stpracer43 Posted March 30, 2007 Report Share Posted March 30, 2007 All, Was attempting to make this post last night, but my section of the block suffered a power outage... so here it is, as intended. Mar 29th, 2007 Today is my 44th birthday! My many gifts include exceptionally good health, a 22 year marriage to Faye, my high school Sweetheart (whom I've known and Loved for 30 years), two wonderful kids (daughter - 18 & son - 11), and the great honor and privilege of serving Our Country as a member of the world's greatest Air Force for the last 22 years. I have been blessed with many excellent educational, travel, and financial opportunities over the years. Today... IS A GREAT DAY and another one of those wonderful opportunities for me! My wife and I drove 120 miles from Ft Walton Beach, FL over to the Treadwell Ford dealership in Mobile, AL on Wed evening (28 Mar) after I received call from salesman the car would be arriving by truck that evening. We arrived a bit early and scoped out the lot, but the salesman said the truck is never early, so we checked into our hotel and got an early dinner... Right in the middle of dinner and an hour before the scheduled arrival I get the call the truck has arrived! It took all I could do to stay seated and finish my meal, but I figured another few hours wait wouldn't kill me. Thankfully, the salesman and owner were there to take pictures as it was unloaded and put away for the night for PDI the next morning. After dinner we drove down to storage lot where they PDI all their new cars, just to see if I could get a look see. Found her hiding in the back behind a panel van. Sorry about the pic quality. Fast forward through a restless night of sleep and we're at the PDI first thing at 8:30 am. I got the chance to take a good look at the car before heading to the main dealership for the real paperwork. Odometer showed only 4.1 miles and I checked for all the little gotchas that the members of Our forum have shared and thankfully didn't find any major issues. Only one issue with a stripe (tiny air bubbles) and that's being worked already with the dealer. Otherwise, she looked perfect!!! Was disappointed not to find a lot of additional DOCUMENTATION in the car... but that feeling went away very fast. You'll notice in the pics, I'm wearing my uniform...I was serving in IRAQ last March when I ordered this car and told the dealer I'd proudly show up in uniform and present him with a flag worn/flown on a combat mission if he could help me get one of these cars... Fast forward again through the official paperwork and we're off and running with my new GT500 for the 120 mile drive back to FL!!! The weather was beautiful so we made a few stops along the way to get some other pics as well. The stops included the USS Alabama Battleship Park, the Blue Angels static at a rest stop outside Pensacola, the Air Commando Air Park at Hulrburt Field, FL (Home of Air Force Special Operations), and the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB, FL. The drive was amazing, and I managed to keep it under 75 mph most of the time. Shifting was a bit tricky with my combat boots, but I'll get better... Only drama was getting hit by a small piece of flying re-tread tire kicked up but the truck in front of me... Thankfully NO DAMAGE as I put the massive Brakes and quick steering to emergency use... Whew! Next is to pick up the Shelby car cover on Friday and order my specialty plate (going with MY STANG as top choice)! Then driving to Tucson on 7 April and looking for long term storage before heading to Korea for 2 years! To cap it all off, I'll gladly share my personal experience with my salesman, Mike Hatcher, and the manager, Bill Ford, at Treadwell Ford. I ordered this car with a deposit only (from the deserts of Iraq) and no discussion of price... We didn't even discuss price until the week before the car arrived! Mr. Ford gave me an initial price and I offered him less in my counter. He accepted! Yes, it was above MSRP, but a fair price in my book and a fair profit for him... If anyone is still looking for a chance to buy a GT500, I will recommend TREADWELL FORD in Mobile, AL. Ask for Mike Hatcher!!! I'll stop typing and let you folks see the pics... Thanks to all who have shared your knowledge of these cars with the rest of us. I look forward to hearing and reading your stories as well. After all that, I will only add What a GREAT car and birthday!!! Keith UPDATE: 200 miles in 3 days...plus the SHELBY car cover and the Zaino wax kit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grabber Posted March 30, 2007 Report Share Posted March 30, 2007 Let me be the first to say congrats. :happy feet: You now own one of the coolest cars on the planet. Great story. Too bad about the stripe problem. Once it is fixed....you will be 100% happy. Thank you for serving our Country and protecting our Freedom. I am glad you got your car finally. Happy riding my friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svtbird91 Posted March 30, 2007 Report Share Posted March 30, 2007 Happy birthday Keith and very cool story . Thanks for protecting this great country of ours and may God bless you with many enjoyable years with your new machine. George...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bullittmansparts Posted March 30, 2007 Report Share Posted March 30, 2007 Congrats! :banana piano: You WILL enjoy it!....I think most of the cars have a few small bubbles, this has been discussed at length. The warm weather will help also. have fun. :hyper: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmetcs@pu Posted March 30, 2007 Report Share Posted March 30, 2007 Congratulations!! I know you're trying to hide a smile in those photos but underneath you seem ready to take off. Above all, thanks for all you do for our country! Enjoy the stang while your still Stateside. Great pics thanks for sharing - hope you join the FL get together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YZD263 Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Congratulations Keith, What a great birthday present and what a great story. I wish you well on your 2 year stay in Korea. It must be hard to dive a car like this for only a few weeks and know that it will the be a long time before driving it again. I know that I would certainly find it tough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68fastback Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Congratulations Keith,What a great birthday present and what a great story. I wish you well on your 2 year stay in Korea. It must be hard to dive a car like this for only a few weeks and know that it will the be a long time before driving it again. I know that I would certainly find it tough. What a great story, Keith!!! Happy Birthday and enjoy her in good health (even if you have to wait a couple of years)! And thanks for doing all you do -- God Bless!!! -Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotRodHarry Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Congrats!!!!! and Enjoy!!!! My 44th is Sept. 29. So hopefully its a 10th as good as yours ended Happy Birthday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELITE 1 Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Congrats on getting your car, I know the feeling and I hope you have a lot of fun and be safe. :happy feet: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shel-b001 Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Congrat`s & Happy Birthday What a present Enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherri Leicht Posted March 31, 2007 Report Share Posted March 31, 2007 Congrats and a very happy birthday to you, Keith. What a great present! Thank you for serving our great nation so that we can live in freedom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSR Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Congrats. and enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlangvardt Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 I too would like to congratulate you on receiving your car. I really like that picture of it in front of the armament museum, since I also have a red GT500. By the way I'm retired Air Force weapons loader. Loaded alot of those weapons in that museum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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