Your Shelby story......lets hear it

[FiaCobra]

Mine goes something like this......

 

I was introduced to cars by my Dad. He had a '61 Impala that he put a 409 in. The car was gutted and was his 1/4 mile drag car. When that car started up, no matter where I was, i'd come running. The thing that stuck with me was the exhaust smell. Never did I smell that sweet smell before but when Dad had his car running. As I got older, Dad sold the car and bought a family fishing boat. My love for cars however, never faded.

 

I remember getting this slot car track as a kid and fell in love with one of the cars......a 1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe. That lil' slot car left an impression on me. Then came the Cobra roadsters and the GT-40's. I had a hotwheels GT-40 in red, and who could ever forget the chrome "Boss Hoss" mustang with black stripes!! My toy car collection centered on my favorite street cars of the day.

 

When I was old enough to actually purchase a car, I bought a nice 1966 Fairlane (390cu) from my uncle. That car did a lot of street racing and then sat idle for many years as I grew older and moved onto other things. I kept that car with the intentions of doing a full restoration. Since I was not able to afford my desire for an older Shelby mustang, I held onto the Fairlane. Then came the 2005 NAIAS show in NY. There is where I first laid eyes on the all new Shelby GT-500 prototype. OMG, finally a Shelby that I probably could afford !

Well, after the show, I went down to the local Ford dealer and plunked down a deposit.

 

A long year went by and then I got the call from the dealership. They were regretfully returning everyones deposit because the owner of the dealership wanted all the cars for himself. Well, there I was...close, but yet so far. So, over that summer (2006) I decided to go a different route. I'd build my dream car. Yes, i'd set out and build myself a 1965 Daytona coupe. So, on went the research for the perfect manufacture to get the car from. During my search, I ran into a fella selling a coupe. It had a Shell Valley body, but had a custom build tubular frame. The guy was a custom welder and has been building car frames since the 70's. This would be the 5th coupe he built. His intention was to finish the coupe, and sell it. He was forced to sell it early in the build due to customers who came to him and wanted other stuff built. He needed room in the shop so instead of storing the Coupe off site, he decided to sell it.

 

Well, since my dreams of owning a new Shelby mustang were cut short, I decided the Coupe was the way to go for me. Especially since I had a lil' guy at home. What better way to grow with your kid than to build a car with him. So, the coupe found a home in my garage and I began to collect parts for it.

 

Fast forward to September of 2007. I get a call from the dealership and they tell me to stop by. I go there and talk to my friend. He tells me he can get me an '08 GT-500 if I want. I explain to him about my Daytona Coupe back home. He tells me to go ahead and order the car anyway and to pick whatever color/options I want. Tells me when the car comes in, I can then decide if I want it or not. If not, he'll just roll it out on the showroom floor and sell it. Ok, I go ahead and order a Vista Blue coupe.

 

Well, I get a phone call late November of that same year saying "Hey, c'mon down, your car was just dropped off at the dealership". I go down there and see the car. It's parked out back and has a "Sold" sticker on the front windshield with my name on it. The instant I saw the car, I knew it was coming home with me. So, back at the ranch, I tell the bride my car came in. She asks "What are you going to do with the coupe?" My reply "Keep it of course silly"

 

So, I went back to that dealer and brought my dream home. I parked it next to the coupe, stood back, and had a drink. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact I had not one, but two Shelby's in my garage. (yeah, I know the coupe is a replica but.....how many people do you know that has an original coupe?.....lol, with only 6 made, you'd be lucky to ever see one in your lifetime) For nearly two years, I drove that beautiful 2008 Shelby GT-500. I even gave her a name.....Danielle. She was a great car and I had every intention of keeping her but, it just wasn't in the cards.

 

During the early fall of 2009, a buddy of mine (shelbypt) pulled up in front of my house with a 2008 GT-500KR. Yeah, a car I always longed for ever since the introduction. After going for a ride, we talked about the prices and how they nearly hit "rock bottom". Hmmmmm, maybe.....

