My Cobra's Story!

Well, I've had a page for my Probe for the longest time, now it's time to showcase the latest addition to my stable: a 2001 Mustang Cobra!

There's a little bit of a story behind my actually buying this car.  You see, I didn't intend on buying the Cobra.  I originally wanted a 2001 Chevrolet Corvette Z06!  I had made appointments to test drive a couple of vehicles: the new Subaru WRX and the Ford Mustang Bullitt.  Both cars were nice and had comforts unique to each vehicle.  I was not impressed with the Bullitt, except for some minor aspect that would be nice on the Cobra like the pedals and lowering kit.  The WRX was a little slow off the line, but once full boost was achieved, it picked up very nicely.  The only drawback there was that the salesperson didn't want to give me the test drive, nor did she want me to take the car into anything resembling high RPM.

Next up was the scheduled appointment for the Z06.  I had tried several dealerships looking for one and two gave me some positive responses.  One was very unwilling to let me test drive it, even going to the point of questioning my 'enthusiasm' toward the Corvette.  After a couple of biting replies by me, I had decided that it wasn't worth the headache, so I proceeded to follow-up with the other dealership.  This dealer was willing to let me test drive the car, which is almost unheard of for a limited production vehicle.  He was also willing to cut me a deal on the price, offering it to me for less than dealer invoice, as well as offering me zero down and 0% financing over the life of the loan; both were also unheard of.

Before I was able to make it to this dealer, I decided to find a Mustang Cobra to look at and possibly test drive.  I had found a few dealerships close to me through the SVT website and decided to visit the closest one first.  That happened to be Ken Grody Ford in Buena Park.  I went on a Sunday evening with my girlfriend to look at their inventory and decide upon a color that we (mainly me) both liked.  I wanted the Laser Red coupe and she pointed me to a really dusty True Blue coupe with the Charcoal Grey interior.  The salesperson that had leeched himself to us was accommodating to the extent that he let me in the car to look around.  Under no circumstances was he going to pull the car out so I could inspect it further, let alone test drive it; he was that adamant.

Upset, we left the dealer and I was going to visit the Chevy dealer the next day.  Knowing this, my girlfriend Stacey mentioned that perhaps we should try again and hopefully get a different salesperson this time.  Well, we went on October 2, 2001 to the same dealer, this time with my parents in tow.  You see, I had originally intended to show them the car I was thinking of buying for them: a 2001 Ford Focus ZX3.  When we arrived at the dealer a salesperson, James, came up to us, was very cordial, and introduced himself to the entire party.  He asked what we wished to look at, we told him, and he led us to the cars.  My dad took an instant liking to the Mustang Bullitt that was sitting in the lot and asked all sorts of questions about that car, completely forgetting why we were there.  I asked about the same Cobra that Stacey and I had seen a couple of days before.  He said it would be no problem to pull the car out so I could look at it a little better, and that he would be happy to give me a test drive!

After doing an immediate double-take, I looked the car over, all the while my mom was telling me how she liked 'my' car.  He pulled up to the front of the lot while the rest of the party was still looking around (my mom had decided she like the Focus Sedan more than the hatchback and that was the car she wanted).  We took off to gas up, switched places, and I got to drive the car.  It was magnificent!  I had not had that much fun driving a car since I bought my first 1966 Mustang, it was THAT pleasing!  When I got back, I had a grin on my face so wide it could not have been surgically removed!  Instantly, everyone else knew I was not leaving that dealership without the car!

So that was it!  I never did get to test drive the Z06, so I don't know if I would have bought it or not!  To be honest, I'm still a little disappointed that I didn't at least drive the car, but I DO NOT regret buying the Cobra for one second.  It's been all fun ever since!

After the springs, struts, and shocks were installed, I made an impromptu appointment at Extreme Mustang Performance (XMP).  Eric was very helpful and accommodating to fit me into his tight work schedule.  My thanks go to him and his crew, especially Larry (since he was doing all of the work), for helping me get the car ready for the SVTOA event.  The car performed magnificently, all thanks to you guys!

I recommend them for your performance Mustang needs!  The have an excellent website and Eric knows his stuff!  I will be visiting them shortly to get my new gears installed!

I have also finally taken my car to be dyno tested!  The numbers are available on the stats page!