My new Ford Mustang convertible

Here’s the FULL story….

10 years ago I was involved with someone who had FOUR kids from a previous marriage. Certainly needed a bigger car than what I was driving at the time, and so in 1999 decided to buy this 1997 blue dodge Caravan, which has held up very well, and been a good, dependable vehicle over the years.  Even after that relationship ended I kept the van as a good vehicle to carry around stuff in the back, as well as just appreciating driving something a bit higher up, allowing me to see over more cars.

A few months ago, the youngest daughter from that previous relationship was talking about getting a new car, and I helped her do the deal, since it was her first car…  and eventually she ended up with a pretty nice Mustang, and while driving around with her a little to have the car looked at by my mechanic, etc a lot of people commented on the car and it really sunk in to myself, that it was time for ME to get something kinda flashy and fun myself!  — But I am generally VERY frugal, and spending $10-15k on a car when i already have something that works great didn’t seem like the best use of that money.

After another month or two, I finally decided some new “toy” seems like it might be a lot of fun!  And on Dec 31, 2009 went out to buy my own Ford Mustang…. Actually I had spent the week or two before doing some good research… asking friends what they thought might be a fun/sexy car.  I even looked in to a 1987 Ferrari !  (trying to stick around the $10-15k price range).  I was all ready to buy a pretty nice red 2006 Mustang (also with racing stripes) only 36,000 miles and selling for $13000, but after one final check on craigslist, I ran across a very sweet deal — 2005 Mustang CONVERTIBLE… with the special “Pony Package” which includes fancy upgrades like the Shaker 500 sound system, leather seats and steering, tinted windows, and more.  The car DID have 66,000 miles, which sure is a big jump for just that one additional year, but also, it was only selling for $9,800!  — and according to me, that $3200 “savings” with the additional “coolness” factor of a convertible, just threw it over the top.  Of course, I still did have my mechanic look at it first!

I’ve been taking my car(s) to Brad Updegraff who runs the Great Hills Shell station at 10940 Research Blvd for about 10 years now, and would never think about buying a car without his thumbs-up!  After a quick “buyers check” he gave me the run down…. it did have a few issues, as should be expected, but mostly just various fluids that needed flushing, and nothing at all very serious.  So that was that… Headed out to the bank that same afternoon, picked up the cash, and finished the deal…. I was even able to talk the sellers down to $9500 to help cover a few hundred dollars that it would cost to do some of the fluid flushing.

SO, about the car! — red/maroon 2005 Ford Mustang convertible; 4.0L V6 SFI SOHC engine; leather seats and steering, Shaker 500 sound system, tinted windows; powered windows and seats.  Here is a link to the CarFax info.

I’m already having some good fun taking some friends out for a spin with the top down.. Best Christmas / New Year present I’ve bought for myself in a long time =)~

David