Mr. D

Too bad Ford doesn't make a GT 500 without all the Shelby packaging. It would be nice to just buy only the equipment you want such as a 5.8L engine w/blower, upgraded brakes, quality shocks, etc. without the Shelby trim at a more reasonable price.

When I went to Shelby in Las Vegas to see about getting a supercharger put on my new '08 GT. They basically told me I could spend $10K or 20K, or "Shove off you penniless peon!" As a joke, I took a few hundred dollar bills out of my pocket and told the salesman I just wanted to buy a Shelby number plate. You should have seen the shocked look on his face! "Well I never!" LOL! He didn't seem to get that I was joking! I could care less about pedigrees. I like driving the cars pedigree or not.

So I went to Roush!

Lem-06

he said 5k LESS than trading and buying an actual shelby, not $5k total.

Orion_240

since none of the GT500's (except the Supersnakes) were made at Shelby, aren't they all non-Shelbys? JK!

I asked about why no engine options on the Mustang (like in the old days) and they said something about it messing up their Ford mpg numbers. They need to hit a certain average mpg for all cars each year and those numbers would drop if they let us put bigger engines in whatever car we wanted.

wcgman

Yeah - CAFE ultimately f-d us all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy

Mr. D

Of course Cafe standards are involved, but making cars with only minor cosmetic differences cuts costs for we drones. The days of customizing cars in many mechanical ways are gone! Combine that with the dealer ordering cars with add ons based on increasing markup profits and you get very little variation except color. We live in an era where we are offered what a corporation wants to sell us, period.... and we have learned to like it!

Example: Look at we call restaurants today! 20 year old kids in the kitchen throwing something that came in frozen off the truck in a fryer or on a grill and calling it cooking. That kind of "fry cooking" can be learned in two weeks, so that the employee can easily be replaced by the chain restaurants!

Today the consumer is expected to like what he is handed no matter how mediocre the quality! Want a tomato with some flavor.... grow your own! Want but anything but an instant pudding... forget it! Most stores don't even carry puddings that require cooking anymore!

Now apply that corporate attitude to cars! That's why people love classic cars! Some originality!

Lem-06

basically what Mr. D said, get an older/cheaper car, and then replace the engine with whatever you feel like throwing into it
endless list of motor options to throw in, depending on your budget of course

wcgman

Yeah and you hear "They just don't make em like that anymore!" Which is a good thing. I remember breaking down on the side of the road because stuff just wasnt built that well. It used to be bragging rights to hit 100k miles on a car period. Now 100k is nothing.

Besides man, whoever cooked pudding? haha. Do you still wish that we all washed our clothes down at the creek with a tub and washboard, too?

Mr. D

I agree with you 100% about cars being much better for transportation in every way. But you are right because I remember when crossing the country meant taking a box of extra parts and tires with you and breakdowns were expected!

That wasn't my point! I'm just complaining about the reality is that as many things get better.... we often lose both quality and variety! My point is that corporations control what we have available to us and most people simply accept what is put in front of them no matter how bad it is! With automobiles the quality is better, but individuality and style is lost in most cases. Let's hope the 2015 Mustang doesn't prove my point and become like the modern "Thunderbird", that is an ugly hunk of metal that embarrasses the Thunderbird name!

To answer your question, "....whoever cooked pudding?" People who wanted a great tasting pudding instead of the instant store junk they have today. If you are young and you've only tasted the commercial food of today, you have no idea what I'm talking about! If you ever taste a homegrown tomato grown in good soil and ripened on the vine instead of commercial tomato picked rock hard & green for shipping and then ripened with gas.... you won't ever be happy with a store bought tomato again.

The past was not better, and there were no "Good Old Days" especially if you were poor or a minority! It's just sad that the quality of somethings like food suffers in the exchange for mass production and lower prices. Try to find a restaurant with good food today! Chains with nice atmosphere and basically "Sit Down Fast Food" have replaced good family owned restuarants, but maybe most younger people have never had really good food! There are still some good restaurants in the South, but they are fewer & fewer every year!

See ya at Denny's or Mac Donalds (not!) LOL!

Back to Mustangs..... they are better today then in the past....but I'm worried about the 2015 change! It could be the end of Mustangs I love!