In A Ford Galaxie Far, Far Away......Star Wars Cars!

Today, we're going to travel to a galaxy far, far away to take a look at some space-aged cars... Well, actually, we're only going to California to look at some customized fan cars, but whatever.

Last week, I was out on the West coast.  One of the goals of my visit was to pop in to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, but that was not to be. They're closed until around October while they build a new facility.  No matter, there was plenty to do anyway, and instead, I spent that time at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  I bring that up because longtime readers may recall a post about the Porsche 911 wherein I compared the car to Ingres' Odalisque, which is one of the masterpieces I got to see in person at LACMA.  -As a side note, the Odalisque is a masterwork I've been seeing in art text books for years, from Survey of Art History 101 freshman year of college up through grad school.  While the captions that list the artist, media and dimensions should have made it clear, one never thinks about the scale until seeing it in person.  The Odalisque is actually quite a tiny little piece of perfection and beauty, smaller than a piece of paper, really.  So tiny, but such a mammoth piece of art.  Go see it if you're in LA sometime -or look at the super grainy and slightly out of focus snapshot of it I have here - up to you.

Anyway, prior to the time I spent in LA, I went with my niece and nephew to Disneyland, and also to a Star Wars convention.  I'm not a Star Wars fan, but there are lots of people who are really into it, including my brother in law and my sister, who were running a diorama exhibit activity at the convention.  They were there all week, whereas I, mercifully, was only there for a day -it was an amazing experience to see how all out some people go for something they really like, but it's actually kind of overwhelming, too... What a day it was, though.  And because my mom raised me to share, I've returned from my excursion to the Star Wars convention with some photos of Star Wars cars for us all to gape at.

We'll start with this totally custom built Darth Vader car that was on display at the Hot Wheels booth.  It's an up-sized version of the little Hot Wheels toy.

And now on to the fan-mobiles.

We'll kick this section off with a mild custom Star Wars car.  This is a 2005-2009 Mustang GT convertible with a Darth Vader wrap on the hood and some smoked lenses on the tail lights.

Next to the Vader Stang was a Ford Raptor with a flaming Darth Vader graphic wrap.  And it's rockin' some Iowa license plates.  It's come a long way to get to the convention.

And to finish up the American car lineup in our Star Wars collection, we've got a Pontiac Firebird with a special mech droid plugged into the trunk lid.

The pink R2D2 is actually called R2-KT, and its origin is kind of sad.  A Star Wars fan who founded a fan organizatin called the 501st Legion had a daughter named Katie who was dying from brain cancer (thus the KT part of the R2-KT).  He wanted to build a pink droid for her, and from my understanding, ran out of time and ended up getting some help from an R2 Builders Club (incidentally, I saw several R2D2 droid replicas roaming about the convention and they were very impressive).  Anyway, they built a radio control droid in pink and it was taken around to hospitals to visit ailing kids.  The character showed up in a Star Wars cartoon and Hasbro produced an action figure of it.  The character made more appearances in Star Wars cartoons as an homage, and was eventually renamed QT-KT to avoid confusion with R2D2.   So, while the Firebird isn't the most impressive custom build of the cars I saw, it does have something special with the QT-KT/R2KT on the back end.

On to the Imports:

First in this category, we have a Nissan 350Z roadster

Next, a Honda Civic Del Sol

And just in case you thought we were going to leave out the classic family sedan, here's a Toyota Camry that's been upfitted with some Star Wars bling.

Moving from Japan to South Korean made cars, we've got a pair of Hyundais representing.

First up is a Hyundai Tiburon

And lastly, a Hyundai Veloster wearing a Boba Fett outfit -note the plate says its from Wisconsin.  They must have really racked up the miles on the road trip to the Star Wars convention driving all the way from the Dairy state.  I think this one is my favorite.

So there you have it.  Star Wars cars.

A Tale of Fresh Camaros and Historical Maybachs.

I may be just a little bit biased in favor of Mustangs, so I figured I would try to balance things out and drive a Chevy, then blog about it.  I've got my autoshow test drive stuff all set up (free gift cards for driving stuff!!!), and decided I would swing in to Miller Chevrolet in Rogers like I did last year when I took out the new Impala.  This year, I was going to request a Camaro to contrast with the Mustangs from a couple posts back.

