69stang351w

Good one for you! He will remember this forever.
My experience was in 1966 and my Dads 66 Mustang 289 coupe.
He gave me the keys and said use it for school and work.
To this day, I think of him and wonder!!! Man this guy was all heart.
I killed that 66 and what do you think he did? He took me with him to the dealer and pick up a new 69 fastback 351w and said to me don't kill this one.
I had that car till 1985 and have very fond memories of my Dad and his Mustangs!!
Happy Trails!!!

Adrenal

Nice story Ben!! Glad to hear you're easing your son into the GT slowly. I too
live in Fremont. I'll be keeping an eye out for him.

CME

You should be fine in the southern part of the state if you venture down here. I think the only thing they don't like tinted is the front windshield. And they are a little linient there also. There was a kid who had left about 8" of his front windshield untinted in some mini truck. He must of drove it for months before he removed it. I've been running 5% and haven't had any problems.

Scootr

My daughter's about a year away from driving. Her mother and I are seriously considering getting her a used 05 V-6 if we can find one. I for one used to be against this kinda thing but she's a great kid,honor student and very responsible(none of which I was when I was 16,lol!!) It seems every generation tries to give their kids things they never had. I had beater vehicles up till I was 22. I'm 37 now.Nothing would make her mom and I happier then to put a nice red bow on a newer stang in the driveway next year. There's nothing better than that!

Wardog 07

My son rarely gets to drive my 05 GT.

Reason? - - - I gave him an 89 LX Conv at age 17 years and see what he did with it . . .

I think he earned a valuble lesson though, because he (and I) had allot invested in it and we lost everything on it. Now he drives a beater 91' BMW 316 and if he wants something better, he's on his own to get it. (like I was).

Tom

Barricade

I remember being that age and I was also very responsible....
with that in mind there is no way that I would allow
my straight A son to drive the Mustang and he gets his permit next summer!
I love him way to much to see him wrap it around a pole.
Life is to precious and fragile.
Kids are still just that.....kids.

Gibson

THis is my test for my son,

When he is mature/responsible enough to understand and explain to me why he should NOT be driving around my mustang...then he's probably mature/responsible enough to drive around the mustang.

Its a catch-22, but that is the way its gonna be. I had 5.0 in high school, but i was mature enough to know how powerful it was and I took awesome care of that car. I never dogged it out because I knew it was a gift to be able to drive a sports car at such a young age.

My son will know the same, or he wont have a mustang...simple as that. If he does get one and abuses the trust with it....I'll be the one who shows him how to use auto-trader and i'll be the one to watch him hand over the keys to its new owner.

tough love for sure, but my job is to get him to adulthood alive and in one piece and with a sense of responsibility and accounability.

Bopcat

To clarify my position, I would NOT let my son drive the Mustang by himself for a long time. Beginning drivers need to start with something less powerful. His first car will be an SVT Focus which has great brakes, safe predictable handling (understeer at the limit) and not too much power (1/4 mile in the high 15's).

Adam8g

I vote for Fast Lane - LOTS of track time - AT SPEED

Mustangfreak

Good luck with that. But I must say, your one helluva cool dad for doing that.

jbyrd423

Im 17 and drove an auto 97 altima for just over a year, me and my pops had been car shopping for a while and i knew i wanted sumthing sporty. Came down to either a g35 coupe or a new mustang. Settled(happily) on the mustang, ordered it form the factory with all the options i wanted incluede manual. Its the first manual i have ever drive, and at first i admit i was a little discouraged by my stick skills but now after 1 month of driving it i know i made the right choice in stick

Knight

I always had to buy my cars when i was able to drive.. i'm 22 now.

When i was 14 i started to work at mcdonalds to afford a car. By my 16th birthday i had enought money and bought a 1965 mustang notch with inline 6 auto. I didn't know much about cars at the time.

Then a couple years went but and i wanted more power so when i was 18 i bought a 1990 GT vert auto from a guy i worked with. and then it kept braking down so i sold both the 1965 and 1990 and bought a 1999 GT 5-speed.

I had no experience with stick before hand but i just got in the car and drove home just fine. About 3 days later I was able to rip through the gears pretty good and shift smooth for everyday driving.

wilsonchristian

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AH


Sounds like my old man. "You wreck stuff son. Its what you've done since you were very small" "Not a chance you can drive my car." Also when I was learning to drive he used to punch me when I did wrong.

In the head.

2005: I take my dad out in my 05 GT (him driving) on the longest straight in the county. Can't see the gauges of course, and what does he do? REDLINES it in 2nd, while looking at the speedo.

Nice work, on a 2 week old car. Shoulda punched HIM.

And yep, he never remembered the conversation where he punched me either.

-C