How it all Began

Early in 2005 I was in the market for a new vehicle.    I had a 2001 Ford Ranger that my wife and I decided would make a good car for our oldest son and so the search began.

Our kids were getting older and it would only be a year or so before two of our other children also had their own wheels, so we started thinking about downsizing our Suburban for a mid-size SUV.

I spent a month or so test driving various vehicles and had pretty much settled on a Honda Pilot.  Yeah, I know.

Well, I decided before I made the decision I’d have my wife and a couple of the kids test-drive for the “family” test.  It failed miserably.  I won’t go into the details but while I liked how the vehicle felt for the driver, the rest of the passengers were not ready to give up the Suburban.

A little discouraged, my wife said, “why don’t you test one of the new Mustangs?  I drove one, a GT I think it was and it was pretty hot!”

I know, I know – why didn’t she just say that to start?  Well, in a fairness to my lovely wife - she sort of did – so the gaff was on me!

Long story short, I barely shifted the car into 3^rd gear and I said loudly, and in my best Will Smith voice,  “I gotta get me one of these!!”.  Not usually what you want to say with the car salesman in the car, but if you remember, the S197 Mustangs were pretty hot sellers in 2005 so playing it coy was not going to help anyway.

A few months later, after scouring for the package I wanted, I drove home BlueFirePony.

Topics: BlueFirePony; Car Build