Well, I hop on this site and ask for help. I'm thinking I could possibly do a deal for a 2009 post clutch/flywheel TSB Vista blue KR. As luck would have it, one was located not too far from me. After about 2 weeks of tough negotiations, the car was parked in my garage....next to the Coupe. Again, I had to step back, take a look, and pour myself a drink. Couldn't believe I had a Daytona coupe AND a King of the Road sitting in my garage. One good look at the KR and I knew her name. I'll call her "Samantha."

 

There you have it, my Shelby story....and i'm sticking to it !!

[SGT/SC2873]

I have always loved mustangs and anything w/ Shelby's name on it. A friend who deals in Mustangs called me about 6 years ago and told me he had something at the shop that I needed to come look at. I went by a few days later and he had a '68 Shelby. The interior was stripped out and all the parts (original) were in the trunk w/ only the seats still in place. It was a "barn" find supposedly and the guy he got it from was going to restore and gave up on it. I spent 2 hours looking over this car and all the parts were there. The only thing I couldn't find in the car was the money to buy it. He offered the car to me for $18,000 which I knew or at least felt at the time that was a great buy but just didn't have the money for a car that would have to sit for 3-4 years. I left there really disappointed and of course it didn't take long for him to move the car. Someone got one heck of a deal. A few years later I bought a 70 Mach1 w/ the 351 Cleveland from the same guy. The car was competition yellow and it was ready for show. Loved that car, but still it wasn't a Shelby. Had that car for about a year when the guy I originally bought it from called and told me he had sold my car. I told him he was crazy until he told me what he sold it for! I then decided it was time for the Shelby. No more of this buying cars unless I could get what I wanted, A SHELBY!!!

 

I decided to go ahead and put a deposit down on a GT500 and I was #3 on the list for when one came in to the local dealer. At that time, they agreed to sell the car to me for sticker so I agreed. This was probably 4 years ago. About 7 months went by and one day the dealer called and the car was in. We went to look at it and I remember how beautiful that car looked on the show room floor. I turned to my wife and told her to write the check. At that point the sales manager, said wait just a minute. I asked what? He then told me the price was not the 48-49k on the sticker as the "man upstairs", the owner had decided it would be $68K. I turned and walked upstairs into his office w/ the manager in tow telling me I could not go up there. I walked into his office and he confirmed the new price. I asked the sales mgr in front of him, what did you and I agree on. He verified right there that we agreed on the sticker, but they could not honor that now. Needless to say, I left very disheartend about the whole thing and was ready to give up. My wife felt so bad she started pricing Roush's and Saleen's. I told her thanks, but they are not Shelby's and I would rather drive a pickup if I couldn't have the Shelby. It just meant that much to me.

 

I did give up for several years and even quit following automobiles, guess I just lost my will. Then one day I stumbled across Team Shelby. I started reading about this thing called a Shelby GT. I'll never forget the first picture of this car I saw. I knew that I had to have one. Then reality set in and I wonder if I had the heart to go thru this again. Well, I had looked all over the Southeast only to find one 30 miles down the road. I found it thru Cars.com and it was described as a Mustang GT but I knew from the price it was no regular Mustang GT. I called the dealer as there was nothing on their website about this car. As a matter of fact, their website was disabled. When I called the dealer, I learned that the dealer had just been bought out and they closed the deal 2 days before my call. It was a Ford dealer that was purchased by the Toyota dealer in town and they really didn't know what they had as all the sales people just came over from the Toyota store. I asked if they had a Shelby GT and they told me they did not know. I asked if they had a white Shelby w/ LeMans silver stripes....salesman put me on hold and came back in a few and said I think we have one. So we took off and we were at the dealer in 30-45 minutes. As soon as we pulled up I spotted it and it was GAME ON. They truly did not know what they had. Within 15 minutes I made an offer of $8000 less than what anyone else in the SE was asking for them and they took it on the SPOT.

