Today the first Ford I have purchased since an F-150 I keep at our Summer home arrived from Shelby. One of my 3 Vipers, an 06, left and I shall miss it (as I do all sports cars I get attached to) I have always admired GTs from afar and have been in a couple that were owned by Ford sponsored NASCAR drivers I have represented.
This is a very preliminary report based on about 30 miles (which is kind of worthless in terms of analysis) and I will weigh in later after I have more time with the car. First impressions from a rookie GT owner:
1.Leaving the driveway--" I must be in reverse gear, why the hell am I going forward?" Reverse, for the untrained , takes some elbow grease and learning. Then I guess it comes naturally
2. I had read up on GTs here and elsewhere thankfully, because I am 6'4" and my son, who was with me is 6"7", went out on a maiden voyage, and but for the instruction "duck", we would both have been decapitated when closing the doors. The doors have a remarkably solid feel when shutting, however.
3. When I pulled into the garage and opened the door my thought was "GD, those are some long a$$ doors." The mirrors struck me as small as the doors were large.
4. Once under power I felt I had more room than in any of my Vipers. I have no idea what the dimension difference is but it was comfortable.
5. Shifting was smooth ( thank God no skip shift 1 to 3 BS).
6. I had nearly perfect conditions, 70 degrees, dry, no wind and the car is unbelievably stable at speed. I have done a fair amount of tracking at VIR, Richmond, Charlotte and Vegas. I found the GT VERY smooth. Really remarkable.
7.Looks? Hard to describe. Unlike anything else--like a lot of folks here, I guess I could buy an Italian supercar and have had my share of M5s, and the rest, but to me nothing anywhere has the visceral effect of a GT. Maybe my wife, who is a long sufferer, put it best when she admitted, "it is very good looking."
Again, I hesitate (but for the fun of just getting it) to give such preliminary conclusions , but it seems to live up to the billing I have heard here.
Speaking of the forum, I was stuck in ebay land, and autotrader world (where dealers did not know a GT from a billy goat) until I came here. I knew that like Vipers there MUST be some one (or more) folks that specialize in these cars, and have a passion, and Shelby is that guy.
I have bought a lot of cars over the years, and I would put Shelby right at the top of the list in terms of dealers ( and I am a hard grader)--no nonsense, no hard sell , no BS guy who seems to want everyone to enjoy the car as much as he does, and puts a premium on maintaining a good reputation.
Again, I will follow up, but so far my only regret was not buying a GT earlier. Thanks guys, :cheersTerry
This is a very preliminary report based on about 30 miles (which is kind of worthless in terms of analysis) and I will weigh in later after I have more time with the car. First impressions from a rookie GT owner:
1.Leaving the driveway--" I must be in reverse gear, why the hell am I going forward?" Reverse, for the untrained , takes some elbow grease and learning. Then I guess it comes naturally
2. I had read up on GTs here and elsewhere thankfully, because I am 6'4" and my son, who was with me is 6"7", went out on a maiden voyage, and but for the instruction "duck", we would both have been decapitated when closing the doors. The doors have a remarkably solid feel when shutting, however.
3. When I pulled into the garage and opened the door my thought was "GD, those are some long a$$ doors." The mirrors struck me as small as the doors were large.
4. Once under power I felt I had more room than in any of my Vipers. I have no idea what the dimension difference is but it was comfortable.
5. Shifting was smooth ( thank God no skip shift 1 to 3 BS).
6. I had nearly perfect conditions, 70 degrees, dry, no wind and the car is unbelievably stable at speed. I have done a fair amount of tracking at VIR, Richmond, Charlotte and Vegas. I found the GT VERY smooth. Really remarkable.
7.Looks? Hard to describe. Unlike anything else--like a lot of folks here, I guess I could buy an Italian supercar and have had my share of M5s, and the rest, but to me nothing anywhere has the visceral effect of a GT. Maybe my wife, who is a long sufferer, put it best when she admitted, "it is very good looking."
Again, I hesitate (but for the fun of just getting it) to give such preliminary conclusions , but it seems to live up to the billing I have heard here.
Speaking of the forum, I was stuck in ebay land, and autotrader world (where dealers did not know a GT from a billy goat) until I came here. I knew that like Vipers there MUST be some one (or more) folks that specialize in these cars, and have a passion, and Shelby is that guy.
I have bought a lot of cars over the years, and I would put Shelby right at the top of the list in terms of dealers ( and I am a hard grader)--no nonsense, no hard sell , no BS guy who seems to want everyone to enjoy the car as much as he does, and puts a premium on maintaining a good reputation.
Again, I will follow up, but so far my only regret was not buying a GT earlier. Thanks guys, :cheersTerry
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