Sadly, the fantastic sales person I dealt with last time, Heather, was nowhere to be found when I showed up at Miller today.  Actually, aside from one or two customers sitting in the waiting area by the service department, I didn't see any women at that dealership, though I would have been happy to deal with anybody, really.  Well, fine then, work with what you've got, right?  I used to be in car sales, I know that business can be a total sausage fest to work in, so it's not like it was a big surprise to discover a lack of women working the sales floor.  Any sales person can do the job, right?  Except that not a single sales person approached to greet me, even as I paced around the showroom, sizing up the shiny, black Z28 they had sitting there.  When I walk into a dealership, I'm not just sizing up the cars.  I'm looking to see how they treat their customers.  This time around was totally different from last year, and it really does make a difference when sales staff are on the ball and when they're just hanging out.   I didn't pick a busy time of day to pop in, and it didn't seem like they were just bursting with customers, either.  In fact, there were a couple guys just standing around chatting with each other who didn't seem to have anything better to do, but damned if I could get a sales person to acknowledge my presence.  Well, one of them did walk right by me and mutter "Hi" on his way to the other side of the showroom.  I was actually looking for more of a "Hi, welcome to Miller Chevrolet.  I'm ------,  Is somebody helping you already, or is there anything I can do for you?"  -Usually paired with a handshake.  Didn't happen.  I walked out to the lot and made my way over to the Camaros.  Nobody approached.  

Now, I could have gone into the store and tracked somebody down to page a sales person, or tracked down a sales person myself for that matter, but that's not how this is supposed to go, and I don't play that.  I was in car sales, and sales were never so busy and fantastic that I could afford to sit back and let customers drift off without even bothering to greet them and find out if I could help them.  After all, even if a customer isn't in the market today, that doesn't mean they'll never buy another car, and when they do, I wanted a shot at being the person who gets them that vehicle.  I refuse to do another sales person's job for them.  I just won't deal with lousy customer service.  Miller already lost the race against Superior Ford for greeting time, though that's not too surprising, given that I had taken a mere five or six steps in the door at Superior before being greeted properly.  The problem is, they weren't even a close second.

So, after I had a good gander at the outdoor Camaros, I made my way back toward the front of the store, where the two guys that I saw standing around chatting while swaying back and forth on their heels with their hands in their pockets had moseyed out to. I figured I'd give them one last shot at upping.  Even as I walked back their way, they couldn't be bothered to ask if I had been helped.  They watched me walk to my Mustang and drive off.  Good God!  Could I have been more obvious about what I was there for?  I showed up driving an aging direct competitor to a car they sell that's coming into its hot season right now, walk right over to that very car, and they don't even try to find out if I'm in the market?  Are sales really booming so much that sales staff can afford to do that?  

I have no idea what the problem was... I mean, it was really windy outside today, and my hair was blowing around a bit.  Maybe they took one look at my wind-tousled crazy person hair and said to themselves "Man, no way am I going on a test drive with that nut!"  I don't know.

Granted, I wasn't there to buy, though it's not outside the realm of possibility that I would be.  I adore my Mustang, but it could happen if just the right car and just the right deal came along.  Regardless, here's a fact:  The last time I blogged about my test drive experience at Miller, Heather, the sales person I dealt with, got a sale out of it.  Based on that Impala post, one of my readers made an appointment with Heather to look at an SUV that they ended up purchasing.  I've even ridden in said SUV post purchase -it's quite lovely, by the way.  So, it's not like there is nothing at stake.  Here's my take on this:  if you're going to Miller Chev, call ahead and make an appointment, preferably with Heather Castanon - assuming she's still in their sales department -or risk having an experience like I did today.

But enough about that unpleasantness.  It just so happens that on the other side of the interstate from Miller sits a beacon of automotive awesomeness.  I write, of course, of Ellingson Classic Cars, a place that never disappoints.  So I didn't get to take out a Camaro to challenge and maybe even change the notion that I and many others share of the model -that Camaros are for people who marry their cousins (blame the models of the mid and late 1980's for that reputation)...  Well, today didn't do much to disabuse me of that impression, but no matter, because at least the drive up to Rogers wasn't wasted.  Over to Ellingson I went, and I'm glad I did.

