I've Posted My 2014 Shelby GT500 FOR SALE

I’ve decided to finally put my triple black 2014 GT500 up for sale.  As I say in the ad it’s a very nice, very fast car that sits in my garage and does nothing.  So why do I have it?  I’ve posted it as $69,000 but that is negotiable.  I'm really just looking to get the loan paid off and out of my hair.

 

It’s stock expect for a few small cosmetic additions like headlight covers and fender scoops added by the previous owner.  It has the supercharged 5.8L rated at 662hp. There is really nothing wrong with it but the front spoiler is scratched up I assume from driveways, they were there when I got it.

I’ve really enjoyed the car.  It’s one of those vehicles that no matter how much you drive it you still get butterflies before starting it up.  Here in Canada we don’t get enough nice days to justify having a rear-wheel drive monster which is why my daily is the Focus RS.

If you're interest I'm in the Greater Toronto Area here in Ontario.  You can view the ad posting HERE

Shelby Walk Around

Hey guys.  I realized that since I've been doing the Daily Drive videos I have never really showcased the cars I'm driving.  Mainly I've just been shooting inside the cars.  Since we had a sunny day here in Ontario I thought it would be a good time to start.

I decided to start with the Shelby since it's only got a few more months of road time before it goes to sleep for the winter.  So my girlfriend and I found a nice spot and did a short video.  I hope you enjoy it.

The SRT Demon Will Send You To Hell

Well Dodge finally did it.  As if the Hellcat wasn’t crazy enough they revealed the Dodge SRT Demon.  A Dodge Challenger with an 840hp supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi putting out 770 pounds-feet of torque.   They are desperately trying to market this as a big time first, like it’s never been done ever.  Well technically that’s not true.  Ford makes the Cobra Jet Mustang and Chevrolet makes the COPO Camaro.  Both are serious drag strip ready cars you can buy from the dealer and  they will smoke the SRT Demon.  The biggest difference here is that Ford and Chevy aren’t stupid enough to release those cars as street legal vehicles.  Dodge is bragging how the NHRA banned the SRT Demon from competition but frankly I’m shocked that the NHRA has shown more concern than Dodge in the safety of drivers.

The Cobra Jet & COPO are strictly for track use only and that’s a wise decision.  A car that does the quarter mile in 9 seconds (Dodge claims 9.65 sec with the Demon) is not something the average Joe has any idea how to drive.  Generally 9 second cars are built by people that obsess over cars and are experienced behind the wheel.  Frankly I find it really negligent that Dodge is willing to put these in the hands of anyone that can write the check.  Also how will these ever get insured?  There is a rumor that Hagerty Insurance has partnered with Dodge to offer insurance for customers because they expect other companies to decline coverage.

I drive a 2014 Shelby Cobra with 662hp and it is a handful on the street.  Car mechanics that have driven it have said, “My god that thing is insane. How do you drive that?” It is nothing compared to the SRT Demon.  Dodge is flashing the Demon around like a monkey with a gun.

Below is the Demon video but also videos of the Cobra Jet and Copo from last year.  Which seems meaner to you?

Another Shelby Summer

Spring is coming and so my Shelby can be released from its winter cocoon.  This leads my thoughts to the question of how much to I plan on driving it this summer.  This is something many people don’t care about, they drive and drive without any concern for miles.  I am not one of these people.  I didn’t really buy the car as a money investment but I also don’t want to quickly devalue a low miles car. 

This dilemma starts with asking will the car hold its value?  I bought the car from a company that specializes in “special” cars.  They of course think every car is amazing and full of value at least until they sell it.  But I had the unique opportunity to have gotten along really well with the guy that put together my loan and he happened to have changed jobs and gone to a different dealership.  So when he messaged me that he had moved I said, “Hey, now that you’re not at the place I bought my Shelby you can be honest.  Was it a stupid investment?”  He replied, “No, the Shelby’s are a pretty safe bet.  Out of anything that you could purchase they hold their value best.”

This was great to hear but I believe it also matters how it compares to the other hot Shelby’s out there.  My 2014 was the last year of the big 5.8L Trinity engine with a supercharged 662 hp.  This is great but everyone is waiting with baited breath for the next GT500 which has been guess to have 755 hp.  This would certainly have an impact on the value of my car just like the ’13 and ’14 had an impact on the previous year GT500s.

If I ask for the opinion of people on most of the Mustang forums they all say, “Dude, just drive it.”  But I don’t know.  I feel more like a caretaker of the car rather than an owner and don't really want to drive it into the ground.

My Patient Plymouth

Many of you may not know I have a project car.  Well it’s a car that needs work which I don’t have time or space to start.  It’s my first car that I bought when I was 18.  It got me through many street races in high school, I lived in it for two weeks until a girl took pity on me, and it carried me into adulthood.  It’s my 1970 Plymouth Duster 340 4-barrel with a 3-speed on the floor.  Bright yellow with black racing stripes, everyone of course called it the bumble bee.