 

It was a long road to get this car and no it's not a '68 or a GT500, but I love it just the same and IT IS A SHELBY! :happy feet: Craig

[brisk_tea]

grew up in a mustang family, and married a mustang chick (dad had a '67 gt350, '71 mach1), so I always knew mustangs were the way to go, and the shelby's always had style. My uncle totaled his gt500, and a mach 1, and still regrets it...

 

 

decided to buy mine to celebrate retiring, and no more child support... Originally was going to get a Shelby GT, but found a dealer with no ADM, and could get the options/color i wanted (thanks to Vehix.com).

 

funny thing was that it was "officially" built on my daughter's birthday according to my certificate.

 

got full custody of my daughter exactly 6 months after it was built, which is funny, as the car is exactly 6 years older than my daughter...

 

this car is never going anywhere, too many cool coincidences with my life...

[interceptor]

Growing up my dad owned a body shop so we were always gear heads.It all started with my oldest brother getting a used '64 comet cyclone hi-po 289.He later bought a used '67 gt 500 w/ 2k miles on it that was only a few years old.[awarded #1 in the nation at kansas shelby meet-Austin Craig and Jeff Burgy remember that]. My other brother got a used '66 gt350 a few years later[ still has it ]. I was hooked at that point. After high school i worked full time and was going to college and was offered the '67 gt 500 for 7 grand but couldn't swing it and bought a new pickup instead.[ huge mistake].He sold it and bought a used pantera.Over the years i owned a '63 falcon w/ a boss 302 in it [wish i kept that one] 2 mach1s[still have them] a '79 pacecar and a ligthning[still have it].I passed up some good deals on a couple of used older shelbys[huge mistake 2] and a '70 boss 302. As years past and prices went through the roof i figured owning a shelby wasn't going to happen.When shelby hooked back up with ford i said i'm not letting this opportunity go by again so last year i got my '09 gt 500.Life is good!

[Andrew DeSpirito]

Where to begin?

 

I distinctly remember seeing the first concepts of the S197 Mustang in the 2003/2004 timeframe, and commenting to my wife I would love to own a 'Stang that looked like that! (At the time I was still a devout Toyota follower, and a car was simply an appliance to me.)

 

My former boss in NY bought a 2006 Mustang GT convertible, Torch Red, lots of options, 5-speed, and had it only 3 weeks before he decided to get a GT500. I was in town for the weekend and he asked, "Do you wanna buy a Mustang?" Luckily, my wife had tought me to drive stick only a few months before. I can still distinctly remember sitting in his driveway, firing up that beautiful 4.6L for the first time and hearing that AWESOME exhaust rumble. I knew then and there I had to have it. Surprisingly, my wife agreed right away, and within a week, I had a 'Stang! I went from a 120-hp Corolla auto to a 300-hp Mustang - what a change!

 

Everything was fine until August 2007, when I was back in NY again and the same former boss takes me for a spin in his Vista Blue/White stripe GT500. It's 11pm and he pulls over on a deserted side street. "Wanna drive it?" Before I can respond, he adds, "If you f:censored: up my car, I'll kill you - but d'ya wanna drive it?" Within a minute, I'm flying down this road at WELL above the legal limit, loving the whine of the blower and the seemingly endless torque. We get back to the office and I call my wife, excitedly telling her I got to drive it -- before I could finish my sentence, she interrupts: "NO!" "No what?" "No, you can't buy one." "Aww, c'mon!"

 

Of course I'm on the 'Net every day, picking out my dream GT500. My ultimate color combo is Alloy with Tungsten stripes -- looks like a Stealth fighter! Of course, by August 2007 you could no longer order 2007s, and they discontinued the Tungsten stripes on the Alloy car for the 2008 MY. I had discovered Stangs Unleashed around that same time, and saw an '07 Alloy/Tungsten for sale for $50K with 18 miles on it. At the time, dealers in the DC area wanted $75K+ for any '07 or '08, and I felt $50K was a fair price for a 500-hp supercar. My wife and I argued about it for two weeks straight -- at one point, I told the seller we had a deal, but then my wife changed her mind and I had to back out. Finally, after two weeks, my wife said the five magic words that every husband should fear: "Fine -- do what you want."