Ellingson Clasic Cars has a bunch of new (not brand new, but new to their sales floor) and wonderful stuff.  I absolutely fell in love with a couple of vehicles there today, but rather than get into those right now, I thought I'd feature a car that is a part of history sitting right there in their show room.  It also happens to be the most expensive vehicle in the place, priced at $875,000.

This behemoth is a 1939 Maybach model SW38 convertible sedan; the epitome of German luxury automobiles back in its day.  It is enormous.  So heavy, in fact, that the guy I spoke to at Ellingson said they couldn't get their lift to heft it in order to take a look underneath.

Something so big, you'd expect it to have an equally mammoth engine under that hood. You'd be surprised.  There's just an inline 6 cylinder powering it.  And it's not even that big -only 3,817 cubic centimeters (3.8L) and it makes around 140 HP, which was good for its day, but not exactly hot stuff now (consider that the EcoBoost Mustang I drove just the other day has a 2.3L engine that whips up more than double the power)

The front doors are hinged to open in a suicide fashion, while the rear doors open normally.  The body of the car is beautiful, the coachwork done by Hermann Spohn.  This car, I'm told is unrestored, but extremely well preserved, with only 60,000 miles on it (actually, it's kilometers - 96,700 of them -after all, this car spent its younger years in Germany, not the US).  The interior leaves lots of space for the passengers, which makes sense, because these cars, the Maybach convertible sedans, were used to tote around people who were considered important.

You might note that this car is sporting parade flags with the Maybach logo on them.  Not too surprising to think that this big old convertible might have driven a few dignitaries and big shots around in a parade.  It seems well suited to that type of activity, after all  ...And here's where the car's history gets dark and ugly. Think of the time period in which this car came into being, and then think of the country where it was made during that time.  I've been told that this car has a second set of parade flags from its first lifetime.  Those would be nazi flags, and because of their historical significance and the historical artifact status of this car (this automobile did spend many years of its life on display in a museum prior to coming to Minnesota), they're still with the vehicle, just not displayed.  Now, this was not a car that Hitler rode in, but from what I've been told, this car was the one that would follow third in the procession behind Hitler's car, hosting a German general during parades.      

That's a pretty heavy burden to bear for a car with so much weight to wield already, but one can hardly blame the machine for the actions of the people who rode in it, I suppose.  Ironically, before making its way to Ellingson Classic Cars in Rogers, I'm told this particular Maybach spent many years of its life in a private collection in St Louis Park, a city with a significant Jewish population stemming from many Jewish families settling there from surrounding areas after WWII.

 I don't imagine this car's previous purpose was too popular with the folks around town, but I kind of like the idea of the Jewish community taking ownership of this car through having it present.  In a way, it seems like the car flipped its history and switched sides, salvaging its beauty from its ugly past by making its home in that city.  Good, I say, because it's an amazing and impressive car.

The Intersection of Doom Strikes Again!

As the post title indicates, there was yet another accident at the corner on which my house sits.  I spotted this mess while riding home in the passenger seat of a truly craptacular early 1990's Pontiac Bonneville with a dent in the side.  This is a car in which the suspension is a complete sponge, and only two of the windows would go down -and for a while, only one would go back up -the kind of car that's just such a heap, one can't help but feel some sense of freedom while driving it.  Run over a pot hole and bottom it out?  Who cares?  It's not like the value of the car can get much lower, right?  Back into a post and ding the bumper?  Big deal!  Maybe the impact will pop out some of the dents around the new one.  Gotta love a car like that.  Well, love is a strong word, let's say "tolerate" in this case.  All opinions of my brother's latest clunker aside, at least it's in better condition than the Red Mercury Grand Marquis and the dark colored Dodge Stratus that tangled at my intersection.

Well, it looks like the Grand Marquis took the most damage in this bout with the Stratus, but lets just see how these two stack up against each other.

Lets start with the Stratus.  I'd place it as a 2000 model.  That means it likely has a 2.4L inline four cylinder engine with about 150 HP or a 2.0L I4 with 132 HP driving the front wheels.  This contender weighs in at around 3,000 lbs.

