New to SN95s but not to Mustangs and definitely not wrenching. Long story - bought a '19 GT 6spd new in 9/19. Base. Swapped in Sync 4, did some other mods, beat on it like it owed me money. Drove it daily. 3 years and 35K+ miles later, went to the local dealer to finalize the deal on my wife's '22 Bronco 2 door we had ordered. We were trading in her '17 Mustang Ragtop (Ecoboost Premium) and after getting more than we paid for it used two years prior, the dealer jokingly asked if my car was for sale. I replied with a number. 30 minutes later he was $250 shy of that number. Away it went. He paid me MORE than I paid for it new including taxes, tags and license in '19.
So I started daily driving our '12 F150 FX4 (Coyote powered). It was an estate sale truck. Had 40K on it when we bought it in '18. Nice truck and I need a truck fairly often. Soul sucking to drive that thing everyday. Before the F150, EVERY daily drive I've had for 15+ years had three pedals. Then the same dealer saw the truck when I was picking up a part for the wife's Bronco. He made it offer. Away it went. It cost us very little to own / drive that truck for 40k+ miles and 5 years. Couldn't say no. Around the same time I had just sold the '95 Bronco I had restored for my son's daily. He needed something that would allow him to FIT into parking garages and be okay with leaving it parked for days / weeks at a time when he as on the road.
Found a '03 Mustang 3.8 locally. 150K. BONE stock mechanically. Mint interior and exterior is ridiculously clean, been garaged / covered apparently it's whole life (Came with a $300 custom car cover). I forget how fun these little cars were to drive. So I kind of randomly looked on FB marketplace for a 5 speed GT. Focused on '94-95 5.0 cars or PI cars. Found a '04 in MD (I'm in VA). The ad was a picture of a flyer printed out by the seller's wife. You know the kind where you tear off a piece of it with their phone number? I got lucky and caught it a few minutes after she posted it.
Always loved this color. PO owner bought it 15+ years ago. I'm the 3rd owner. Original owner bought it new, added I'm guessing a Vortech SC (it had an oil cooler line plumbed into the stock pan, it's blocked off now). Also added Ford Performance pedals, likely a performance clutch, aftermarket firewall adjuster and quadrant, a shifter and among a few other things - 4.10 gears.
Original NY car. No ROT. Only found a few sports of purely surface rust underneath. Always garaged or covered apparently. Interior is mint.
About those gears - the PO bought it with 50K on it. He didn't modify anything. He also never bothered to tune the car to correct the speedometer for the gears. So it showed 96K legit miles on it when I bought it. Actually @ 85K if you could the fact the speedometer was 25% fast because of the gears LOL.
Faded front bumper, no damage. PO paid somebody to try and paint the rear bumper (faded) and apparently they thought prep work was purely optional. No mud / filler or other damage I can find. I'll yank both bumpers get the paint scanned and mixed and shoot 'em myself.
Car apparently has every option you could get in '04 for a 5spd GT. Including the original and FULLY functional Mach 1000 stereo with (2) trunk mounted subs and the amps / rack in the trunk and the stock deck. Couldn't help but laugh when the 70 some year old PO's wife said "The young man who owned before us must have really liked his music!!!" When I told them it was the FACTORY system they looked at me like I was nuts.
No drips, noises or anything on the hour + ride home.
Front wheels felt a little loose when I got it up on a buddy's lift. One tie rod was replaced (found the receipt for a Autozone part from years ago). Both ball joints were OEM and had ripped boots. Replaced both with MOOG. Replaced the Autozone tie rod with MOOG, will replace the other OEM outer when I do pads / rotors this week. Brakes were Motorcraft pads that looked new, in wear, but been on their so long the plate backing plates were coming unglued LOL.
Eibach Pro springs in the front, can still read the part numbers LOL. It's got some old school (probably done in 04 or 05) mid length headers that run into a mid pipe with one set of aftermarket cats, an X, then what look and sound like old school chambered Flowmasters. Exhaust is in good shape. Headers could use a new coating. Sounds good too LOL.
Been driving it for several days. Need to get a MGW shifter ordered and a few other small things.
So I started daily driving our '12 F150 FX4 (Coyote powered). It was an estate sale truck. Had 40K on it when we bought it in '18. Nice truck and I need a truck fairly often. Soul sucking to drive that thing everyday. Before the F150, EVERY daily drive I've had for 15+ years had three pedals. Then the same dealer saw the truck when I was picking up a part for the wife's Bronco. He made it offer. Away it went. It cost us very little to own / drive that truck for 40k+ miles and 5 years. Couldn't say no. Around the same time I had just sold the '95 Bronco I had restored for my son's daily. He needed something that would allow him to FIT into parking garages and be okay with leaving it parked for days / weeks at a time when he as on the road.
Found a '03 Mustang 3.8 locally. 150K. BONE stock mechanically. Mint interior and exterior is ridiculously clean, been garaged / covered apparently it's whole life (Came with a $300 custom car cover). I forget how fun these little cars were to drive. So I kind of randomly looked on FB marketplace for a 5 speed GT. Focused on '94-95 5.0 cars or PI cars. Found a '04 in MD (I'm in VA). The ad was a picture of a flyer printed out by the seller's wife. You know the kind where you tear off a piece of it with their phone number? I got lucky and caught it a few minutes after she posted it.
Always loved this color. PO owner bought it 15+ years ago. I'm the 3rd owner. Original owner bought it new, added I'm guessing a Vortech SC (it had an oil cooler line plumbed into the stock pan, it's blocked off now). Also added Ford Performance pedals, likely a performance clutch, aftermarket firewall adjuster and quadrant, a shifter and among a few other things - 4.10 gears.
Original NY car. No ROT. Only found a few sports of purely surface rust underneath. Always garaged or covered apparently. Interior is mint.
About those gears - the PO bought it with 50K on it. He didn't modify anything. He also never bothered to tune the car to correct the speedometer for the gears. So it showed 96K legit miles on it when I bought it. Actually @ 85K if you could the fact the speedometer was 25% fast because of the gears LOL.
Faded front bumper, no damage. PO paid somebody to try and paint the rear bumper (faded) and apparently they thought prep work was purely optional. No mud / filler or other damage I can find. I'll yank both bumpers get the paint scanned and mixed and shoot 'em myself.
Car apparently has every option you could get in '04 for a 5spd GT. Including the original and FULLY functional Mach 1000 stereo with (2) trunk mounted subs and the amps / rack in the trunk and the stock deck. Couldn't help but laugh when the 70 some year old PO's wife said "The young man who owned before us must have really liked his music!!!" When I told them it was the FACTORY system they looked at me like I was nuts.
No drips, noises or anything on the hour + ride home.
Front wheels felt a little loose when I got it up on a buddy's lift. One tie rod was replaced (found the receipt for a Autozone part from years ago). Both ball joints were OEM and had ripped boots. Replaced both with MOOG. Replaced the Autozone tie rod with MOOG, will replace the other OEM outer when I do pads / rotors this week. Brakes were Motorcraft pads that looked new, in wear, but been on their so long the plate backing plates were coming unglued LOL.
Eibach Pro springs in the front, can still read the part numbers LOL. It's got some old school (probably done in 04 or 05) mid length headers that run into a mid pipe with one set of aftermarket cats, an X, then what look and sound like old school chambered Flowmasters. Exhaust is in good shape. Headers could use a new coating. Sounds good too LOL.
Been driving it for several days. Need to get a MGW shifter ordered and a few other small things.
