welp she turned 20...what a great car this has been

funny, it still seems like a 'new car' in my head...I only drove it a few times this past summer, and youngest son autocrossed it 5-6 events, just seems impossible 20 years flew by.

its another warm Christmas this year in Ohio, rain yesterday has roads looking salt free- long as they didnt salt/brine tonight, may take the mustang and challenger for a Christmas car wash again, will take a quick trip in the truck in the morning to see if roads are clean/dry

 

The S-197 First Gen Was The Right Car at The Right Time! For Many Of Us a Chance To Buy a New Muscle Car That Reminded us of The Ones We Were Too Young To Have When New! I Got a Crash Course With a 05 Black GT, An 07 Redfire Roushcharged GT/CS and Finally a 07 Vista Blue GT-500. I Will Never Buy A New Car Again So My Classic Iron Will Have To See Me To The End! My Oldest Car is Just a Year Younger Than Me Being a One Owner 64 Dodge Polara Built in 63 and My Newest The Gt-500!

KC

 

I was just thinking about this yesterday. After the new year mine will be 21 years old. I'm like 05Stangkc I'm not ever getting another new car.

 

My 06 GT will be turning 20 years old this upcoming May...

 

Model years go by way too fast. My Trans Am will be 25 years old in 2026. I still remember driving it home from Charlotte all those years ago. The sticker was $33k way back then, Pretty pricey but it sure has averaged out well when you keep the car long term.

 

I Wish I Could Remeber Where My 02 Harley F-150 Sticker Was But I Seem To Recall it was about 32K! Still Loving It as Our Primary Daily Driver! I'm Thinking I Got Employee Pricing On it as Well!

A Rare Classic as Far as Ford Trucks!

KC

 

my oldest is the 65 LTD my old friend/neighbor left me- took custody of it in 2002, anyone into rust, kept a online diary of that one...https://www.fordmuscleforums.com/thr...90496/#replies
longest ive had is the 69 mustang I got in 1982, tore apart in 1984, still in pcs... sometimes lifes rollercoaster changes priorities...
newest a 23 widebody challenger, at 62, it will most likely be my last... too many already to take care of/insure... garages should have room for 9 inside, but so many forgotten projects and equipment can only fit 4 inside - looks like a car lot outside with mine and the kids...
if lifes rollercoaster ever settles down, maybe will get after some things, time will tell... this years been crazy ups/downs with wifes health, been ongoing for years but last months been challenging... day before her 53rd birthday oncology decided time to quit, chemos doing more harm than good, now has chest tube and abdominal drains we do every 2 days...seen some hopeful stuff in last week, shes been able to eat decent, not gotten sick, off oxygen for hours at a time, all day Christmas eve- and drainage had dropped till today it was back up a little to a litre and a half, but still way down from what it was...
i sound like a broken record on the cancer stuff, ivermectin/fenbendazole/mebendazole WORK. she'd broke thru chemo a yr and a half ago, saw holistic dr, added mistletoe injections and ivermectin, 2 weeks later, chemo started working again- better than ever... a year later, shes had a lot of stomach pain, one day right after taking her ivermectin... she assumed related(was not) and quit taking it without saying anything...2 weeks later CA125 went up over 1000, left lung compressed with a liter and a half of malignant fluid, everything fell apart... couldnt eat, weight dropped 3 pounds to 107 in just days and wasnt dehydrated... she went right back on it, 2 weeks later everything was stable, ca125 dropped to under 400... but the backslide seemed to tip the scales...proved without a doubt the ivermectin had been working, but learned that at a high cost
a week before oncology had their talk (said shes got less than 6 months, suggested getting hospice set up while feeling ok) we asked holistic doctor about doubling dosages of ivermectin and mebendazole- she blessed off going to 20mg iver and 1000 meb daily- and just a few days after oncology thing, we actually started seeing some good things happening... still not giving up hope this stuff might still tip the balance back.. one thing i thought about, ALL the miraculous remissions on antiparasitics ive read about, were last resort type things AFTER conventional chemo options ended... been a crazy/stressful/sad/thankful/you name it month to say the least...but making the best of it, had a great Christmas with family/friends, its all good.
figure within a month we will know a lot more one way or the other how things are gonna go...till then just makin the best of things

 

^^ I don't mean to gloss over the medical things but how has your Challenger been? The 2023 models seem to have more issues than others, especially the windshields and build quality. I know the forums exaggerate reality but curious how yours was.
We have the same taste in cars.

 

so far both have been flawless- my son odered a 1320, and talked me into finally gettig a challenger too- but i ordered tge widebody with a 6 speed manual...like a kid, still love driving a manual ive got 18,000 on mine, hes got only 10,000 on his, but both have been run 'hard' by many definitions, autocrossed a lot / track night in America at Pittrace, a couple dragstrip test/tunes... theyre well maintained, not abused beyond designed limits- stock tunes/limiters... mine has the bigger brakes, I read a LOT about the 1500.00 apiece brake rotors getting eat up with stock pads, and did change pads all around with powerstop zz3 or z23, i forget, pads, just to prevent rotor wear- impressed as they feel as good (better cold) as the brembo pads, and virtually no brake dust, just rinse off...if youve got the brembos, sure you know how nasty that dust is...think its mostly rotor metal, its a bugger to scrub off- and 30 miles later its back... powerstop pads all around i think only cost 160 from summit racing- sounded like cheap insurance against the typical 4500.00 front only oem parts! think the rear brembos are over a grand for pads/rotors too... easiest pads ever to swap, just need a pinpunch to pop pin/slip pads out- after prying gently with a small bar/big screwdrivers to compress pistons.
still love the mustang, and honestly doubt the heavy challengers gonna hold up as well as the mustang... one thing that surprised me, local town idiots love paving new roads without fore thought- 34 mph(checked my dashcam) on a brand new road- literally 2 week old asphalt...contractor building a house cut the new road to tie in a lateral under the street that the freaking city had JUST put in before new road... theres 4 homes being built- they didnt put the laterals in...freaking idiotic. Anyways it rained, was a flush 'puddle' hit it and found it was like 3" deep/square edged- said some chioce words as my steering wheel instantly was 45 degrees off... called the city, they put cones up next day it was gravel filled, hopefully no one else got their car bent...anyways took mine in for alignment, surprise: front end was perfect? both rears were toed out and camber off. they had enough adjustment to straighten toe, and camber only 0.1 degree out- and too 'vertical' so worst case will reduce rear inside wear a little, steers straight again and feels normal... i was just surprised the rear was more fragile than the heavy frontend- i mean freaking hellcats are doing wheelies with same rear suspension...just surprised a moderate road hazard could bend the rear before the heavy front...

 

^^^ That's great to hear about your Challengers being solid rides. Sorry about the local stuff. I would be so mad!!