PERFORMANCE	INTERIOR	EXTERIOR		AUDIO	PICTURES

1/22/2002                                       

I traded in MudTaz on Saturday night (1/19/2002) and bought the 2002 Mustang GT Convertible.   Saturday was the first time since before New Year's that I had driven anything, much less the Jeep, due to the herniated disc in my back at L5-S1. The doctor "strongly encouraged" me to 1) not go off-roading 2) not ride in or drive the Jeep and 3) consider another vehicle that would not aggravate the disc. 

The GT is Mineral Gray with Charcoal interior. The leather will go in on Thursday.  I'm having the stereo from the Jeep installed so she will have awesome tunes of course. The engine is the 4.6L V-8 with dual exhaust and it rumbles just starting it. It seems to just growl. Now that I've been driving it for a couple of days I wonder what I ever did before this car! Its like I should have gotten one of these YEARS ago! Its a perfect fit!  

Well, I'll add more later. I just wanted to get the pics up for now.          

Reba    

1/23/2002

The dealership agreed to let us take MudTaz over to Mobile Sound Systems to have my old stereo system removed and the factory put back in. This is good since they really didn't give me anything for it.  The speakers had to stay since they won't fit in the Mustang. I remembered later that I didn't have the factory stereo so we bought a little AM/FM/Cassette player from Pep Boys for $39.99 and they installed that.  The uninstall only cost us $120.  Now rather than paying $1000-$2000 to get a new system I can simply replace the factory speakers in the Mustang.  I still have the Eclipse deck, equalizer, Lanzar amp and RF Punch woofers. :)

Casey, a friend of Susan's nephew Jeff, will be meeting up with us tonight to get the CB and Hella Black Magic lights off MudTaz.  I'll be taking the wheel locks and will give the hood lock to Casey too. We have to have the Jeep back to Don Davis by tomorrow.  Casey would love the opportunity to pull the lift off the Jeep too but I remember that it took us 1 1/2 days to get it on. Susan and I agreed that we wouldn't have time.  It is a shame though since the lift and tires are less than a year old and the new disconnects are less than 6 months old. The tires have at least 85-90% tread left and are 33" BFG Mud Terrains.

More later...

Reba

1/24/2002

Last night we met with Casey and managed to get the lights, door locks, hood lock, tinted windows, CB Radio, etc. off after Mobile Sound Systems uninstalled my system and installed the other stereo. The only thing he didn't get really was the tires, wheels, and lift. What accessories I had at home (Safari doors and so forth) Susan had brought with her.  Casey's Jeep looked like he had hit the Jackpot at a Jeep Swap Meet.  We managed to get the Jeep back to the dealership before 9 PM so we wouldn't have to worry about it.  Now all we have to get them is the spare tire. 

Dropped the GT off at the dealership first thing this morning so that they could install the leather interior and do the "make ready" that they never got to do at delivery.  Susan and I delivered the spare tire to the Jeep when we came to pick up the car.  

The leather is beautiful! I am so glad I decided to go with that option and that Susan didn't let me back out of it. ;)   I'll post new pictures after this weekend. 

Reba

1/25/2002

Susan made an appointment with Glacier (on Cooper Street, Arlington, Texas) to do the tint for the windows. We met there at lunch today, dropped off the GT, then went to lunch.  We picked up the car at 5:30pm (after I got off work).  It looks so cool.  The only things left are the stereo and alarm system. Of course the GT has the ignition kill system built in, which I love, but I would like to add something extra to it.  Maybe a passive arming system that will lock the doors after 30 seconds, dual microwave sensor (like the Jeep had), and audible alarm. What would be really cool is LoJack. 

Reba

1/26/2002

Sometimes I really hate Texas. :)  It was supposed to be cold, nasty, awful weather all weekend.  That's why we went ahead and did the tint now knowing that we wouldn't be tempted to roll down the windows or lower the convertible top. Now it is going to be sunny and in the 70's. An absolutely perfect day to go with the top down.  Damn. Oh well.  I need to get pictures with the top up anyway...

Reba

6/27/2002

Wow, not quite 3,000 miles later and I am in LOVE with this car!! 

She's at the dealership today getting her first oil change and 10-point check up.  They are also checking out a possible issue that I've been having that may be related to the computer.  On the second day I had her, and again yesterday, the car simply DIED going 30-50 MPH and shifting.  The first time it happened I figured I just didn't shift right, that I was used to the Jeep, and the clutch was totally different. However, its been 6 months now and I'm very familiar with the shifting. 

When I left her there the service department stated that they would most likely put "new software" in the car.  Hopefully this will stop the issue.  I am concerned because we're going to South Padre Island in August and we're taking the Mustang.

I am very impressed with our service department at Don Davis Ford in Arlington (Six Flags Drive/Highway 360).  They are a 5-Star Service Center.  They are fast, courteous, responsive, and the really listen.  I met the mechanic that would be working on my Mustang and explained to him, in my own words, what it was doing.  This allowed him to ask me questions.  I also talked with my Service Advisor at the same time so together we all three agreed on what we would be doing to the car.  I left feeling confident that they would take care of the problems.  Other than Saturn, I've never felt like that at a Service Center and/or dealership.

