Like many of you, I've been keen to acquire one of the new Mustang GT500's to park next to the one I bought new back in the '60's. Also like you, I've had the "runaround" from various dealers. One of them was happy to take an "order" for the car, a form which was very unofficial and more like a statement of interest rather than an actual order. Then later the goons acted like the typical car dealer that they are and would provide no info about the car (us listers know MUCH more than most of them), no calls when promised, no delivery times, etc, and made it clear by their ignorance that there was no real order (which of course I knew) and that they didn't give a rat's ass about me or my interest in buying the car. Astoria Ford in Astoria, OR. Another dealer told me months ago that they would get me the car and so I've been following up fairly regularly until finally they said essentially that they would be getting 3 of them and they'd be tens of thousands over MSRP. I walked away of course. I bought my '67 GT500 for 15% below invoice! Of course, it was a leftover model, one of many on the dealer's lot in March of '68. Of course I'm not expecting that now. I will pay MSRP or I will buy something else. The thrill of the idea has long since subsided and I'm now doubting that I'll bother Ford for a purchase. It doesn't help that the car is almost underwhelming in its appearance, being merely an option package on the Mustang GT, with little real involvement by the Man Himself. I love the idea of the big power and the bookends in my garage, and I'll still do it if/when the prices are reasonable, but I'm just not at all sure that's going to happen so mentally I've moved on. Meanwhile, Ford crumbles. Here they have the opportunity to sell probably 2 or 3 times as many of these cars as they plan to produce, and they're simply screwing it up royally. The rest of their product line shows me almost nothing, and I gave them a thorough review at the Portland Int'l Auto Show a couple weeks ago. Everywhere else I looked, there was interesting stuff in the pavilion. The Shelby had ZERO lookers, while the most popular car by far was the new Pontiac Solstice. For performance, I'll consider a new Corvette, maybe a Z06, if the Shelby turns out to be underdelivered by Ford. Ford gets an "F" and they've earned their troubles. I guess at my age I just don't feel like playing games, and I think that's what Ford appears to be doing with the new Shelby. More's the pity. I was ready to do the whole fantastic experience all over again and then hand it off to my kids at some point. Roger WA Coast
In a message dated 2/9/2006 11:43:55 AM Eastern Standard Time, rogerhol (AT) willapabay (DOT) org writes: Like many of you, I've been keen to acquire one of the new Mustang GT500's to park next to the one I bought new back in the '60's. Also like you, I've had the "runaround" from various dealers. One of them was happy to take an "order" for the car, a form which was very unofficial and more like a statement of interest rather than an actual order. Then later the goons acted like the typical car dealer that they are and would provide no info about the car (us listers know MUCH more than most of them), no calls when promised, no delivery times, etc, and made it clear by their ignorance that there was no real order (which of course I knew) and that they didn't give a rat's ass about me or my interest in buying the car. Astoria Ford in Astoria, OR. Another dealer told me months ago that they would get me the car and so I've been following up fairly regularly until finally they said essentially that they would be getting 3 of them and they'd be tens of thousands over MSRP. I walked away of course. I bought my '67 GT500 for 15% below invoice! Of course, it was a leftover model, one of many on the dealer's lot in March of '68. Of course I'm not expecting that now. I will pay MSRP or I will buy something else. The thrill of the idea has long since subsided and I'm now doubting that I'll bother Ford for a purchase. It doesn't help that the car is almost underwhelming in its appearance, being merely an option package on the Mustang GT, with little real involvement by the Man Himself. I love the idea of the big power and the bookends in my garage, and I'll still do it if/when the prices are reasonable, but I'm just not at all sure that's going to happen so mentally I've moved on. Meanwhile, Ford crumbles. Here they have the opportunity to sell probably 2 or 3 times as many of these cars as they plan to produce, and they're simply screwing it up royally. The rest of their product line shows me almost nothing, and I gave them a thorough review at the Portland Int'l Auto Show a couple weeks ago. Everywhere else I looked, there was interesting stuff in the pavilion. The Shelby had ZERO lookers, while the most popular car by far was the new Pontiac Solstice. For performance, I'll consider a new Corvette, maybe a Z06, if the Shelby turns out to be underdelivered by Ford. Ford gets an "F" and they've earned their troubles. I guess at my age I just don't feel like playing games, and I think that's what Ford appears to be doing with the new Shelby. More's the pity. I was ready to do the whole fantastic experience all over again and then hand it off to my kids at some point. Roger WA Coast Roger, I've been in the same boat, looking to arrange a bookend for my 67 GT500 #841, and nobody knows anything here, either. The best information I have had so far was from the UAW people from the plant that's going to build them who were partially staffing the Ford stand at the Detroit Auto Show, and that wasn't all that detailed. It appears that they will start building the cars in June, with convertibles coming available at the same time as the fastback. The thing is, they are going to make THOUSANDS of these cars- I just don't see the dealers being able to make big dealer premiums (excuse me, "market adjustments") stick for very long. These are simply NOT Ford GT's, after all, and even those have come back to earth over the last several months and are, regardless of what you see in the ads in 'Auto Week', being sold at list. I haven't heard of one under yet, but that can't be far away (see www.fordgtprices.com.) There are always going to be the guys that want the first ones so badly that they will pay anything to get one, and more power to them. I've gone through this with the Dodge Viper- fell in love with the car at NAIAS in 1989 but didn't buy one until my local Dodge dealer sold me a new 96 roadster at a nice discount. I guess I'll do the same with the new GT500, but I know it won't take that long. Cheers, Mike Heroy CSX4045 67 GT500 #841 68 GT500 #389