In the other corner, we have our Mercury Grand Marquis, which I'd place as maybe a 2007 model.  This one will have a 4.6L V8 sending power to the rear wheels in the form of 224 HP and 275 lb-ft of torque.  It carries a curb weight oft 4,137 lbs.

One would have thought the Grand Marquis would cream that little stratus, what with its over 1,000 lb and 75-86 HP advantage.  But, it would appear the Stratus got in a sucker punch at the intersection.

I'm not sure who ran the light.  Undoubtedly, somebody did.  What I do know is that the Grand Marquis had at least three, if not five passengers.  There were two people sitting in the back seat of the Mercury, and the driver was standing around near the car, as were a couple of other people.

I watched some of the post accident action unfold from my yard once I got home, and the rear passenger side passenger in the Grand Marquis was making quite a fuss.  He was yelling and screaming at the cop, who at first was trying to respond in a volume I couldn't hear from my yard.  After it was clear that the passenger wasn't going to stop haranguing the officer, the cop raised his voice and yelled at the passenger "You're yelling at me, you don't need to do that.  I called for an ambulance already!"  Whatever injury that rear passenger was claiming to have, it's clear from how much yelling and carrying on he was doing that he didn't injure his lungs in any way.  I only saw one person standing near the Stratus, and she seemed okay, or at least was standing on her feet and not screaming at the police.      

What do you want to bet that somebody ends up placing a call to one of the many ambulance chaser lawyers that advertise on the billboards around Northside?  My money is on the occupants of the Grand Marquis based on the amount of drama that passenger was stirring up.  Well, best of luck to all involved, I say, and I hope nobody was actually injured.

Motorcycles!

For today’s post, the nice weather has me thinking of being out in the open air.  With that in mind, we’re going to look at some motorcycles today.  It just so happens that my little nephew, Lucian and I made our annual trek to the motorcycle show not too long ago, and I’ve got some pictures to share from it.

Like the above featured gorgeous Triumph bike.

Lucian and I sat down and plotted out our strategy before we went to the show.  He covered the broad strokes, informing me that I would be taking him to lunch, where he would drink chocolate milk, have a burger, and we would play pinball at the restaurant he wanted me to take him to.  This has been the precursor to previous motorcycle show outings with him, so the plan seemed solid.  Then, he said, to the motorcycle show for a few hours, followed up by a visit to Izzy’s ice cream, as long as we were in the downtown area, where he planned on having a scoop of a flavor known as Dinosaur Egg ice cream.  I cautioned him that I wasn’t sure he could be that specific, as the flavors are changed out throughout the year, but as it turned out, they did have his ice cream, so that just goes to show that I know.

My portion of the planning, aside from finding a place to park the car prior to going into the show (we ended up parking quite far away and hoofing it a few blocks), was to make a list of what motorcycles we absolutely needed to visit.  Here’s what we came up with:

First, was the Indian Scout.  Longtime readers may already know that I have a soft spot for Indian motorcycles, now operating under Polaris (also owns Victory brand) which makes it a Minnesota bike in some respects these days, though they are now produced in Spirit Lake, Iowa.  Prior to the new Scout’s debut, my favorite Indian bike was their Chief Vintage finished in Willow Green and Ivory, which I’ve featured photos of in a previous post.  The Scout is my new favorite Indian brand bike.  It’s smaller and more manageable in size, though still not what I would call a little bike.  It weighs in at around 550 lbs, depending on how full the gas tank is.  It comes in red, black, silver or a dark grayish black from the factory, though as you can see from this blue one I’m about to picture for you, they can be customized.

The Scout has a 69 cubic inch engine that generates about 100 HP and 72 lb-ft of torque, which is plenty of power, considering it only needs to propel about 550 lbs of machine plus its rider.  This is a handsome bike.  It features a classical shape with a modern sweep to its styling.  I’d love to have one.

As a quick side note, while we’re in the realm of Polaris, here’s a photo of their new 3 wheeled Slingshot.