Other news, I've added the Rio Car MP3 player (30 GIG) along with my Eclipse CD/FM Tuner deck, Lanzar 4 channel amp, and a Kenwood amplified bass tube.  I still have the factory speakers in the car but you wouldn't know it. The Rio has a built in parametric (20 band) equalizer and the ability to adjust sound per channel on a 4 or 2 channel system. The Rio MUST have an amp to run properly though. 

8/14/2002

Ah, decisions, decisions, decisions. :)  My birthday is fast approaching and I am interested in either Sirius or XM radio.  We went to purchase a deck and the tuner (and antenna) at a local store where installation was free.  As we finalized our order and prepared to set the installation date (Equipment already purchased) we found that the deck install was free however there would be a fee for the install of the antenna and the tuner.  These charges were quickly becoming as expensive as the original unit.

Well, the Kenwood is going back to the store as is the tuner and the antenna.  Instead I will get a Sony CDX-M630.  Check out the info on Sony's site: http://www.xplodsony.com/products/?CATEGORY=CD&MD=CDX-M630.

Friday, September 6th, the GT died on me again while still in motion.  I'm now just over 5000 miles and the last time it has done this was in June.  Again I was turning and was at about 30 mph.  I will have to take it in again.  I'm not very pleased as I'm beginning to get concerned that she will die on me going down the highway doing 80 or something.  I don't want them to give me a new car either. I want that car.

February 29, 2004

Its been awhile but unfortunately it hasn't been uneventful.  I've had issues with the external A-pillars on my GT convertible coming up. They ordered a new one (at first it was just one), but accidentally painted it Grey not Mineral Grey so it had to go back.  In the meantime the other one started coming off.  Also, I had them look at the back windows.  The drivers side rear window had always made noise when being lowered but not until a fellow Mustang owner showed me his window (which he never got repaired) and the end result did I decide I better take care of it.  Just in time too as mine had started to develop a groove in the glass from the window track.  The other rear window was losing its weather stripping. Both had to be replaced.  My tires were showing extreme wear at 12K miles.  So much so that NTB at first wouldn't even rotate them until I got pissy about it.  I noted that the internal 12V power point (where the cigarette lighter would be) didn't work and never had.  Ends up it had a short.  

At this point (just over 14K miles) the tires had to be replaced, an alignment and camber kit had to be done (I have not been in any accidents.)  Both rear windows have been replaced and re-tinted thus fixing the weather stripping issue on the passenger side rear window.  The car has not died on me again (knock on wood) since September 2002.  The only item not fixed to my satisfaction is the external A-pillars but this is something that they may not be able to fix.  I noted NEW cars on the lot with the same issue and brought that to their attention.  A Ford Engineer will be at my dealership on the 2nd and, since he/she is there anyway, they asked that I bring my car up there. 

October 31, 2004

It's been a wild ride... and it's bittersweet to see it come to an end. 

I have had numerous issues with Tempest and the trips to the dealership have been too many to count.  It was all little stuff mainly except for the A-Pillars and the leak that formed later that resulted in new carpeting.  Having the car moved to another dealership's service department by the Regional Manager over warranty work helped.  Texan Ford was able to fix everything that was wrong without repeat visits.  They even fixed the alignment even after I paid out of pocket for Don Davis Ford to do it.  According to what Texan Ford found it is not possible that Don Davis even performed the work.  The alignment was totally out of specs and they had just completed the work. 

Other than my issues with quality, Tempest was a tad rich for the pocket book.  The monthly payment for her was $620.00.  My insurance had gone up when I got her even though I am female, over 25, and have an excellent driving record. Then there's the V8... and gas prices have soared....  I drive 5 miles one way to work each day.  An average week is 50 miles a week.  Its not out of the ordinary for the car to sit unused for the weekend or evenings.  This is why the car was almost three years old and had less than 19K miles.  It would have been less if I hadn't taken it to Kansas, Mississippi, and South Padre Island, Texas.

So... it's time to do the right thing, the responsible thing, and look at the numbers first.  This monthly car payment and the ripple effect (insurance, gas, accessories, etc.) has had a

negative impact on our ability to pay our other bills and our credit.  It has taken away the "extra money" we used to have after paying bills each week/month.  Its a great car and I love it very much but I love my wife and what we have more.  The car is a "nice to have" thing. My future with Susan is a "need to have". I traded Tempest in on a White 40th Anniversary Edition Mustang Coupe, 3.8L Automatic,  with Arizona Beige stripes and wheels, and medium parchment leather interior.  The payment, after adding Gap Insurance, security devices, and Extended Service Plan, is $542, the insurance is at least $24 less a month (should be more than that since we added the security devices), and the V6 should lower my gas expenses, the automatic should help with gas as well. :) I'm not sure just yet what the new car will be named.  Right now we're calling her "Baby".  She has some big tire prints to fill in my heart but I'm sure she'll be leaving some marks there herself very soon. :)