In about 1991 I parked the car in a nice cement floored building on my mother’s farm with the intention to restore it.  It had started burning some oil and needed an engine overhaul at the very least.  I got as far as pulling the engine and disassembling it.  During the process I found the issue which was a broken piston ring.  I had the engine bored and cleaned up but then I stopped.

One day I thought, “This car is going to cost a lot to restore.  Maybe instead of spending money on that I really should get out of my stupid factory job and go to college.”  So that’s what I did.  I started saving up for college, quit the factory and graduated with honors.  After college I moved to Los Angeles,  8 years later to Wisconsin, then 8 years after that I moved to Toronto Canada.  All the while my Duster waited.

Most places in the Toronto area seem to have one stall garages and Canadians don’t even seem to use their garages for cars very much.  My landlord here curiously asked me once why I put my car in the garage like it was a bizarre thing.  Certainly there are houses with two stall garages in Toronto but not at all as common as they are in the States.  So having space for a project car is not something I have the luxury of. But I really should get some momentum happening with the Duster.

For a time I felt I had a clever solution.  This was to rent a space like a garage or a barn or an old gas station as a workspace for my project.  Just some space nobody was using. It would give me a space to work and also get me away from the house for a little escape, perfect right?  However I quickly found that places renting these kind of spaces assume you’re going to start a business of some sort and charge rent accordingly.  In most cases the cost was higher than my living space.  So my next brilliant idea was that I would find a bunch of likeminded people and together we would rent one of these spaces for our projects.  But finding like minded people really became looking for like minded strangers, and strangers that would have access to my tools and parts.  Suddenly that didn’t sound like such a good idea.  So my beloved Duster remains in storage patiently waiting for me to get my act together.

During its wait I’ve dreamed of going many different directions with the build.  Of course there is the stock restore option but frankly a Duster isn’t the premier muscle car and mine wasn’t an original 340 car, it was a 318 from the factory so there really wasn’t much value in that.  For a long time I wanted to make it a vintage autocross car to join in those retro Trans Am races which is still in my head.  It would certainly be a challenging build to get a Duster to handle corners.  I’ve always loved the ’67 through ’69 Barracuda and my 340 would live happily in one of those.  I’ve also even thought a couple times of just selling it but I don’t know, the idea kind of hurts my soul.  One thing has always bugged me about the car though and it’s the lines.  I always felt to me it should be a fastback.  So I started playing with Photoshop and I think it works!  I’m not certain how I would handle the rear window but I think it could be good.  What do you think?

Anyway none of this is going to happen if I never find a workspace for it.  Do any of you have similar dilemmas?  Did you find a solution to space issues?  They say a real car guy can work in the driveway in any weather but “I’m getting’ too old for that”

Incredible '68 Dodge Coronet

Today I discovered this cool modern conversion of a 1968 Dodge Coronet.  It was created by Steven Jarudd of Sweden.  Its got the interior, engine, and electronics from an '07 Charger SRT8 and I think he did a really great job.  More pics can be found on Steve's Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/steven.jarudd?ref=br_rs

I even found a video but excuse the crap choice of music.

662 HP Can Be Tricky

Yesterday I was playing with my Shelby at a stoplight and did a hard pull.  I got grip, shifted to second, got grip and then at about 70mph I lost grip and the tails started to come around.  It didn't become a crazy disaster because I lifted and it straightened right out, but this seems to be the common reason why GT500s end up tangled in the trees.  You really aren't expecting to lose grip once the tires have traction after the shift.  Just like the guy in the video below.  I didn't get as squirrely as this guy because I lifted but I can certainly see how things could get out of hand quickly.

I have a pretty solid respect for this car so I'm usually ready for anything when I'm giving it the beans but still it was pretty unnerving.  The Drive Channel listed the 2013 and 14 Shelby GT500 among the top 10 cars out there that is trying to kill you.  Perhaps more serious tires are in order.

Dodge's Latest Mess

Contrary to popular belief I am not a Mustang fan.  Of course I like them enough to buy them but they are not the car I’m always after.  In fact I absolutely hated them in high school.  The big reason I’ve owned so many is that they are fast out of the box and there are endless aftermarket possibilities.  A Mustang can be easily built to be whatever you want it to be.

Before I bought my first Mustang I was primarily a “Mopar of No Car” kind of guy.  I loved Dodge and Plymouth muscle cars.  To me they always seemed like the underdog that Ford and Chevy people wrongfully underestimated.  Once a guy pulled up next to me in my Duster 340 bragging that his Nova had a 350.  In his mind the bigger number mean he would stomp me and he was sadly mistaken.