 

Let me tell you -- that does NOT mean hop on a train to Vermont and drive home with your new GT500. It really means "Shut the hell up, because you're not getting that car!" Needless to say, she didn't speak to me for a few days. But once I took her for a spin, she was hooked. I believe her exact words (besides the initial "HOLY S !") were, "NOW I see why you're so obsessed and excited about this car!"

 

I was a true convert by then, especially after a year with my GT. A car was no longer simply an appliance to get from Point A to Point B. Driving a car with character and passion makes it an entirely different experience. I began arriving at work at 0600 to beat the traffic and enjoy my commute that much more. For the first time, I would take weekend drives to nowhere, just to spend some "quality time" with my Alloy monster. Before this, I washed my cars once -- right before I sold it or traded it in. Now, the Shelby gets a weekly wash.

 

I intend to keep this car until I die -- it's far too much fun to get rid of, and I've invested far too much, financially and emotionally, to ever let her go. I'm a true Shelby convert now!

[TexasShelby]

Being one of the "old soreheads" around here, mine started back in my teens. I would bleed GM, mostly the '55 chevy along with a 65 and 67 GTO and a '32 FI'd Big Block Chevy I used to race. My brother was the black sheep with a Boss 302 (installed) 72 Maverick. It was always a sad state to see him struggle to even get close to those small block Chevy motors, and always cost him twice as much to make the same HP.

 

I put a marine turbocharger (back when no one was "charging" anything) on a 455 SD Pontiac engine and stuff that into a '76 Bicentennial Hurst Trans Am...back then the performance cars were turning out about 225HP from the factory...LMAO...I was running right at 400.

 

Then in 82 I bought a brand new Camaro, kept is stock about 9 months before I put a 350 built for a race boat in it and slapped a brand new generation Paxton blower on it...wow, what a sleeper..turning out so many horses, when I did a hole shot, the frame would flex and you couldn't open the passenger door for a couple minutes. It burned more than one unsuspecting vette or ricer

 

Over the next few years I really became disenchanted with GM and all their lack of performance...

 

Then in '88 I stumbled onto a brand new, still in the wrapper McLaren convertible Mustang...the 2 seat, tricked out, with a 5.0 and no emmisions...it was turning out almost 275HP and very light....that car did it for me...a few years later I did a ground up on it and rebuilding the motor to around 375HP and then topping it with a NOS 150HP shot... Not quite the sleeper because of the unheard of 18" TSW wheels, but they still were flabbergasted at the NOS...

 

I kept the car until just recently, selling it to a friend with the first option to buy it back if she ever wanted to sell it.

 

Late in 04 I was sitting at an oil change place waiting on my '66 Chevy truck (the cruiser, which i still have) to get finished and read a blurb of 2 paragraphs that Shelby was returning to Ford and planned on some crazy plan of putting a 32v 5.4L supercharged beast in the new 197 body, and in Shelby style, not mucking it all up with a bunch of dripping exterior "panels on panels". Stick a fork in me, I was done...it was over for me. I had been looking for a new car for a couple years and couldn't find anything that I truly fell in love with...not until I saw the concept car of the GT500...but by the time I saw it, I had already tracked down any and all the SVT dealerships within 500 miles of me and found one dealership that was actually a great dealership.

I contacted them via email and asked if they were taking any deposits on the new GT500, a lady replied and said yes. She said she believed there would be an ADM of at least $5000, they would be no ordering, give her my 3 color choices and as they came in I would have dibs on what color came in. I was 4 in a list of 3 they were slated to get, but number 2 was likely to back out.

 

I sent her $5000 to hold my spot. No contract.