 Just to be clear, these are considered 3 wheeled motorcycles, not cars.  Don’t count on having airbags or the safety features you’d find in a car, because you won’t get it.  It does come with a roughly $20,000 price point to start, which is less than most performance cars cost new, but more than some compacts and subcompacts.  Of course, like I said, it’s not a car -it just sort of looks like one.  That said, they’re pretty slick.  The curb weight is 1,725 lbs, and they’re powered to move that mass around with a 2.4L dual overhead cam engine paired with a 5 speed transmission that produces 173 HP and 166 lb-ft of torque.  They can lug just under 10 gallons of 91 octane fuel around, and MPG ratings I’ve been finding on various forums seem to depend on just how fast and hard one likes to ride, ranging between 25-40 MPG.

Next on my list of must see motorcycles was the Harley Davidson Live Wire, which they had on display as well as set up as a demonstrator for people to try out while stationary.  The line was quite long, so I didn’t get in it, but I did get some photos.

The LiveWire is an electric bike with a 55 kilowatt electric motor that creates 74 HP and 52 lb-ft of torque.  It weighs in a 460 lbs, so it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 lbs lighter than the Scout and with roughly 26 fewer horses as well.  This bike requires no trips to the pump to fuel it up, but rather, needs about three and a half hours to charge after you plug it in, which will then let you ride for around 50 miles before you’ll need to search out another power outlet.  It’s still technically a prototype at this point, which is why you won’t find it in the Harley sales catalog just yet.  God only knows how much it will cost if and when it does hit the sales floor.  No doubt, it’s not cheap to develop a bike this technologically advanced from its siblings, so I wouldn’t count on being able to pick one up on the cheap when they do become available for sale.    

I’ve heard that one of these is going to be featured in the new Avengers movie, so in case you needed a reason to hit the theater this spring, now you have one.

The next bike on the list of things I wanted to see was a no show.  It was the Royal Enfield Continental GT.  Try as I might, I could not find a Royal Enfield display at this year’s Moto show.  Maybe they were hiding in some remote corner?  I don’t know, and I was very disappointed, particularly in view of the fact that there is a Royal Enfield dealer along Washington Ave N just a couple miles away from the convention center in my very own neck of the woods.  Would it have been so hard to get a booth and haul a couple bikes downtown for the show, guys?    So, no moto show pics of the Continental GT, which is a crying shame, because it’s a nice looking little factory café bike.  It’s got a 535cc single cylinder 4 stroke engine that kicks out just under 30 HP and it weighs in at just over 400 lbs.  That all adds up to what looks to be a nice, fairly easy to manage bike.  It’s just too bad nobody could be bothered to bring one out to the show.  I was really looking forward to seeing one there.

Here’s something very interesting that did make it to the show.  It’s clearly a custom build, and it’s fantastic.

This is an AWD bike.  See that chain mechanism at the front?  It drives the front wheel, so this little puppy can climb its way up just about anything.  This was built by a guy named William Lawson, and if I recall correctly, he had a second one on display as well.  Good job, man!

It was time for some Italian flare, we decided, so next, Lucian and I made our way over to the Ducati display to see their new scrambler.  Little did we know that something evil this way had come, and we were greeted by the sight of the Ducati Diavel.

There’s something both odd and appealing about the hump-backed shape of this bike.  It’s both ugly and beautiful at the same time.  It looks absolutely sinister, which makes sense, considering diavel means devil in Italian.  The Diavel weighs in at 463 lbs and features a 1198 cc engine that generates 162 HP and 93.3 lb-ft of torque.  This demon is not a beginner bike by any means.

On the happier end of the Ducati display is the new Scrambler, which is a looker.  Cute, even, compared to the ominous Diavel.  It comes in four trim levels, the Icon, the Urban Enduro, which is my favorite look, and is featured here, the Classic, and the Full Throttle packages.  Here, you get an 803cc engine that makes a much tamer band of horses than the Diavel, with a still respectable 75 HP and 50 lb-ft of torque.  