The prices on the new Shelby is going to be like the Ford GT and T-Bird were. It will be a supply and demand thing. The dealers will try to charge what they think they can get away with at first when the car first comes out. Many fools will gladly pay this over charge but many won't. After the first fools rush in and pad the pockets of the dealers, then the demand for this over hyped and over priced car will drop. Next the dealers will continue to try to keep the asking price up. The asking price for the 2007 model will remain high until the 2008 Shelbys come out. Once the 2008's are out, then the dealers still holding on to 2007 will be forced to lower their price. By Feb - March of 2008 you should be able to walk in and get a 2008 Shelby at a half-way decent price. Jim Seisser -----Original Message----- From: MHeroy (AT) aol (DOT) com Sent: Feb 9, 2006 12:15 PM To: shelbymustang (AT) carmemories (DOT) com Subject: Re: Losing grip on the new GT500 In a message dated 2/9/2006 11:43:55 AM Eastern Standard Time, rogerhol (AT) willapabay (DOT) org writes: Like many of you, I've been keen to acquire one of the new Mustang GT500's to park next to the one I bought new back in the '60's. Also like you, I've had the "runaround" from various dealers. One of them was happy to take an "order" for the car, a form which was very unofficial and more like a statement of interest rather than an actual order. Then later the goons acted like the typical car dealer that they are and would provide no info about the car (us listers know MUCH more than most of them), no calls when promised, no delivery times, etc, and made it clear by their ignorance that there was no real order (which of course I knew) and that they didn't give a rat's ass about me or my interest in buying the car. Astoria Ford in Astoria, OR. Another dealer told me months ago that they would get me the car and so I've been following up fairly regularly until finally they said essentially that they would be getting 3 of them and they'd be tens of thousands over MSRP. I walked away of course. I bought my '67 GT500 for 15% below invoice! Of course, it was a leftover model, one of many on the dealer's lot in March of '68. Of course I'm not expecting that now. I will pay MSRP or I will buy something else. The thrill of the idea has long since subsided and I'm now doubting that I'll bother Ford for a purchase. It doesn't help that the car is almost underwhelming in its appearance, being merely an option package on the Mustang GT, with little real involvement by the Man Himself. I love the idea of the big power and the bookends in my garage, and I'll still do it if/when the prices are reasonable, but I'm just not at all sure that's going to happen so mentally I've moved on. Meanwhile, Ford crumbles. Here they have the opportunity to sell probably 2 or 3 times as many of these cars as they plan to produce, and they're simply screwing it up royally. The rest of their product line shows me almost nothing, and I gave them a thorough review at the Portland Int'l Auto Show a couple weeks ago. Everywhere else I looked, there was interesting stuff in the pavilion. The Shelby had ZERO lookers, while the most popular car by far was the new Pontiac Solstice. For performance, I'll consider a new Corvette, maybe a Z06, if the Shelby turns out to be underdelivered by Ford. Ford gets an "F" and they've earned their troubles. I guess at my age I just don't feel like playing games, and I think that's what Ford appears to be doing with the new Shelby. More's the pity. I was ready to do the whole fantastic experience all over again and then hand it off to my kids at some point. Roger WA Coast Roger, I've been in the same boat, looking to arrange a bookend for my 67 GT500 #841, and nobody knows anything here, either. The best information I have had so far was from the UAW people from the plant that's going to build them who were partially staffing the Ford stand at the Detroit Auto Show, and that wasn't all that detailed. It appears that they will start building the cars in June, with convertibles coming available at the same time as the fastback. The thing is, they are going to make THOUSANDS of these cars- I just don't see the dealers being able to make big dealer premiums (excuse me, "market adjustments") stick for very long. These are simply NOT Ford GT's, after all, and even those have come back to earth over the last several months and are, regardless of what you see in the ads in 'Auto Week', being sold at list. I haven't heard of one under yet, but that can't be far away (see www.fordgtprices.com.) There are always going to be the guys that want the first ones so badly that they will pay anything to get one, and more power to them. I've gone through this with the Dodge Viper- fell in love with the car at NAIAS in 1989 but didn't buy one until my local Dodge dealer sold me a new 96 roadster at a nice discount. I guess I'll do the same with the new GT500, but I know it won't take that long. Cheers, Mike Heroy CSX4045 67 GT500 #841 68 GT500 #389 ________________________________________ PeoplePC Online A better way to Internet http://www.peoplepc.com