 

I rocked along for a few months, reading what I could about the development and learned the vert was coming out the same time. I called her on hearing that and asked how many were in line for the vert...she didn't know they were making the vert at the same time...so I asked if I could move my money over to a vert...she said yes...I then asked if I could move $2500 of it over to the vert and still hold the hard top spot...she thought about it for just a moment and said there would be no problem with that...So now I had 2 spots, one hard top, one vert....$5000 down on both...no contract.

 

2006 came and then it started getting stupid...reports of ADM's as high as $20K...She contacted me a couple of times on issues like, the vert was not available with a Shaker 1000 at that time, and no LeMans stripes on the vert. Then it became apparent to me that I have not signed a thing, and now that the avg ADM was $10 on a GT500, they could hold me hostage or sell my spot to the highest bidder. I placed a call to her and talked with her about it...She said I was correct, that ADMs on the GT500 had hit the roof and she had many customers that were paying them for later spots that year, but her and her husband actually own the dealership and they only do business one way...honestly...and yes they could have made a ton of money off those spots, but a deal was a deal and hopefully I would be a return customer...WHO IN THE WORLD DOES BUSINESS LIKE THAT ANYMORE?

 

Knowing all along I did not want the hardtop, that I was just going to turn the car, I called in mid 06 and told her I had an offer of $5K on the hardtop spot and would probably be buying the car and turning to an interested party... She said that was fine, but if I lost the deal, that she had plenty of people to take it and if I didn't want to hassle with it, she'd split it with me....so I ended up doing just that. I relinquished the spot and in turn my ADM was $2500 over sticker, upon receiving the vert from Ford she called and asked me to drive up in early Oct of 06 to look at it, that she thought I was right in wanting the LeMans stripes, that the white did look a little "naked"....not really interested in my old fashion of having a "sleeper", I drove up and we discussed the stripes....she said the vinyl from Ford were $1100 at that time, but she had a top painter that just redid a Ford GT that a customer wanted the change the stripes on and that he did a perfect job, and they would do it for a whooping $800...but with the caveat that they would not be a completely smooth to touch stripe finish as the GT, but then again, that job was $5000...my stripe job was laid down with the Vista Blue and is within less than 2mm of the vinyl and he sanded down the stripe area and did an extra couple coats of clearcoat and it's very close to "smooth to the touch" job...best I've even seen.

The job was done before the sale and was included in the original bill of sale.

 

I then hijacked a set of the silver Razors that were nowhere to be found because they were going on the Shelby GTs at that time and the only people doing a lowering spring for the vert was Steeda, so I installed new the new Razor 20"s, Nitto INVOs, LCAs and Panhard bar, along with a blue CF JLT CAI and tune...year before last I received a brand new tranny, clutch, flywheel and assy. compliments of FoMOCo, due to the TSB.

 

Any warranty issues are still handled mostly by the dealer I bought it from, some 115 miles away, and I have sent them at least 5 sales of GT500s since I received the car in Nov of 06.

 

People still walk right by lines of vettes and z06s to see her, with the old school touch...old guys like it, cuz they remember, young ones do because it just looks, as they say, "bad A$$".

 

I've won 3 car shows with it, and polished off countless new cars such as GTOs, vettes, a Masarati and just this week an C63 AMG Benz....I've declined tangling with a Viper coupe, a blown Z06 and an GTR...

 

I love this car and have made many great memories...the best is dropping my 6 and 8 year old boys off at school and the kids high fiving them when they get out of it....I think I'll try to buy back that McLaren and get it ready for the oldest boy....should be ready about the time he's ready to have a car...(not his first car, he's getting a junker and going to have to restore it, and I'm sure ding it up or wreck it....I'm old, but not that old to remember. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And my favorite picture of the new camaro. :-)

 

[OCD]

I grew up around cool cars, as a little kid my dad had a 67 Rambler Rebel 343 4 speed and a triumph spitfire, my uncle had his 69 GT500...

