TireSmoke.org

Today dad and I made a trip to Exit 48 on the Penna Turnpike to visit Shults Ford in Harmarville. In tow was my '89 Mustang on the trailer to do the deal on a 2009 Mustang Shelby GT500 Convertible. It's a one owner car with just over 17k on the clock. Torch Red with a black leather. This car is BONE stock, right down to the original Goodyear F1 Supercar tires. Who owns a 500hp stick shift Mustang and can't burn more than a few 32nds off their tires in 17k miles?? This car was babied for sure and part of it's appeal to me. I did most of the dealings over the phone on Monday with the used car manager Adam, and so when we got there today, it was mostly formalities of making sure each car was what we said it was, and signing papers, and of course, writing the check...
This is a pretty special car, and I'll get into more specifics when I'm not so tired, but I'm pretty excited about it. We had a good time doing the deal, and would recommend this dealer for being so easy going and efficient.
More to come.

-BP

It should be noted that the little white convertible
drew quite a bit of attention as it was being unloaded.

The test drive in the Cobra convertible was worth the trip,
it wasn't asked to do much, but it showed its' potential.

All in all, for me it was an awesome fun day.

For what it's worth, I grew up 3 miles from Harmarville. This proves that something good DOES come out of Harmarville.
Congratulations. That looks like an exciting purchase.

Here's a link to the specs on Paul's new ride: https://www.mustangspecs.com/2009-ford- ... by-gt-500/

Like most things Western PA, it's very hilly and curvy there, and the roads just seem to go all over the place. But it's super close to the Allegheny River and the area seems nice and country-ish. The car is from that area too and has always been serviced there, for what service it actually needed.

The article you posted talked about the cloth top, and it's amazing how nice that really is. It still looks completely brand new. The vinyl type tops are so much more unattractive and hard to maintain when you put the two side by side.

Hopefully on Friday (after Thursday's rain), I'll be able to get out and put some miles on it, because after that, the weather turns to crap around here and it will most likely go into hibernation after that.

There was a lot I didn't know about this car and it's specs when I bought it, I just liked 500HP, six speeds, three pedals, and most important I really just like the way they look. I'll learn more over the winter and be ready to cruise with the top down next year. I really enjoyed the Foxbody cruising with the top down, so with twice the HP and a stick, how can this one be anything but better?

-BP

That’s a pretty rare car. Only 555 convertibles made in 2009.

GM

If you want an exact breakdown:

file:///C:/Users/basem/Downloads/2007_2009_Shelby_GT500_Production_Numbers%20(3).pdf

So technically, there were only 61 Torch Red convertibles with a black only interior, and 114 red ones total in '09. And if you want exclusivity, there were only SIX Torch Red convertibles with the Satin Silver stripes... It's SOOO RARE! But none of that really matters, it just looks cool.

-BP

I did get a chance yesterday to put about 50 miles on the "new" ride. Just to learn more about it and get a better feel for it. The more I drive it, the more I like it. Stopped at 'Smoke Central for a bit too. We went for a cruise around the block, and when we got back were screwing around in the menus and found it has a built in adjustable shift light in the SVT emblem in the middle of the tachometer. It's now set to 5800...
So far, no disappointments.

-BP

It's freaking awesome. I love it. Nice grab....................congrats

Thanks Matt. It's a pretty sweet piece. The longer I have it, the bigger deal it is to me. Will be fun to put the top down too since I haven't done that yet. I have a license plate that's showing available that I plan to sign up for when I get my title (see below). I also pulled the sticker out of the trunk to check the options on it.

-BP

I'm now on the other side of the fence. I like license plates that are hard to ID.

I's 1's O's 0's 8's B's

In case some is offended by my driving it's harder to ID.

Personalized plates are too easy to remember. But maybe I'm paranoid.

You're definitely paranoid. In Ohio there are no zeros on plates, they're all O. It took me awhile to figure that out on their website. But I'm not in any real big hurry in this thing, and I really don't do too much stupid stuff anymore, so if someone wants to write my plate number down, have a good time. I've done some real stupid stuff in cars in the past, and nobody has ever showed up at my house later to complain.

-BP

So as mentioned, Paul stopped over Friday, this thing is soooo mint. We went for a spin and it just has So. Much. Torque!! No traction in 1st with old Supercar tires in 40 degree temps, but in 2nd, it just pullllllls. And it's quiet. Just blower whine, which is cool. What a great car to cruise around in. I cant imagine. What a great car its gonna be to cruise around in!

I had some mad woman *pull in my driveway* this summer or last after I passed her on my motorcycle on Wilson Mills. She just barely pulled in as I took off my helmet by the garage.. she was looking all angry-faced as I took off my helmet, just glaring/daring her to come up the driveway. She left.

-Dave

I got my "new" shift knob this week which is just an OEM handle VS the aftermarket white knob that came on the car. I got that installed this morning, topped off the oil that was a half quart low from the dealer's fresh oil change (5w50), and leather treated everything leather.
I have new carpeted floor mats coming and will work on the fluids maintenance most likely this week.

-BP

I was able to get some maintenance items done last weekend on the Mustang. Normally with only 17k miles, you'd never consider this type of maintenance, but being 14 years old, it's all been hot and cold a LOT of times, so I figured what the heck.

I changed the blower oil by pulling the plug on the front of the blower and using a syringe that I bought as part of a kit to change this oil on eBay. The syringe sucks it out easily and as shown in the pictures, it was dirty when compared to the new stuff, so I feel good about this.

I used the same sucker to pull the power steering fluid out of the reservoir and put in new fresh stuff. I'm not too concerned about a full fluid flush here, just blend in some fresh synthetic trans fluid. It doesn't call for synthetic, but that's all I use unless someone tells me not too. It was pretty dirty in there too, and I'll recheck it again next winter and if it's dirty again (which I assume it will be) I'll just do the same thing. It only holds about a half quart in the reservoir. It's not making any noise, so I think I'll be good here.

No pictures under the car, but I did a full fluid change on the transmission too. It holds about four quarts of Dexron / Mercon automatic trans fluid and has a nice drain plug on the bottom and toward the back of the trans. Filling it a little tougher as the plug on the side of the trans is a little harder to reach. I was able to get the fill plug out with no issues, but filling required a pump of some sort. I bought a different plunger that holds about a 1/4 of a quart at a time, so it took a little time to fill 3.8 quarts, but it wasn't hard.

Lastly I got to the rear differential fluid. This holds just over two quarts which is perfect with two quarts of synthetic 75w140 gear lube and about 8oz of posi lube. It seems thick, but that's what Ford says to use, so that's what I'm using. The good news is that it looks like brand new in there still, so I should never have to do this again either.

I was able to get a day this week to actually drive the car another 60 miles or so. I didn't really notice much difference after the fluid changes, but it was fun to drive it again. I used it to deliver packages to UPS and the Post Office. It's not the most practical delivery vehicle, but it is fun!

I did notice while under the car that the upper control arm bushings are kind of dried up, and I know the car has some wheel hop issues, so I have new rubber ones coming this wheel. It's a single arm mounted to the top of the rear diff housing that goes about a foot forward to the chassis. Between new tires in the Spring, and these new bushings, I'm hoping at least some of the hop is gone. And maybe rear shocks if it continues.

-BP

Got rid of the Weather Tech rubbery mats and got these logo carpeted mats. I think they look way better than the ugly rubber ones. If this was an everyday car I would have left the old ones, but I don't expect to be in too many dirty places with this thing.

-BP