To be or not to be ... whether tis nobler ...

Thanks 1Bullitt and Seven for sticking to your guns. Wow - I've really been demonized here! (Sticks and stones?) Let's see I'm a prejudicial sexist who shoots off his mouth without thinking. Wasn't I called ignorant? Not by half. Did you decide I ought to be wearing the dress? I can't recall. Be careful or your children might grow up to be like me (That cretin whom all despise?) I can't even get credit for having reached my advanced age. Well you know if you can't attack the argument attack the arguer. There was a veritable feeding frenzy on my carcass. And to top it all off lots of people have threatened to outrun me - well good luck, I'll call my big brother. (This is no idle threat; he has a 1970 Challenger T/A - 340 Six Pack. Hurst 4-speed manual by the way. I know this is a Mustang site, but if you are truly serious I'd like to see you race him. I'm a Mustang fan but I have to give that car credit.)

'Some people' indeed! Don't allude to me; refer to me by name please. I'm a big boy and I can take criticism. Which is more than I can say for a great many who have posted here. Truly though, I would take you more seriously if the subject matter was indeed serious. I brought up the idea of a Cobra with an automatic to 4 colleagues at lunch this afternoon (believe it or not we're professional people). They ALL ridiculed the idea and one yelled SISSY. (Go ahead and attack my co-workers; I won't mind at all.)

All I can say is you ladies scream loud when you get hit. I've uncovered enough insecurities on this board for a freshman Psych major to earn a PhD trying to document them. What are you trying to cover up? (When you get into your automatic Shelby GT 500 just ignore that that annoying little laugh in the back of your mind.)

Anyway I'm done with this subject; abuse me some more if you wish I will post no more. Then you can brag to yourselves how you really told me off.

'the gisarm guy'

 

So what if the topic gets heated? Isn't it what makes it interesting and most of all, fun?

If we all wind up getting GT500s and do a get together, we'll all be giving each other high 5s and kissing each others' butts, 6-spd or A/T.

I still think the A/Ts are for girlymen... not that there is anything wrong with it!

 

Oh please don't go. It's been such fun......... "Dodge Boy" (I knew there was something different about you).

You need to be more like the Bullitt - butt kissin and all, no matter what Ford ends up sending our way. It has been fun.

Mark

 

No doubts that a regular AT offers much less control than a manual transmission and for sure it takes more skills to be able to use a manual transmission with all what you can do with it, but still it's no "elite" skill for sure, it can be easily learned, IMHO.

How do you define a nowadays muscle car ? I believe real muscle cars don't exist anymore. I believe today there are simply exotic cars (Ferrari's, Porsche's, Aston Martin's, Lamborghini's, etc. etc.) and sport cars (every other car that has a certain degree of performance).

Of course a Mustang, like any other regular production car, is light years from a Formula 1 racer, I think it's obvious.
If I mentioned Formula 1 cars it's because they are at the highest level a sports car (and for me a Mustang Cobra is a sports car. Of course nothing even remotely close to a Formula 1 car...) can reach and they have semiauto transmissions and I am sure no one out there that can think straight would consider those guys driving those monsters as woossies for not having to handle a manual transmission...
And this would totally crumble some people absurd theories that only people that drive manuals should be considered real drivers, this fact about the F1 drivers just shatters this idiotic concept...

Well, I personally would settle as well for an AT (hopefully 6 speed) as it would be better than nothing at all, but still I would consider it a lost occasion for Ford to showcase their craftsmanship in their best sports car (I say this because the Ford GT is almost a misterious object in the real car market as it commands a quarter mil nowadays and therefore it's almost a ... legend rather than a real car). It really would be a shame.
The SMG-style tranny (or semiauto or sequential or whatever you wanna call it), for reasons unknown to me, it's still some sort of a misterious item in these shores. But it would be enough to look at where it's employed in Europe and you would see that starting from the absolutely microscopic city car that is the SMART ForTwo all the way up to Ferrari's, with in the middle all sorts of regular cars, you have the opportunity to find tons of car having it.
Why couldn't this happen in the USA too ? I see no reason, honestly. And I would be darn proud of Ford it they would propose it in the new Cobra.
My final opinion is: offer it and people will buy it.

 

Well, as far as what you can do with an SMG type transmission, I would honestly say that it INCLUDES the capabilities of a standard A/T (not to mention that with some type of SMG, like BMW's, you can tailor the transmission to operate the way you want it. If I am not mistaken, it has 5 different modes for A/T, 6 for Sequental/Semiauto and 1 for "take-offs" which is aptly named "Launch Control") besides being able to operate in Semiauto mode. So I would say that apple and oranges doesn't really apply here, seen that the orange ... includes as well an apple inside...

As far as obscure quotes from anybody are concerned, sorry but I don't have one.
Oh and I am not really interested in Nascar, I find the fact they keep on going on a circle for hours a bit boring, I prefer Formula 1.
But an argument endorsing the SMG I can surely give it to you:
Formula 1 switched to SMG (I'd rather call them sequential gearboxes) in the late 80s because they thought and then indeed found out that by employing this type of tranny they were able to drastically decrease the number of blown-up engines and broken transmissions (as it's not healthy missing a gearchange and downshift instead of shifting up when your engine is spinning at 17 or 18k rpms), which did a lot of good for all F1 teams, as you may imagine what can cost an engine and/or a tranny of a car like that...
Now if Nascar wants to take this FACT and follow THIS lead, they will surely do themselves a lot of good. Please, be a nice guy and send them an email, ok ? You can take all the praises for yourself, I am not interested.

