So, here's my pseudo blog about picking up my new Shelby. I'll offer comments and/or opinions but they are my own observations. You may have a different view of the car than mine. It is long so if you don't have much time, just hit your back button.
On Tuesday 10-10-2006 I flew from Phoenix to Columbus Ohio. My brother owns a business (
www.invaderwheels.com) in Hilyard, OH. He offered to drive me the five hours to Knox, IN. I had not seen Scott in about 10 years so it was a good time to catch up on lies and stories. The plane was late (no surprise US Worst) but fortunately uneventful. It was past 1900 local when I arrived so I shacked up at the Hilton/Easton. Nice place. Good food. Horrible bed.
Scott picked me up at 9:00 am on Wednesday the 11th. We decided that since the trip was long, and mainly over two lane roads, we should get something to eat. At 10 am we started the trip. That part of the country was being hammered with bad weather, mainly rain and strong winds so the going was slow. We arrived in Knox IN about 1700 local.
We arrived at the dealership (more on them later) and saw the Torch Red Shelby in the showroom. These folks were waiting for us. The weather was horrible and there was no way I was going to take the Shelby out in the weather considering there was possibility of hail. I did check the weather forecast and sunny weather was expected for the next two days (12th and 13th).
We drooled over the Shelby, got the paperwork out of the way which was pretty fast since the car was already paid for. I left the keys and the paperwork at the dealership. Scott and I headed for a hotel and dinner. We stayed at a small local Inn called the Astoria. Small. Dirty towels in the bathroom wihch they fixed when I complained. We had dinner at a very nice Greek restaurant called Aristo's. Great food. Wonderful service. The owner saw me with my Treo 700 so we later opened a dialog since he was looking for a PDA. While I was there he told me his wireless router wasn't working so I took a few minutes to fix a configuration problem for him.
That night was sleepless - tossing and turning while thinking about the new Shelby. I got up really tired. Spent most of the night watching TV.
Scott and I had breakfast at the 'Country Inn'. Nice place. Fast service and good food. We arrived at the dealer about 8:00 am. I looked over the vehicle and familiarized myself with its controls. I own a 2005 Torch Red GT so most of it was the same as the '05 except my GT is an automatic. The owner Robert and I took the car to fill the gas tank. This gave me chance to feel out the Shelby. What I immediately learned was that this was no 'tame' vehicle. It has a lot of power and can get away from you. Nothing happened during this short drive because I treated the car with the respect it deserved.
Robert and I returned to the dealership. All of us took photos, slapped each other on the back and I prepared to leave. I loaded up my luggage, cell phone, firearm (yup, came prepared and yes, I do have a concealed carry permit. I had to avoid Illinois as much as I could as that was the ONLY state along my route not honoring my Arizona concealed carry permit) and my Globalstar satellite phone. Two days before I sent the dealer a Model 7100 LandAirSea GPS/Cell auto reporting tracking device for installation (
www.landairsea.com). The mechanic put it in the hidden location I requested. Before leaving I tested the GPS locator. The web session on my Treo showed the vehicle in the parking lot of the dealer. The device also provides an ignitiion disable. I had that feature enabled in case the car was stolen.
I left shortly after 0800 for home. I headed south on Highway 35 from Knox, In. This is for the most part a rural two lane highway. There was some traffic but nothing that got me bogged down. It was a 100 mile drive from Knox to Indianapolis. Most of that time I used to acquaint myself with the car. For the first hour or so I could not get any boost. However, closer to Indianapolis I had to pass two semi-trucks. I dropped it from 6th to 3rd and punched it. Man, what a shock. The car took off like a rocket and the supercharger boost guage got close to 10 psi. When I shifted into 4th I was doing, well, really fast. I had to pull my eyes back into their sockets from the back of my skull.
The trip from Knox to Indiana didn't provide any opportunity to get a feel for how the car handles. The road was straight most of the way. I did feel that the car really grabbed the ground and feels like a true race car when you make sharp turns.
