The only non-Mopar I ever owned from new was a 1989 Ford Mustang LX Sport 5.0.
I picked it because I was coming off the nightmare of owning an '85 Dodge GLH Turbo,
which was a blast to drive - when it wasn't in the shop, which it was pretty much
every other month from new.
That GLH ate every sensor at least twice and then grenaded the final drive right out of
the transaxle, all before 50k miles - which was fortuitous, since that was the warranty on it.
I had to fight like crazy to get Chrysler to cover the new transaxle and the moment I
got it out of the shop from that, it was time to cut my losses and trade that biyotch...
Ma wasn't making anything RWD and performance in those days and I sure as hell didn't
want anything GM (yeah, I test drove an IROC and a Formula, both of which had "gingerbread
rattles" brand new), so the default was the Mustang in my price range.
I hated all the crap "cladding" they glued on the Mustang GT (not to mention, those hideous WHEELS!)
so when I found out you could get all the guts of the GT in an LX, that was the solution -
but when I found out Ford was making the LX Sport (which had all the interior upgrades and
such of the GT without the crap glued on outside), the decision was made - and as it turned out,
I went from having the LEAST dependable vehicle ever to the MOST dependable with the 5.0...
I can't believe I'm saying this, but:
it was the only Ford I ever owned - and it was *gasp* the best car,
period, too up to that point.
I always said it should have been a Mopar - I beat hell out of it routinely and it didn't care.
It was a 5 speed (of course!) that I found at a dealer that was being ordered to shut down by the
state of MD for shady dealing practices, so I got it at the right price, too - although I found out later
the thing had been stolen off the lot and recovered at some point to boot.
I raced it in SCCA the first two years I owned it; it was my daily driver, commuter car as well.
The other fellas racing them then would warn me of the weaknesses in the T-5 tranny or the 8.8 rear;
neither ever gave me a single issue.
When I had hernia surgery, I drove it without using the clutch for a couple months even...
the car was literally indestructible.
More to Cranky's question, the only time I ran it down a strip, I worked it down to a 14.8 on the stock
Goodyear gatorbacks - traction was an issue, but the thing didn't crowhop, so I learned how to walk it
out and then let 'er eat, since it wasn't the most powerful thing in the world.
(The stock brakes on those cars were CRAP; big discs in front, tiny Pinto drums in the rear. I tried
EVERY possible pad combination; all would die of fade rapidly, since I liked running backroads with it
like a man possessed most every night).
I owned that car until the sun had faded the red paint to damn near pink; my wife used it as a daily
towards the end even; I trusted the car that much.
It wasn't until the early 2000's that I considered selling the car, despite the fact we had moved on to
other more modern rides. I saw an ad for a group in Knoxville looking for 5.0's to restore, called them
up and told them what I had - which as younger fellas, they didn't believe.
They brought out an enclosed transport and as I talked turkey with the dealer of the two, the mechanic
"expert" with him climbed all over and under the car, then took it out for a test.
He came back, all wide eyed and said "he's not lying - this car has NEVER been apart and the driveline
is perfect!"
Hey boys, Mobil1 since new....and the car had over 250k miles on it at the time.
The clutch hadn't even ever been out of the car before. Not joking.
They run off with it, promising to send me updates on the car's restoration - which I never got any of.
Never heard from them again, sadly...
So what I'm saying here is - you'll never hear me say a cross word about those cars. They were built
like tanks and Ma SHOULD have been building something just like them in those days...
There is a happy ending to my story though - a little bit later, the present-day hemi Rams were announced
and I got excited about a new vehicle for the first time in a long time.
Bert the '04 Ram SLT 4x4 hemi came home with me not too long afterwards, after I had long since drove
my wife crazy with researching and test driving and going all over the countryside looking for one.
The right vehicle makes itself known to me usually; when I saw Bert sitting out front of a dealer, in the
front lawn in front of all the other cars on the lot, I just knew from the highway that he was the one.
I've told that story before - but here, a lot of years later, he's still with us and has
almost taken over the
title of "my best car ever owned".
(Bert still has another 80k to go before he gets to the 5.0's miles
)
