What is amusing to the point of being ridiculous is to park you mustang in a completely empty parking lot some distance from the store where some walking is required an have someone park there old beater rust bucket right next to the mustang. Maybe they feel my mustang will enhance their beater of a rust bucket.

 

Our Mustang is our date ride. Also for pleasure trips when I know I can park her somewhere safe when we arrive at our destination. I've kept my '88 Toyota Celica beater to park in the University parking garage where I work. Wife still drives our '88 Toyota Supra.

When we do drive our Mustang to a shopping mall or grocery store, I park her far away out where the other trophy cars are parked.

 

One of the (few) good thing about my job right now is I work outside, where I can see my baby all day long. I actually caught some dumb woman hit my car with a shopping cart and I about tore her a new hole. Poldrv, I really don't understand the mentality of people who park next to a car all by itself. Do they need it so they can get in the space or something? I don't get it. Park in the spot over or something. Although the worst things that have happened to me both happened on the highway. I had a rock leave a nice big chip in the hood on my way to my sisters in Jacksonville, and I had a strip of tire scrape the underside of my chin on the Turnpike comming back from Oralndo one night.

 

Like many have already said, I always park far away from everyone and so far I've been lucky. Aside from the inevitable chips in the front end paint from rocks getting kicked up on the highway, I've only had one minor dent on the hood. It happened on the highway in the dead of winter a day after a snow storm. I was on my way to the dealer to get an oil change and a big sheet of ice flew off the top of another car. I could see it fly way up in the air and start coming back down but there was no way to avoid it. This actually happened twice in the same trip from two different cars but only one car's ice flying off the roof caused a dent.
I saw a video where a guy heats up the dent with a blow dryer and then inverts a can of computer cleaner upside down and sprays the area. The liquid comes out very cold and frosts the area where the dent is. When it warms back up the dent just pops out. It doesn't harm the paint and you can't even tell there was a dent there. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow.

 

This is a funny thread, and in our house, I always get kidded about looking for Mustang Approved Parking. I always try to park at the end of a row, with the car as far as possible from the one adjacent spot.

I used to think a minivan full of 10 year old Mountain Dew crazed soccer hooligans was the worst, but I've come to the conclusion that the most inconsiderate are the 75 year old 300 pound old lady who whips her Caddy door wide open so she can spin around and get both feet on the ground befo re she pulls herself up.

 

thats one more reason to have a "BEATER" to drive to Walmart or to the hardware store. Sometimes some people NEVER get over that fear. The funny thing is I usually never park the Mustang. If I do HAVE to go to...whatever....It's always moving, like a shark..............circling, circling..waiting for that passenger you dropped off at the front entrance to come back out.. I aint gonna park!!!!!!Am I alone here?????

 

No, you sure arent alone!! Im just the same way. Whenever i need to go do a quick errand, i bring the beater, or espicially where i work. THe parking lot is so narrow and tight that i just drive the beater to work!! Saves me MAJOR MAJOR headaches in the long run!!

 

life's too short to worry about lil things like that...I park mine in closest spots and have no fear...things happen...

 

Haven't read the entire thread, so I don't know if this has been posted, but for everything you've ever wanted to know about safe parking...

http://www.parkingbydesign.com/

 

I had to quit my side job at universal studios as a paramedic, because of "fears" i almost would make myself ill worrying. their parking spaces for the general employees are all compact in size and unless you parked on the fenceline you ran the risk of having a P.O.S. ding the crap out of you.

 

So firestang are you now running with TFD or BCFR? I was a volunteer with BCFR for 12 years out of station 22 (now 24). Before that I was a volunteer with TFD back in the '60s.

Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot must all hire the same idiots to line out their parking lots. They have reduced the width of the parking spaces from 9' to 8' and shortened the distance between the rows to maximize the number of spaces. This is counter productive for the two big box home improvement centers since most people drive trucks to them. Gee their management hasn't figured that out yet. Our local Lowes has about 6 or 7 9' wide spaces over by the contractors entrance, isn't that a lot of help. I will only shop at these locations if none of the local stores carry what I'm looking for. At work there are many nice new cars and we have ample parking. In addition there are many surveillance cameras all over the place. Only one rule, don't park next to a GSA vehicle.

In parking lots my wife and I are complete opposites, I park as far away as possible and my wife will drive around for 20 minutes looking for a space if it will save her from walking 5 extra feet. Oh and she drives a Grand Marquis.

BB

Semper Fi

 

Last week my wife and went to the Waffle House for breakfast and took the vert. No spaces close to the door so we parked way down the side away from everyone else (she was driving). After we sat down a bunch of spaces opened up, so she said, "would you feel better moving it closer?" and handed me the keys. That's why I love her.

 

its a ford mustang not a bently. get over it. i got a few dings, so what. after the first one you really dont care.

 

I care!

It may not be a $100,000 car, but I take pride in my Mustang and how good it looks! And if I can avoid getting a few dings by parking a little farther away, then I'll do it...

What I hate (and has been mentioned already) is when you do park a bit out where there is no one around and when I come back out to my car, there is like 2-3 cars parked right next to mine when there was plenty of spaces that *aren't* right next to me... I park away from everyone for a reason!

 

Guys, I found the solution. It's called explosive reactive armor. If someone dings into your car, your outer protective layer explodes away from your car, destroying the foreign door while leaving your car undamaged.

Problem solved.

 

Choosing a nice car to park next too is no guarantee over here. Left my car parked next to a Bentley GT Continental (a $170,000 car that’s quite common in this filthy rich part of the world). When I returned there was a fresh ding on my driver’s door. Luckily it buffed out, but it could have been worse.

On a related note, for those who are interested: Our GT’s can kick the Bentleys’ asses! Raced against a few with happy results every time. On a loooooong stretch they will win though, the top speed on those is 165mph.

 

You buffed out a ding? How?

 

It was a clear coat scratch which left some of his black paint on my door. I used 3m scratch remover. Not sure if "ding" is the correct terminology.

 

Zag, is your car stock, or do you have a blower? If your stock, I hate to tell you, but the Conti GT's have 550 hp out of a TT V12. Plus, they do well over 165 mph. Acutally they top out at just under 200 mph. One did over 200 mph on the speed ring in Nardo. That car is one of the fastest 2+2 sports cars on the planet. Our cars can kick its A$$? Unless you have forced induction, I don't know about that. I say they have a crappy driver. In the quarter, it would be close (Conti GT is 4.7, while ares is 5.0), but over a stretch of long road, they got you. I've seen one pass me, that car can haul A$$!!

 

Mine is a bone stock automatic. I've raced a Bentley 3 different times in bursts of about 1 kilometer each (light to light) and won each time. I've raced one on the highway from a rolling start and again I beat them initially, but they rocketed past me as I approached 120mph. I agree with you that they are super powerful but the kerb weight (I’m cancuk and that’s how we spell it) is 5,258lbs on these beasts. That brings the power/weight ratio close to our Mustangs. From a dead stop they will eat Stang dust for a while. You are totally correct about the top speed, it is just under 200mph.