From Indiana I took I-70 westbound. Here is where I noticed a few things about owning a new Shelby. For the remainder of the trip I was constantly barraged by ricers and beat up trucks who wanted to show off their crap. I had one Dodge Diesel come up on my right side about 75, put his truck into neutral (or, push in the clutch) and rev his engine - like I cared. I have to say I was really shocked at how much angry envy the car attracted. I noticed this all the way across the country. Of course, I DID get a LOT of people coming by me with the usual thumbs up!
I had to stop in St. Louis for gas and a snack. Roads through there were horrible with confusiing signage and lots of construction. I made one mistake here. I picked an off ramp at random when I saw a familiar gas station sign. At the top of the ramp I immediately knew I had made a mistake. On my right was a HUGE Chrysler manufacturing plant and it was the 1500 shift change. Thousands of cars were pouring out of the parking lot. Here I was, in a Shelby, surrounded by hundreds of Chrysler products. I made it to the QuikTrip station at the top of the ramp and filled up - gas and food. The car was surrounded by Chrysler employees who wanted to look into every nook and cranny of the car. It was an instant one man car show. I have to give credit to these workers. I understand brand and union loyalty but every single person had nothing but praise for the Shelby. I left the station 30 minutes later with a great feeling.
I contined on I-70 but had to stop in Tulsa, OK. I was hoping to make OKC but the lack of sleep the prior night made it too dangerous to continue. I spent the night in the Hilton across the street from Oral Roberts University. This Hilton was a dump. Service was good as was the food. The hotel looked like it needed a paint job and new carperts, at least 10 years ago. I left them a comment card with my obervations and my Hilton Honors account number. I will be surprised it they contact me.
Day two (Friday the 13th - uh oh!). I filled up the car (gas was under two bucks a gallon for premiium) and picked up I-40. I-40 was going to take me all the way home. I managed to travel at mostly 80 miles per hour, slowing down only for the all too often freeway construction. The Sirius radio in the Shelby was my companion as was the FOX News Channel. It was a boring drive, just stopping every few hours for gas and the usual related things. I wanted to get home and I knew it was going to be a long day.
The car was averaging 19 miles per gallon, regardless of how I drove it. I tried to keep the speed to at least 80 since that was the general flow of traffic.
I arrived at my home in Chandler AZ at 2215 hours. At
www.mcleodscotties.com, find the Mustang page. I put up a link to the entire GPS data log showing the automatic hourly reports. As to the entries above the speed limit, I admit nothing. It must be an error. The trip was 1809 miles over two days.
The Shelby performed flawlessly. When I reached the White Mountains of AZ I was too tired to try any fancy driving through the twisty 2 lane roads. But I can tell you that the car felt like it has super glue drippers over the tires.
I found the car easy to drive so long as I temper it with respect. It is very fast and powerful. While on the Will Rogers Turnpike, I had to stop 42 miles in from the east to pay a toll. As I left the toll booth there was not a single car in sight. Well, figure the rest out for yourself. I had to stop my knees from shaking by the time I slowed down. It corners like it is attached to a rail on the ground. All of the internal systems (lights, AC/Heater, radios - Shaker 1000, etc.) worked perfectly. I checked the oil at every stop and never saw the level go down at all. Since the car uses synthetic I did check at a few stops to see if they had what Ford requires. I found nothing so it may be a good idea to keep a couple of quarts in the trunk until the oil becomes more widely available.
A few words about the dealer I purchased it from. I start off by saying I paid well over MSRP and I am glad I did. It insured I would be able to purchase the car. I tried to buy a Shelby from a Phoenix area dealer from whom I have purchased personal and fleet vehicles for 12 years. Those guys wouldn't even return my calls.
I located Kank Akee Valley Ford in Knox IN from an Internet posting. I dealt with Robert Crosby the owner and the sales manager, Layton Darnell. If I live ten thousand years, I will NEVER EVER find a nicer or more honest group of people than those at Kank Akee Valley Ford.
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