 

My uncles Shelby has always been my favorite car, I couldn't even see over the dash when I got my first ride in it... I had always wanted one since then, so last summer I went and bought one!! Fastest color too!! :happy feet:

 

 

 

[mach 1 1970]

Here it is in 25 words or less : Had a 66 GT350 , 69 GT350 and a 70 GT500 in the 80's. Sold them in the late 90's. Had a 07 SGT, 07 GT500 and a Ford GT sold them and now have a 08 GT500KR. So i guess you could say i have come full circle. Well that's my Short story.

[car dude]

Here it is in 25 words or less : Had a 66 GT350 , 69 GT350 and a 70 GT500 in the 80's. Sold them in the late 90's. Had a 07 SGT, 07 GT500 and a Ford GT sold them and now have a 08 GT500KR. So i guess you could say i have come full circle. Well that's my Short story.

 

That a cool group of cars.Would love to know what its like to drive the ford GT.What ever you do for a liveing its working for you keep it up and hope you enjoy your cars.Thanks

[Nate8509]

here's mine to when i was growing up dad and grandpa were die hard ford guys still are and it rub off on me. they never had fast cars when i was younger but i always heard stories from grandma about what they use to do. i always loved mustang and my first one was a 71 fastback with 66k orignal miles on it had a 302 9inch rear with 411 boy would it go. dad and i rebuilt the motor, new floor pans and that kinda stuff togather and i took it to my senior prom. being young and dumb i ended up wrecking and i miss that car to this day. i got a 02 mustang gt a few years later did some mods to it but i got dumb and decided i wanted to get married so in planning for that i traded it in on my 06 cc f150 boy was that a mistake. the first time i seen the shelby gt 500 i told my buddy (who is like a brother to me) that if i was ever getting another mustang it was going to be a gt500 and being as young as i was i never though i get one but we liked to dream anyway. well i got a real good job and before i got marrried she left that was a year ago. i was looking to trade my f150 in on a deisel this summer but my buddy kept on me to forget about getting anther truck i didnt need it to get something else like a bike or car. well i started shopping around and i went and looked at a few but most salesman wouldnt even work with me casue they thought i was just wasting there time casue of how young i looked(i just turned 25 but could pass for 17 or 18 anyday of the week) well i was just about to give up and dad seen a blue with white stripes for sale. they wanted alot for the car even though it was used and after all the bad experince i didnt even want to go look at it but he talked me into it. so i went down and looked at it wasnt even there an hour we had a deal worked out and i picked the car up the next day and wow i love it dream come true

[NICK82]

Great thread.

 

Well my love affair with cars started when I was about 6 years old when my Dad brought me to the New York Auto Show. We walked over to the Ferrari section and there was an F40 roped off to the public with big crowds surrounding it to get a look. My dad started talking to one the guys behind the rope he knew and before I knew it they opened up the door to the F40 and told me to get in. I got behind the wheel and I remember lots of red, red race seats, race steering wheel, just an awesome car. This was very special because no one was allowed to sit in that car.

 

My Dad owned a Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer in the 80's. He kept it in a barn in Connecticut and I remember that V12 engine, the car was very fast even by today's standards. My older brother got a very good deal on a used Porsche 944 around this time so in the 2nd and 3rd grade I would often be driven to school in this car and it was very fun (apart from the time we spun out on the road).

 

My older brother later went to College at USC and sold the Porsche. He got a great deal on a nicely restored 65 Mustang Fastback, white with black LeMans stripes, gorgeous car and drove this all his college years in California.

 

Well fast forward to 2005 and I just finished up a 4 year tour in the Army (82nd Airborne Division.) Talk of the new S197 Mustang was big and my brother and I had both been keeping our eye on this car every since the prototype was out. In 2005 it was hard to find a dealer who would sell the new S197 Mustang GT for MSRP on the East Coast, but I found one on the showroom in a little town called Kilgore, Texas and they were willing to sell it for sticker. I drove to Texas, picked up the car and drove it back to Virginia. It was my first sports car and it was awesome. I saved up a lot of money with multiple combat tours so I used this car to follow the Rolling Stones all over the US, driving state to state and just having a blast. I put on 72,000 miles on this car, modded the hell out of it and had a lot of fun with it.

