2006stang

My Dad has a friend who is head mechanic at a local Ford dealer. They just got in a white/blue striped GT 500 and the mechanic friend was asked to take the car out for a test drive to see if everything was in order. The mechanics nephew also works with my Dad and the nephew was at the dealership at the time so they we out on the road together for a spin. The first trip was just down the road a few blocks and the car wouldn't do squat. He thought there might be a problem so they went back to the shop and discovered that the car had to be driven 5 miles before the supercharger would come online....go figgure. Well on the second trip after five miles he romped on it on the road leaving city limits and it was a FREAKING BEAST. Instant tiresmoke from any gear for as long as you held the throttle. Total fun. The state trooper that was meeting them on the road while the fishtailing and smoking was going on wasn't as amused. 109mph in a 45 . He had it faster but with the spinning of the tires he had let out of it a few seconds ago so he had been going faster. He tried to explain that he was a mechanic and was test driving the GT500 under orders and the trooper replied "I don't give a **** who you are!!!!", and explained to him in a rather cross way that he was lucky he wasn't going to jail or getting the nightstick treatment. Be aware of the men in grey because even though most are car guys a heart meeting one sideways on the road isn't the best way to make one your friend.

metroplex

Did he get his license revoked?

"Sir, do you know how fast you were going?"
No idea, but the car is speed limited to 155 mph...

2006stang

I will have to ask Dad but I think he did. He is about the stroke-out over it and I can't blame him. Maybe the bigwigs at the dealership can pull some strings for him. I really don't think traffic school is a option. The guy is really a quiet and subdued type person. He still has his '69 AMC Javelin from high school so he is a car guy but a guy who doesn't normally attract unwanted attention from Johnny Law in his car by doing burnouts, speeding, ect. I guess his nephew being there and that rush of awesome power got the best of him. I assume we all have done the same thing in the past. My '87 Grand National I used to own almost got me deported from driving several times but luckily most of the local cops were car guys and let me off the hook.

TexaStang

What dealership is this? I want to know where not to buy a car.

Giddyup

Just what I was thinking......(if this is how they treat a car they expect to sell).

mrkabc

...A good argument for doing your own PDI, and making sure there are less than 5 miles on the clock when you take delivery...

Phorty

I just crossed that guy off my list of potential mechanics when I open a Ford dealership.

05fordgt

FREAKING MORON!!!!

tostang

Hey 2006stang. Not to flame you but...While we can all appreciate the fun of tearing around in a new GT 500 (not on public roads-very bad idea), you have to agree that people probably wouldn't have an issue if it was your Dad's car. The fact that it was a potential customers' new ride (with a likely 10K+ markup) obviously ticked a few people off.

But hey, I bet it was fun!

JMHO.

Gearhead

This is a concern with any vehicle with too much power. It is an addictive thing that draws you to drive beyond the control or reason envelop. Perhaps the V6 with its 210 horsepower is the limit for a teenager, the V8 with its 300 horsepower being the limit for an adult, and nobody can really be trusted with 500 horsepower. Maybe some, but it might take a level of self-control few of us have.

metroplex

The GT is speed limited to 145 mph at the factory but I suppose it takes longer to get there than in the GT500.

TexaStang

Once you realize that gobs of horsepower on the street can easily kill yourself or others, self control is a non issue. If you lack maturity, then that is another issue entirely.

Mark S.

2006stang, I wonder if your car received the same treatment that GT500 did when it arrived on the dealer's lot...have you experienced any mechanical problems lately?

