I really love the color of my Mustang. I owned a Screamin' Yellow '05 previously and was coerced into trading it in for my current '07. At first I really didn't like the Grabber Orange paint. To me it was saying, "school bus" but over time it grew on me and now I love it. But one thing always bothered me about it. Almost nobody sees it as orange. Most say yellow and I always correct them. Little kids see my car and say Bumble Bee (from the transformers movies) which drives me super bonkers because it's not yellow or a Camaro. But they are kids so we'll forgive them.
Today I pulled into the parking lot and someone had their new 2014 Mustang GT there. It was all shiny and black so I decided to park next to it and snap a few pictures of our cars together. When I got in the office I noticed why I love the color so much but also why people get so confused. From different angles the car's color looks totally different. In the left picture it's almost glowing yellowish orange. But on the right it is a definite almost carrot orange.
I've had people scoff at it and even had one woman on the street scream, "Shitty Color" but I don't care. I think it's unique and stands out in the sea of black, white, and silver cars everyone seems to be driving today.
When I was looking for my first car I knew I wanted something with power. Something like a muscle car. I looked at a ’67 Pontiac GTO which was really cool but needed a lot of wiring which at the time I had no idea how to handle. I looked at a ’69 Oldsmobile Cutlass which I really digged but it was pretty thrashed. I had my eye on a 1970 Chevelle SS but the guy’s price was too high for me. Then a woman at work said her husband has a project car for sale. So I decided to go look at it with my Dad.
He opened the garage and there was a 1970 Plymouth Duster. I wasn't very impressed. It had a shitty yellow paint job and stripes that weren't correct to factory. Turns out it was originally a 318 car but the guy swapped it for a 340 with a 3-speed trans on the floor. I was thinking no thanks. But then the guy said he would start it up. When that 340 came to life running headers and glass packs I melted. It had a heavenly sinister rumble and I must own it. I paid $800 and from that point on I was a Mopar guy. I have strayed from it a bit owning a ’68 Firebird 400 and two modern Mustang GTs but I still have the Duster. My brother gives me crap for not following the oath of “Mopar or No Car” but I really love everything that rumbles. Which bring me to a future car that certainly rumbles. The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT8 “Hellcat”.
I almost bought a Challenger once. It was Plum Crazy purple with a 440 and white interior and they wanted $5,500 for it. My wife at the time said no way. Now that car is worth around $55.000 and she is my ex-wife. So when the new retro Challengers came out I was pretty excited. They were really good looking so maybe a chance to trade in the Mustang and get back to Mopars. But my Mustang ran circles around the heavy Challengers and I just couldn't see the point. Even though the SRTs could beat me at a stop light it was just barely. I decided to skip it.
Now Dodge has announced the coming of the SRT Hellcat with supercharged 6.2 Hemi pumping out 600+
horsepower and a downright evil roar from those tuned exhaust pipes. I could repeat everything in the videos about the Hellcat but wouldn't you rather listen to it than read about it? So I've linked them all below. Bottom line could this be my next car? Could it get me to return to the Mopar camp? I don’t know. I need more info like 0 to 60 and ¼ mile times. Also weight. The current Shelby Mustang GT500 is cranking out 660 hp so the Challenger isn't out of the woods yet. The bottom line is the price. I’m guessing $55, 000 but if it creeps into $60,000 I’d say that is too much.
From a company called Equus Automotive in Rochester Michigan comes what they are calling and American luxury muscle car. It's the 2015 BASS 770. Here is the description from Equus, "The 2015 BASS770 is born of an abiding passion for genuine 1960’s and 1970's era muscle cars. The rare seductive power of those legendary beauties, brought on by their unique fastback signature, enraptures and enthralls to this day. Proudly, the EQUUS BASS770 sets a new measure in the international luxury automobile class as a brand-new muscle car bringing together the best of 21st century American technological savoir-faire."
The car does have that Mustang-like profile with more of a Camaro/Cuda front so they basically grabbed a little of everything from the classics. The interior is fairly nice looking with the exception of that square centered steering wheel. It gets it's power from an aluminum supercharged V8 putting out 640 hp. I've heard it is borrowed from the Chevrolet Corvette line.