 

Well fortune turned one day April 2008. I was in Florida, the roads were slick from a quick rain storm and I spun out on a highway and rolled twice right into a ditch. The car was totalled and I was devastated but walked away with no injuries but a scatch on my leg. Well about a week later I was in a parking lot when I see from a distance a black Shelby GT500 come cruising down, it parks right near me and I am in awe of this car. I had always dreamed of owning one, but seeing this car in person I loved it. It was a young blonde driving her husbands car and she tells me that they got it at the local Ford dealership for MSRP. I was in shock because at the time dealers were still getting 15k+ over sticker. She then told me they have another on the showroom floor. I borrowed my neighbors jeep and drove to the dealership. I walked in the showroom and facing me right there was a Shelby GT500. I knew right away it was the car. I saw on the window sticker it had a 5k market adjustment. I told them I would give them MSRP and they would have take off that 5k markup. Dealer thinks for a second and says "Let's get some paperwork."

 

I owned the car 1 hour later. However, I had never driven a manual transmission in my life! So part of the deal was they would have to teach me. My black mustang was an automatic. The guys in the dealership got a kick out of this. So true to thier word, the dealer drove it off the lot with me in the passenger seat. We went to an empty grocery store parking lot. I had a hell of a time geting the stop and start down, but I finally got it and down. By this time a small crowd is sort of developing wondering what we're doing. Here I am driving in circles in the parking lot in this brand new Shelby GT500, my dealer standing in the middle on his cellphone telling the general manager i'm getting it down while giving me a thumbs up. It must of been an odd sight.

 

Needless to say, the first 1,000 miles were very babied and careful.

 

Well so here I had a GT500, one of my top 10 dream cars I was feeling pretty good.

 

Well I always wanted the new Porsche 911 and I changed jobs 4 months later for a serious salary increase. The economy crashed so I took advantage. After 6 month of searching for the perfect car I see on Autotrader a 997 Carrera S with PCCB brakes, fully loaded in black and with only 10,038 miles for 51k (110K MSRP) I knew this was the deal to go with so I called the guy who was in Chicago. He said he had a buyer from California who wanted to see the car. I explained that I was calling from Afghanistan and had no interest wasting time coming to see it. I was ready to wire the money that night. Well, a couple days later he decides to sell it to me and I arranged to have the car transported to my house in Florida. When I got home months later the car was in immaculate condition and has been a blast. Granted it was risky what I did not inspecting it myself but it turned out to be as good it seemed to be.

 

So now my garage has my two dream cars in it and I feel very blessed. I never thought I would be able to own these at the same time but I got lucky. The garage has all Porsche and Shelby iconic art all over the walls and showroom lighting installed up top. Dream come true.

 

Choosing which car to drive is damn difficult sometimes, I almost need to toss a coin. Both are gorgeous, both are completely different, and both are very fast (though the Shelby is much faster!

[thewheelman]

When I was about 11 or 12 years old a much older kid made fun of me because I didn't know what a "cam" was. I vowed that would never happen again and fell in love with automobiles. My dad had a nephew who was sales manager at a Ford dealer that prided themselves on all the hottest Fords/Mercurys and Lincolns. He always made sure my parents had a nice Ford or Mercury to drive. I vividly remember his son driving a Cougar Eliminator--blue with a black and white houndstooth vinyl top and matching interior! My brother, who was 10 years older than me, taught me difference between a 6 and a V8, comparing his Studebaker Lark straight 6 to Mom's Mercury with the 390 4V. Mustangs came out about the time of my "automotive awakening" and my brother was enamored with them. We all were and the hottest thing on the market was the Shelby Mustangs......an affordable car that made you feel like you could personally take on Ferrari, Corvette or any of the "exotics" back then.