Gorgeous and powerful as all the bikes we’ve looked at so far have been, there was something at the show that surprised me with its appeal, and I have to give it props because for me, it kind of stole the show.  Check out this little pipsqueak:

That’s my 5 year old nephew sitting on the bike, to give you a sense of scale.  This is a minibike of sorts.  It’s called the Honda Grom, and it has fun written all over it!  It’s tiny -hefting a curb weight of only 225 lbs when full and has a seat height of just under 30”.  It’s powered by a little 125cc single cylinder four-stroke and has a four speed transmission.  Little engine, little power -10 HP, actually, and about 8 lb-ft of torque from what I’ve been able to find.  Yes, there are lawnmowers out there with more power than the Grom, but when you’re this itty bitty, you don’t need a lot of power to have a ton of fun.

Better yet, it’s just about one of the least expensive things on display at the moto show.  The Grom carries a sticker price of $3,199 -though any more for such a little bike would seem ridiculous, to be fair.  It comes in black, white, yellow, and red.

Blue is not a factory color.. this one is custom.

If all goes according to plan, I should be taking one of these for a ride within the next couple of weeks, so we’ll have to wait and see just how much mischief we can cause with the Grom as an accomplice.

Back In The Saddle

It's been a long dry spell for my blogging, but today, I found just the thing to get me out of my slump.   Check out this citrusy pair of ponies.

After spending the morning taking care of grown-up business, like doing my taxes, renewing my license plate tabs for my car and my motorcycle, and running errands, I rewarded myself by heading over to Superior Ford to play with their fun toys.

I was greeted right away by friendly sales guy, Dave Slipka, who was happy to host my visit, and wasted no time in gathering up keys to set me up for a test drive in the car I requested: a Triple Yellow EcoBoost Mustang.

Those readers familiar with my blog or with me will know that I've owned a 6 cylinder Mustang (the very beast is pictured here in Electric Green, no less)

....and of course, my current GT, with its V8.  I've also taken out 5.0 Mustang GTs in previous posts.  But, one thing I've never had the opportunity to drive until today, is a 4 cylinder Mustang.

Not since the SVO of the mid 1980s has there been such a souped up little terror in the Mustang stables.  Indeed, this new one, like the SVO of decades past, features a turbo charged 2.3L I-4 engine.  Of course, today's little yellow screamer has a few more horseys to call upon for propulsion.  110 more, in fact than the 1986 SVO, which topped out at 200 HP and 240 lb-ft of torque.  Today's EcoBoost Mustang was spooling up 310 HP and 320 lb-ft of torque, which does make for a spirited ride.

No complaints on the handling, though I wasn't on a rigorous route with this new Mustang.  I'm sure it was up to the task of handling just about anything I could toss at it, regardless.  The interior is nicely trimmed and controls were placed in areas that seemed intuitive enough for my liking, though I am coming into this as a Mustang driver already.

The one I drove happened to be an automatic, which according to Ford's specs, should garner 21 MPG in the city, and 32 on the highway, as opposed to the ratings for a nearly identical car appointed with a manual transmission, which gets you 22 in the city and 31 MPG on the highway.... and that's with 93 octane fuel, mind you.  When turbos are involved, the days of a cheap trip to the gas pump are at an end, so the miserly among us might want to note that it's going to be premium fuel from here on out  -unless you opt for the base engine 3.7L V6 (300HP and 280 lb-ft of torque) which gets you 19/28MPG on the cheap stuff.  Nobody likes to talk about the V6, though.  It's not exciting like the EcoBoost or the 5.0.  And really, aside from owners of rental car fleets, I'm not sure who is going to buy the V6 these days.

Even Dave kind of glossed over the V6.  There's just no need for that middle man when the power plants on either side of it are cranking out so much fun stuff.  Still, to make up for the fact that I didn't bother trying to hunt down a V6 to get a photo of, much less drive one, I will share a photo I recently snapped of another, albeit much older V6 Mustang that is sporting some oversized and very shiny wheels to make up for any shortcomings it might have otherwise had.

Sure, the handling is probably compromised, and given that this car was driving on 26th Ave N before turning onto Penn, you can bet the passengers are having the fillings shaken out of their teeth from the lack of cushioning between those skinny little tires and the pock marked and pot-holed surface of the road, but this is one Mustang that literally stands above the rest.  So, you know, points for that.