2006stang

Mark S--I have tried to buy 2 different GT's from them and they love to try to throw in a $3000-$5000 markup on everything they sell so no I have never done business with them and never will. My '07 is doing fine--300 miles since Sept. with no complaints. Since I don't live in the dealership showroom of the place I got mine from or have spy cameras on their property for 24 hour up to date info on their car care habits I have no idea how mine was treated and I am sure NO ONE else on here really knows how their car was treated before the sale at their dealership either. TexaStang and Gearhead--I agree totally with those statements. Tostang--You seem like you have a better grip on reality than most on here. I wasn't present when the crime against humanity...carmanity happened. Dad heard it from the guys nephew and I am sure he will razz the guy over it. He thought it was dumb to but I don't think he will need threapy being exposed to the knowledge of such a pure evil act. Maybe the nephew should have opened the door and dragged his feet and sacrifice his legs to keep the car under 55 but sadly for the defenseless Shelby but the coward didn't. So for the small percentage of you who post here who get emotioally upset and boiling mad over the treatment of a car that you will never be around or ever purchase get away from the computer for a while and get some fresh air. I am sure others reading all these post can point you out and will get a laugh out of you like I have and will continue to do so. Spend more time with your families and friends if they can stand to be around you. Buy a dog. Adopt a child so you can screw them up and then really have something to be upset about. Get some new hobbies because you obviously have too much time to kill. I see why alot of people don't bother posting on message boards wheather it is to help someone else or to relay a story or incident that relates to the hobby because that small percentage of people who need attention from somewhere in their life will always use a forum to get it because is a great safe place to criticize a total stranger infront of others to get that attention. Now you got it go and find the next thread to hijack and hop on your soapbox and beat you chest while the rest of us try to go about enjoying our hobbies and life in general in the real world.

TexaStang

No offense, but what sort of response did you expect when posting this story? It'd be one thing if you owned the car, or were at least test driving it. But to post a story about some grease monkey at a Ford dealer putting 5 miles on the car just to turn off the protection code in the computer to prevent this sort of stuff from happening, then romp on it past that 5 miles to boot is simply ridiculous. Of course you are going to get negative responses, the guy should be fired, immediately.

I know exactly how my vehicle was treated when I purchased mine, it had 1 mile on it and the protective plastic still on it as I requested. That's not a very valid excuse. For a 40k car, plus likely a 15k markup -- I'd expect the vehicle to be treated in a professional manner.

To boot, I don't see how the thread was hijacked, it seems to have stayed perfectly on topic actually. Would "shudda hooked up a 150 shot man that'd be shweeeeetttt on test drive" been more acceptable, as that was pretty much the line of thinking to have done this in the first place.

Tres Wright

Why would they pull strings for him, do they enjoy having stupid morons working in their service department? I would venture to say that every single Shelby buyer (and Mustang buyer for that matter) wants a car that has not been molested before they got it. The reason there is a 5 mile preset in place on these cars is specifically so stupid people like this guy don't take them out and trash them before they get into the buyer's hands. This guy should be fired without anyone giving it a second thought.


Noooo, not with someone else's car!! I drive other people's cars like I would want them to drive mine.

Traffic school is likely not an option. Here in Texas you can use a class to get out of a ticket if it's less than 25 mph over the speed limit. Over that and you're going to be paying dearly. Many states now treat a speeding violation over 100 mph the same as a DUI/ DWI. This guy is likely to be blackballed as a mechanic, he might want to practice his burger-flipping skills

metroplex

So the supercharger pulley has an electronically controlled clutch solenoid like on Mad Max?

Knight

i wondered the same thing, how you could get the supercharger to not work for the first 5 miles. only think i could think was maybe a lower rev limiter in the computer at first to keep out of boost.. would be much cheaper then to add a clutch system to the blower.

Little Black Pony

That kind of hot ******* will get you fired from our dealership. With most of our customers waiting months to get a Shelby GT 500 it would be highly disrespectful for anyone at our dealership to abuse a customer ordered car like that. I'm glad that our main PDI test driver is a woman. She does what she is supposed to do and drives with care.

With that said, we love to see our customers give their new Shelby a good rhomp! Our latest Shelby customer promply smoked his tires for a good while right in front of our showroom when he took his car for it's test drive. Great fun! That's what we expect from our customers, but not from an employee.

mrkabc

What an arrogant, condescending, and moronic posting.

What sort of reaction did you expect from car enthusiasts when confronted of a story of some moronic dealership dolt that intentionally defeated a built-in protection from abuse in order to flog a car that some person is paying top dollar for?

Did you expect us to root for the mechanic who was thrashing on a brand new car? Did you expect us to laugh?

I expect, no, I DEMAND that my dealership treat my (or ANY) new car with RESPECT and not allow some knuckle dragger to flog on a car that I'm laying down my hard earned money for. Whether or not this was a Shelby or a Pinto makes NO difference.

That mechanic should be FIRED for what he did. That dealership should maintain the highest ethical standards and provide NEW (read: un-thrashed) vehicles for delivery to their buyers.

This thread was not hijacked. It's still on topic! It just didn't go the way YOU wanted it to since the more reasonable people on this board realized that you were relating a tale of dealership thuggery.