s the flack that Ray Blankenship from Rossville, Georgia, received on his wide-body 1991 Ford Mustang LX. The exterior resembles the 1993 Cobra, so others took to the internet to complain that he had hacked up a car that should have been left the way it was. The 1991 LX cars are a dime a dozen, and if they had asked Ray (who happens to be one of the nicest guys around) about his car, they would know that no snakes were harmed during the build. Not that it matters. It’s Ray’s car to build however he pleases, Cobra or not.

Ray, an electrician of 23 years and owner of FatFoxx.com, built this car himself. “I don’t drag race. I’m that autocross guy,” Ray tells us. He built the car to take the corners in autocross and to tour the car show circuit.

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Ray-Blankenship-105“A lot of people didn’t like the wide-body that I did. I made it the way I wanted it. These shows, you get to tell people what your car is all about and find out what their’s is all about. That’s why I love going,” Ray explains his love for car shows.

Ray’s Fox-body has come a long way over the years and it has quite the story to tell. Ray and the car have been through ups and downs that include performance shops that didn’t follow through, when Ray’s wife, Bunny, was diagnosed with breast cancer (and thankfully now in remission), and almost not making it to a dream photo shoot at Mustang Week that would land him in his favorite magazine.”It has been a ride all because of one car and the Lord,” Ray says.

Normally when you find a performance shop to help assist with your build, it’s an exciting time. Soon the car will make more power and is supposed to come out better than when you dropped it off. That’s how it’s supposed to go down anyway. However, that wasn’t the case for Ray and his Fox-body after this performance shop nightmare.

Ray decided to go with an unnamed performance shop in New Jersey (far from his home in GA) to help him with his build that included a one-of-a-kind turbo kit. Not long after Ray dropped off the car did he realize that he was being scammed. Ray was shafted the $13,800 that he had originally paid to the con artist, and after three months of the car still not finished, he decided to take matters into his own hands and drive the 13 hours to pick up his car. When he got there, the car was a total disaster, and Ray had to assemble it enough to make the trek home. The man cut out his rear quarter panels to put a remote-mounted turbos behind them, messed with the support system on the doors, wrecked the exhaust, and the interior was completely trashed.

Ray then drove the car home for full 13 hours with open headers – need we say more? Not only that, but the rear quarter panels had those gaping holes where the turbos were to be mounted, and that only amplified the already obnoxious sound. Needless to say, Ray’s ears may have bled for a few days afterwards, and he definitely couldn’t shake the ringing sound for awhile. Ray did get the turbos, but he ultimately decided against adding the snails to the car.

More than mad about his situation, Ray turned to the internet to let people know what had happened and to warn potential customers of the company. That’s when he found out that he wasn’t the only one who was being shafted by them. One guy in particular was waiting for his 1998 Cobra to receive Targa Tops, but when they finally found his car, it had been completely gutted out.

Ray was determined to get the car back to tip top shape after the awful experience. He needed to find a way to cover up or find a way to work with the holes that were cut into his quarter panels, so he designed a wide-body kit that took him three years. With starting his company Fat Foxx, he had the moldings and decided he wanted to sell the kits. Ray then realized that TFI relocation kits were in high demand. Let’s rewind to Mustang Week in 2012. Ray takes the car out for some hot laps on the track, but right afterwards, the car wouldn’t start. Not only is he supposed to make the Southeastern Fox-body Cruise, but he has a dream photo shoot lined up with the late 5.0 Mustang & Fast Fords magazine with editor Steve Turner, an opportunity of a lifetime for Ray.

Ray messed with the car some, moved over to the passenger side and said a little prayer before jumping back into the driver seat were he continued to pray that the car would start. While looking up, he turned on the ignition and surprisingly the car fired right up. He then hobbled it over to the closest auto parts store to try and figure out what was going wrong. He was told that it could be the TFI module. He replaced it and fixed the problem, but Ray was curious and decided to do some research.

Ray then found out that the TFI modules in all of the 1993 models were going bad. Being an electrician, Ray decided he would make his own and then started posting the results on the forums. Buddies would ask him to make them for their cars, and soon Ray realized that he had something here. He started his business at FatFoxx.com and he makes and sells these TFI relocation kits. With the TFI located on the distributor and the factory wires being undersized, problems arise for 1993 Fox-body owners, and Ray found the perfect solution to those overheated ignition modules.

Now that we’ve laid the story out of Ray’s LX, let’s get to some of the goodies that can be found on his 1991 Fox-body. Pop the hood to a stock 1993 Cobra block equipped with the stock crankshaft, pistons, and rods. From there, it features a FRPP E303 camshaft with stock lifters. Cylinder heads are Edelbrock Performer with 2.02/1.60 valves and Crane Cams 1.6-ratio roller rockers. The intake manifold is a Trick Flow R-series, and it has a BBK Performance 70mm throttle body. The exhaust gases flow through BBK Performance shorty headers and then route through to a Magnaflow X-pipe and Flowmaster cat-back exhaust.

Power is  then routed down to a Richmond R.O.D. six-speed transmission with a Centerforce clutch and a long shifter. The rear features a 8.8-inch with a Yukon differential, Moser Engineering 31-spline axles, and 3.27 gears.

Ray had more MSD ignition components on this car, but he decided just to stick with the MSD billet distributor. Gauges in the car are stock with an Auto Meter Lunar series tachometer that shows water temperature, air/fuel ratio, vacuum, and oil temperature. Fuel is being fed by Earl fuel lines and an Aeromotive fuel filter and regulator.

Blankenship 12“Every nut and bolt on that car, I’ve had it off, ” Ray tells us. We can certainly believe that.

Suspension and chassis components include stock front K-member and A-arms, Tokico five-way Illumina shocks and struts in the front and rear, and Steeda Autosports caster/camber plates. Springs on both the front and the rear are the Steeda Autosports Competition springs, and upper and lower control arms are provided by Hotchkis.

Brakes in the front are Baer 13-inch Track system brakes with stock ’93 Cobra brakes gracing the rear. The wheels are 1993 Cobra replicas from Late Model Restoration (17×8.5 front, 17×9.5 rear). The rear wheels were sent to Eric Vaughn where he widened the rear wheels that extra inch to help set off that wide-body appearance even more. Nitto NT01 tires are on all corners with 255/40/17 in the front and 315/35/17 rubber on the rear.

Inside the car is Corbeau FX-1 seats and the exterior features LED lighting in the headlights and quarter lamps. Also inside of the car is a super strong Auto Weld 10-point roll cage. Covering that stock 1993 Cobra block is a Cervinis ram air hood.

“When it comes to the Mustang community, I’ve never been in a tighter group. There’s nothing like the camaraderie that we have for each other. It’s heartfelt,” Ray says. We couldn’t agree more.

Ray now has a car to be proud of, a stand out car that reflects his personality. “I fell like cars talk about us and who we are as a person, and I can show who I am through my car,” Ray says.

About the author

Amie Williams

Amie's love and appreciation for fine machinery began when she was a kid spending summers with her father, a pilot and skydiving instructor. Her passion for everything automotive, and especially American muscle, continued after her dad passed. It was then Amie decided to become a journalist and photographer. She currently is a freelance contributor for Power Automedia.
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