Back to the topic of the EcoBoost, though.  If I had to complain about the EcoBoost Mustang, it would be the exhaust note I'd bemoan.  There wasn't any of the throaty rumble that you get with a V8 -and with good reason, of course, because it's just a little inline 4 cylinder.  I didn't expect the growl of a V8, though, and I was still disappointed.  I think maybe I would have been happier if Ford took the EcoBoost's sound a little more into tuner land, where so many souped up imports rip and whine their way though high pitched fits of acceleration.  If the EcoBoost 'Stang was more of a tantrum-thrower, screeching  and spitting, I'd have been happy to embrace its rant.  As it sits, the EcoBoost's sound is kind of dull and uninspiring.

Here's where I  have to give a big shout out to Dave for being a great guy to work with.  When we pulled back into the lot in the little Yellow Mustang, he made a point of suggesting that I take out one of the 5.0 Ponies.  I hadn't complained about the little Ecoboost, but Dave was attentive, and through the course of our conversation while I drove, he gathered enough information to know what I really wanted to drive.  He asked if I had a preference on which car, and I immediately told him I wanted to drive the Competition Orange one.

What he didn't know was that I had been making a point of stopping in to visit and ogle that same orange Mustang whenever I happened to be in the area over the past couple weeks.  In fact, you might note that some of the pictures of the orange Mustang have it positioned in a totally different area of the lot from where I found it today, up front next to the yellow EcoBoost -those pictures are from a previous Sunday visit to the little tangerine monster.  When Dave offered me a chance to hit the road in a car I've been lusting after, you better believe I took him up on it.

Those who know me will already know that I like my cars in green.  I surprised myself by determining soon after the 2015 Mustang hit the market that my favorite color to see on it is Competition Orange.  I just love how this car wears that color.  Of course, driving such a flamboyant creature is akin to begging for a speeding ticket, but I don't even care.

The 2015 Mustang GT harbors a 5.0 L V8 under its hood and can whip up 435 HP and 400 lb-ft of torque.  This one has a manual transmission and is rated at 15/25MPG with that set up.  Materials and layout inside are well thought out, and this car was, like its yellow sibling, well appointed with leather interior and nice extras.  One thing this car didn't feature was the Recaro racing seats, which I was pretty sure I'd be disappointed about.  I wasn't, though.   The stock seats have nice, big bolsters to make you feel like you're being hugged by the seat when you whip around a turn,  and they're plenty comfortable, so I suppose I could probably live without those Recaros if I had to.  Besides, with the stock seats, you don't have to worry about bigger passengers feeling uncomfortable or smooshed in the seat, so there's that extra bit of flexibility.

Performance wise, the 5.0 is everything one would expect -fast, faster, and crazy fast.  It can go from a starting stroll up to sixty MPH in the blink of an eye and without leaving second gear.  Yes, of course, there are cars out there with more power and more crazy, but unless you're planning track days, there's no need to fret about who's stats stack up best, because the 5.0 is more than ample in terms of thrust and flat-out fun for driving day to day.

Best of all was the sound.  There's nothing quite like a powerful V8 singing out through a nice set of pipes -glorious, really -and if you think my word choice is silly or overblown, you clearly haven't stomped down the pedal on a 5.0 yet.  My God, do I want that orange Mustang!  I just can't justify it when I already have a Mustang I'm devoted to.  Though, if I could talk myself into it, Dave Slipka is the guy I'd buy it from.  This was a fun and relaxing test drive, and the fact that I got to take out two Mustangs without having to pester somebody into letting me do it first is something I owe to Dave and how generous he was with his time today.

So, in review:

EcoBoost Mustang -Yay, fun!  But the sound needs something more.... no, not more cowbell... I prescribe more high-rev wail to give it a distinct auditory signature.  The EcoBoost isn't the big, burly bruiser of the bunch, but it shouldn't try to hide the fact that it's a feisty little spitfire by mellowing out its tone, either.

3.7L V6 Mustang -who cares?  I know, I'm being totally unfair to what is probably a perfectly decent little car.  The V6 Mustang would probably attest that it's just no fun being the boring middle child in this case..  Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!!!

5.0 GT Mustang - A blast to drive and to hear.  A beauty inside and out with a lovely raspy tone that makes you wonder why anybody would ever need a stereo in a car like this.  I LOVE IT and I want one.