 

I was eat up with car stuff--my first car was a '59 MGA, followed by an Opel Kadette, Mercury Comet, and finally a 64 1/2 Mustang coupe with a 289 4v, automatic. It was a junk yard find, I either straightened or replaced every panel on the car--but it was what I drove to college. Gas was scarce in the 70's so I sold the Mustang for a Fiat 128, then a '69 MGC, which I drove daily for almost 9 years. Then kids came along and you can't put a car seat in an MG, so I went looking for a Mustang again. About 1980 I ran across a GT 500KR locally, and at that time $8000 was a huge amount of money for us, so while I drooled over it and dreamed, about it, it was never to be. I had never been without a convertible--even with the other cars, I kept the '59 MGA for my "summer car" (no heater!). I really wanted a V8 convertible. I finally ran across a '72 Mustang convertible, 351Cleveland 4V, automatic, burgundy & white with herringbone comfort weave. I bought it from the original owner, drove it 7 years and sold it back to her. A guy in town had a 67 GT 350, but he wanted megabucks for it and it had sat so long the brakes were frozen up on it, but the lure of a Shelby was always there. My first "modern" performance car was a '92 LX convertible, triple black, 5.0, 5 speed with the optional 3.08 rear gears. The little black Mustang put more power to the ground than anything I've ever driven.

 

When my eldest turned 16 I decided it was not good parental responsibility to turn him loose on the streets with a V8 Mustang convertible, so I sold it and bought a Chrysler Sebring JXi convertible. Wonderful car, comfortable, quiet, excellent appointments, it just wasn't a rear wheel drive V8. At this point in my life the prospect of ever owning a Shelby was only a pipe dream--or win the lottery dream! My business now demanded a truck instead of a car so the Sebring turned into 2 Ranger pick ups. I need to note here that by this time both my sons now had their own convertibles--a '73 Jensen Healey and an '82 Fiat Spider. They were now both in college so I had both of them at my disposal--even though I no longer had a convertible personally. The business grew and I began to shop for a personal car again. I was leaning toward an SVT Cobra convertible......until 2005 came along.

 

Now, I'm really in a quandry. Do I go for the horsepower of the SVT or the incredible new body style of the 05's? Just when I had decided I like the body style more than the horsepower, I picked up a magazine in the Houston airport--The Shelby Annual Review. Maybe, just maybe I could afford a Shelby in my lifetime. I was sold on a SGT convertible and waited and waited and waited until the moment (and finances) was right. I had tried to describe the variations of Mustang to my wife: GT, SGT, GT 500 and we were looking at an SGT because it was a Shelby and we couldn't afford and didn't need a 500 horsepower car........ Finally we went shopping in person and worked up the nerve to encounter a salesman. They had, in the showroom, an SGT convertible, flanked by an 08 GT 500 convertible and an 07 GT 500 convertible. Upon the first walk past the SGT, my wife said, it doesn't have a spoiler and the stripes are wrinkled around the hood scoop. She pointed to the nearest GT 500 and said, that's much sharper. Yeah, but we don't want to spend that much money was my reply.....which is something you should never say around a car salesman. The 07 was the 19th convertible off the line and was a "pre-production" car. It had been the centerpiece of their showroom for almost 2 years and now the manager had decided to sell it.......at a much lower price than it had hit the floor with. I asked the sales guy to give me his best shot on the SGT and the 07 and 08 GT 500s. We took our Alloy Metallic baby home the next weekend. So, thanks to my wife, I'm driving the dream car of my life. We love the comfort, style and power of the GT 500. It's the quietest convertible I've ever owned and we've driven it on a couple of 2000+ mile vacations. It never fails to draw attention and comments, whether at a national park or truck stop.

 

I'm driving my dream! Actually, she drives it almost every day and I get it at nights and on weekends!