 

I see your point.
Hovewer, if this is to be true, I am just left wondering why they offer traction control and ABS, for example. For sure muscle cars of the late 60s / early 70s didn't have them. Also for the fact that if you want "raw unteathered power from an old style V8" why not let the process of taming the beast purely in the hands of the driver, rather than offer help from any electronic device ?
I mean, where do you draw the line of what is in and what is out ?
If you wanna know my opinion, I frankly believe that when you get to be able to buy a 450+hp car, something that just 10 years ago would have been seen only in the realm of super exotic cars, you ought to be given all possibilities to receive help in handling this enormous power (I feel many people don't realize what amount of hp we are talking about...).
For this I welcome ABS, Traction Control and anything else like ESP, EBC, SMG and so on...
After all let's not forget it's the 21st century and driving a car should be a pleasure in all circumstances and when electronics can give you a hand in that, I say they are more than welcome.
And when I say driving a car should be a pleasure, I personally include as well a GPS Nav.Sys., Satellite Radio, heated seats and whatever else can be accomodated in there in a reasonable way AND for a reasonable function (of course I am not talking about having stuff like a DVD player in there or a mini fridge or stuff like that...please do not misunderstand me, ok ?)...
The times when being a sports car fanatic meant you had to include eating bugs like a 1930s Bentley englishman driver are over, thank God...

 

Amen to this brother !

 

 

First post: insulting to a great deal of people, full of prejudices.
Second post: utterly useless, still slightly insulting, pretty much on the rambling side.

:scratch: :nono:

I hope the 3rd post will be better...

Hope you had a good lunch with your colleagues, shouldn't you have gone instead to the gym to keep that testosterone level up ? Slacking lately, uh ? Watch out not to become a SISSY that likes an AT in a Cobra, as that would be a disaster for a real man...
PS: someone in your party actually yelled SISSY in a restaurant ? Since I was probably around 8 years old I felt such a behavior was unacceptable in a restaurant, but hey we are in a free world...I'd like to congratulate that person, really mature behavior...

 

Now that we have thoroughly covered the IRS topic along with the A/T and the elusive SMG, we might like to touch on the possible integration of F16 wings.

 

I prefer the B1-B's wings -- because they can be retracted and extended as the need arises. I certainly wouldn't mind an afterburner.

 

I'm wondering if Ford is going to ablative armour like M1A1 Abrams tank. I bet those darn bean counters axed it just to save a little money!

 

Well I find today from Ford they are making at heavy duty 5speed auto. for GT500,

They have test mule right now testing and 1/2 sec faster then 6speed man. in test mule GT500

 

I couldn't agree more on your logical points, with the exception of the "apple and oranges" portion. (What a surprise!)

If any Ford vehicle has a chance of getting an SMG type tranny would Ford's latest European styly concept (the Shelby GR-1) displayed a couple months back. The Ford GT is about being retro so its drivetrain would not be altered. Down the food chain comes the Mustang. You can have all the illusions and hallucinations you want but it has as much of a chance getting an SMG as the GT500 getting a $35K price tag and offering rebates upon its release. Therefore, the SMG is not a factor in this topic.

At some point in the near future you will have to come to terms to the universal fact that you are dealing with a brilliant mind here. AND DON'T LET ME HAVE TO TELL YOU AGAIN!

:drive: See? Even the Smiley drives a stick shift!

 

I couldn't agree more on your logical points, with the exception of the "apple and oranges" portion. (What a surprise!)

If any Ford vehicle has a chance of getting an SMG type tranny would Ford's latest European styly concept (the Shelby GR-1) displayed a couple months back. The Ford GT is about being retro so its drivetrain would not be altered. Down the food chain comes the Mustang. You can have all the illusions and hallucinations you want but it has as much of a chance getting an SMG as the GT500 getting a $35K price tag and offering rebates upon its release. Therefore, the SMG is not a factor in this topic.

At some point in the near future you will have to come to terms to the universal fact that you are dealing with a brilliant mind here. AND DON'T LET ME HAVE TO TELL YOU AGAIN!

:drive: See? Even the Smiley drives a stick shift!



[/b][/quote]

Well, I still don't agree with the reasons why Ford couldn't and shouldn't offer an SMG style tranny in the new Cobra.

But hey, I really like you, you are a funny guy, so it's all cool here !

 

Frank.......are you funnin' with us or is this legit???

 

A word of warning:
You'll have to bring a dozen red roses and I don't kiss on the first date.

 

A word of warning:
You'll have to bring a dozen red roses and I don't kiss on the first date.



[/b][/quote]


Oh jeez....get a room!

 

How about a push button auto on the steering wheel like the Edsel! that would be funny!

 

A word of warning:
You'll have to bring a dozen red roses and I don't kiss on the first date.



[/b][/quote]

Ahahahah...wow...already asking me to buy you stuff ?
Sorry but that slot is already taken by my wife...ahahahah
Ouch, I just remembered her birthday is arriving fast, gotta get her something...