While I can easily agree that it's beautiful and intriguing I'm more interested in this company's business model. The car costs $250,000. Yes you read it correctly. I'm not exactly sure who they are selling it to. That price tag puts you in direct competition with some very serious automobiles and who would choose this car above theirs? I really don't know. It certainly wouldn't handle as well as the competitors and it isn't really a rare classic which would deserve such a price tag. It feels like they are building a car for a market that doesn't exist. Equus Automotive's web site is just as fancy as the car but is free to check out. Go see for yourself. www.equus-automotive.com
A few years ago I stumbled across a company called RetroBuilt (www.retrobuilt.com). They take a modern Mustang and sort of re-skin it into an older looking classic such as a 1969 Mustang Fastback or Shelby GT 500 CS Fastback. Their transformations look stunningly beautiful. I whipped out my Photoshop skills to show the comparison. Unfortunately the process costs more than the original donor car with the basic ’69 Fastback running $36, 475.
‘69 RETROBUILT FASTBACK
PRICING
CONVERSION PRICE, INSTALLED
$30,500
RECOMMENDED ADD OPTIONS
OPTION PRICES
FRONT SPOILER
$250
REAR SPOILER & MOUNTING KIT
$575
REAR WINDOW LOUVER
$500
BRAKE COVERS, CUSTOM PAINTED
$250
COBRA SHAKER HOOD
$550
SHELBY TIRES & WHEELS
$2,000
SHOW BUFF FINISH
$1,100
PAINTED STRIPES
$750
OTHER POTENTIAL OPTIONS
(DETERMINED @ TIME OF ORDER)
VEHICLE PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS
(DETERMINED @ TIME OF ORDER)
CUSTOM INTERIORS
(DETERMINED @ TIME OF ORDER)
OTHER CUSTOMER REQUESTED SPECIALS
(DETERMINED @ TIME OF ORDER)
TOTAL RETROBUILT ’69 FASTBACK PACKAGE W/PRICED OPTIONS
$36,475
2013 DEALER “DONOR” VEHICLE, FOB DEALER
(DETERMINED @ TIME OF ORDER)
(OTHER MODEL YEAR DONOR CAR NEGOTIABLE)
(DETERMINED @ TIME OF ORDER)
RETROBUILT ’69 FASTBACK FOB, SPRINGFIELD, MO
$36,475
I contacted them and asked if they offered this as some sort of kit however they said no. It was just too intensive and takes real metal fab to create it, hence the price. I don’t know if anyone can justify the expense for something that is purely cosmetic. It is just your Mustang under all that new sheet metal. However it is so extremely beautiful. So although nobody can afford it lets just sit back and view the car porn.
I just had to post pictures of this Barracuda. Not just because it’s gorgeous but also so I can delete the pics from my hard drive. When I was 18 I came across a similar one. It was a rusted 1968 Barracuda Formula S 340. It was a black disaster sitting on the ground with rotted red interior. I offered the guy $1500 and he laughed at me. So it sat there and rotted more then years later was gone. Maybe someone offered more for it but more likely it went to the junkyard. This is what it could have been.
My Hummer H3 has earned the nickname the Crushinator after Futurama Bender's dream girl. Why? Well I have never ran over anything in my driving history. But since I got the Hummer I have crushed a squirrel and an entire Canadian goose. So yesterday when I saw this lambo ahead of me it crossed my mind how easily I could ruin his day. Lucky it didn't happen. No crushination.
When it's below 50 degrees F the Mustang makes a ticking sound when idling. It sounds like a lifter is floating. Once it warms up out the ticking stops but this year I thought I would try to do something about it. So as per my brother's suggestion I went and bought a bottle of Sea Foam. He swears by the stuff. This stuff is an engine treatment that you can add to the gas tank or the crank case. I bought two bottles and did both. The next day I started up the car, let it warm up, and then drove to work. On the way there the ticking wasn't present. I thought, "Great at least it's quiet at the stop lights." But then on the way home that evening the ticking was back. So I assume the Sea Foam did nothing.
Makes me a little nervous that this happens every year, especially since the car's miles are getting up there.