So then why am I not driving around in a new Challenger or Charger instead of a Shelby?  Because Dodge treats its heritage like garbage.  To charge a few more bucks Dodge with slap R/T on everything from a minivan to a SUV.  It used to be an exclusive badge for performance vehicles meaning road and track, but now it means nothing.  Then Dodge created SRT as their exclusive performance car but of course we started seeing that show up on Ram pickups and even Jeeps.  Now we have Hellcat which has migrated over to Charger and the word is it will be on a Ram soon.  Dodge does not know how to keep something exclusive or special anymore.

So in the tradition of Dodge whoring out their heritage they announced the Challenger T/A package.  For those who don’t know way back in 1970 when things were good Dodge created a T/A variation of their Challenger to be raced in Trans Am races which is where the T/A comes from.  These were high winding small block 340s with what was called a 6-pack which was 3 two-barrel carbs. They were light and had upgraded suspension and brakes.  Today they are fairly rare and expensive cars.

Now with Ford creating the new track oriented GT350 Mustang and Chevy creating the track oriented Z/28 Camaro did Dodge follow suit and resurrect the Challenger T/A to be a track attack machine like in the old days??  Nope.  It’s a stupid sticker package along with intake and exhaust options that don’t change the horsepower numbers at all.  Oh, well surely keeping with tradition they have something special under the hood like a supercharged 5.7-liter or maybe even a turbo V6??  Nope, instead it’s got the standard 375hp 5.7 or the 485hp 6.4 same as all the other Challengers packages.  With the Challenger T/A they had the chance to stay relevant with Ford and Chevy and create their own track attack car to chase after the competition with.  Just like the special small block 340 6-pack engine of the '70s they could have used a turbo V6 or at the very least boosted the smaller 5.7 V8.  But that would take effort, research, engineering and testing to create.  Stickers and badges on the other hand are easy to apply and cost way less.

So this is why I no longer fly the Mopar flag, Dodge just doesn’t try anymore.  They aren’t the scrappy underdog anymore, they are just behind and not in a cool way.  Hell, they took the Charger which was an amazing iconic car and turned it into a 4-banger hatchback and then into a 4 door sedan.  I’m just glad that Plymouth is dead so we don’t see some modern Cuda abomination out there on the streets.



Pics and info courtesy of Car & Driver. 

A Few Pretty Interesting Cars For Sale

It's a really bad habit of mine.  Some people say I'm a masochist because I am constantly looking at cars for sale that I can't afford to buy.  Certainly I see many cars I'd like to have in my home garage but since my home garage consists of one stall my stable of cars is very limited.  Often this leads me to grinding my thoughts with should I replace the one in the garage with some other one?  Usually the answer ends up being no for one reason or another.  But sometimes I find things I'd like to share.  Such as the following cars.

1971 Plymouth Road Runner for $24,000  http://www.cars-on-line.com/80371.html

This is a real Road Runner but the 440 6-pack its sporting isn't original.  After a message to the owner asking what the original engine in the car was he replied, "383 4 barrel" just like that.  Not even a complete sentence or hi and anything.  Way to sell your car dude.  Owner aside the car appears pretty clean.  The color is a bit meh but with black interior you could paint it any color you'd like.  Plus a pistol grip 4 speed attached to a 440 6-pack!?  Damn!  Try to get a 440 6-pack for $24,000 anywhere.

1969 Dodge Super Bee Clone for $29,995 http://www.cars-on-line.com/71382.html

This one isn't a real Super Bee.  It started life as a Cornet.  There is nothing wrong with a Cornet so I don't know why the guy changed it to be a Super Bee clone.  Imagine people would say, "Awesome Super Bee man!" but it isn't.  Even if you don't admit it the car isn't a Super Bee.  It can't be registered as a Super Bee, it would say Dodge Cornet.  So weird to me.  That fact aside it's pretty awesome!  Again a 440 car.  This is a 4-barrel but still damn nice.  Functional Ram Air hood, pistol grip Tremec 5 speed!  So cool and Plum Crazy Purple too! Definitely a car I'd consider.

1967 Dodge Hemi Cornet for $45,000 http://www.cars-on-line.com/74895.html

All I can say about this car is DAMN! For the average guy $45,000 is a lot of money to spend on something built in the 60s but you are not going to find a Hemi car like this one for that money.  The guy says he's being more than fair with the price and I totally agree with him.  Nasty black on black car and that highly modified Hemi make this one of the coolest rides I've stumbled across in a long time.  I'm not going to list everything he's done to this thing because he's already done it in the ad.  He also has many video of it up on YouTube.  This is one mean machine.  The only bummer about it is once you own it there isn't much to do but polish it and pay speeding tickets.  I mean everything is already done.  

Scoop these deals up before I do!  :P

Cornet

Spied this 1968 Dodge Cornet gassing up today. No details but snapped a picture.

1975 Firebird Trans Am

Here is this morning's failed attempt to take a picture of this sweet 1975 Firebird Trans Am 455 HO as I drove by. It's blurry. Bummer.