Made it!

Well, I actually made it to Carlisle and the car is in one piece. We rolled into there around 6:00 PM and had an hour to detail the car after the 300+ mile trip before they kicked us out at 7:00 PM in order to close the building. Road construction sucks. Here is a picture I took just as they were closing the building. It’s not the best picture I ever took but it will have to do.

Carlisle 2007 Indoor Display

I promise to post lots more pictures but probably not until I get back. I still have yet to visit the tent location. I’m sure others will get there before I do tomorrow. I need to get some rest. It was quite a day and I couldn’t have done it without help from my Dad! He’s the blurry guy in the background of the picture.

Carlisle – expected turnout keeps looking better!

I keep getting a trickle of people expressing a desire to join us. Some are previously registered and only recently became aware of what is happening with the “feature” cars.

This is very good and I try to keep the people in-the-know at Carlisle aware of this. I email them regularly with updates on how many I think are attending. This is usually less than they think are attending and have registered under our group. I originally told them 10-15 when I filled out the tent application. Now the number looks like a solid 16 once the cars going indoors are excluded as well as a couple people who have not responded to my latest inquiry about their attendance.

I have reformatted the list to break out attendance by car (no surprise here as you must know how analytical I am by now).

Adventures in ordering Mustang parts

Over the last couple weeks I have been trying to clean up the old Mustang and in the process I decided that it was better to replace some items than to clean them (some items don’t clean very well). Also, I needed the correct boot for my car. When I bought the car, it had a black one but we know that white is correct. For replacements, I decided that my hood insulation and air deflector were past the point of no return. It was time to order some parts but I have a deadline, you know.

air deflector

My first step was to order the boot as it was the only part that I did not have so it seemed most critical. With weeks before my deadline, I placed my order with John’s Mustang. A full week went by with no word on whether it shipped or not. I called. It was on back order and the guy was surprised that no one had called me. I should have known as this is not the first time I have experienced delays when ordering from them. I canceled the order. I don’t recommend John’s Mustang.

For the other parts I decided to go local and that meant Mustangs Unlimited. They didn’t have the hood insulation there but had it at their other location and said they could ship it to me and it would take less than a week. They also didn’t have the air deflector but could ship that as well.

A couple days ago the hood insulation came. Luckily, I opened the box instead of putting it aside for the time I would install it. I found that it was ripped so I had to go back to MU to return it. Somehow, they found one in stock that was perhaps there all of the time. It’s not perfect but it will have to do.

The day after the hood insulation came the air deflector showed up. I opened the box to find it was the wrong one. Even though the box listed 79-93 it was clearly for 94-04. Back to MU to complain. This time I was not so lucky. They said they would have to order one. I got a credit. Yesterday, I made progress at a local Ford dealer. If things go as they say, it will be in on Wednesday the day I need to be done with the car.

Five trips to Mustang Unlimited in all including one to get the previously mentioned boot in white. Nothing ever seems easy. And, with gas being the way it is, this is getting expensive.

I am a firm believer that things even out, eventually. And, that may have started. I am going to try Zaino to polish my car. They recommend using high quality 100% cotton towels from a bath place. I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond to look for some. It turns out that a towel that is their second best was on clearance for 40% off. On top of that, they had the display versions for half price before the 40% off. So I picked up 4 $15 towels for $5 each. Not bad. It offsets the extra gas I burned going back and forth to MU and then some.

Now, if there just was some way to get the time back.

2BOSS – Off Topic…Sort of

Lately, this blog has been Carlisle, Carlisle, Carlisle and if you are not going it probably can get pretty boring. I have been meaning to write about other things. There are plenty of things to write about both Mustang and non-Mustang related. I have tons of other interests that might warrant entries. For instance, I am a huge fan of the show Lost and have some success at predicting what (or the spirit of what) will happen next. It would be interesting to get that in writing. I also have plenty of interests around technology and am very interested in saving energy. Which, by the way, is ironic since I drive a V8 Mustang when I am not driving my Explorer SUV. But, I don’t want to write entries just to write entries. So, here’s another Mustang-related post that isn’t about Carlisle…

The great thing about having this web site is that I not only hear from so many feature cars owners but I also hear from others generally interested in fox-body Mustangs. One recent email is worth sharing. It was from a gentleman who recently purchased a 1993 Mustang LX Hatchback. It was built late in the production cycle: August 11. One of the last “fox bodies”. His question was on the value listed where the transmission code was supposed to be. It was 2BOSS. Very interesting, indeed. A 1993 Boss Mustang? Well, not so fast. I replied that my feeling was that this was a coincidence.

The first digit of the TR code is for the transmission where a 2 means manual. The next two codes are the front spring codes (left and right, respectively) of which “BO” is valid and a combination I have seen before. The “SS” is for the rear spring codes. They are valid digits according to reference material I have but in all of the door tags information I have (all for 1993 LX 5.0 convertibles) I have never seen them used. When BO is specified for the front codes, usually “BB” are the rear and sometimes, “TT”. Even so, 2BOSS is a valid TR code.

And, as far as I know, there was no Boss Mustang in 1993. It’s just an interesting bit of coincidence that might be present on other cars. Hopefully, someone would not use this to present a car as something it wasn’t. And, now that I’ve written this up, I suspect that a search engine might pick it up and hopefully a savvy buyer will use one before proceeding.

Trying to get a handle on the number of feature cars going to Carlisle

For a long while, the list of people attending Carlisle has remained steady at 11. Since the beginning I knew that one of those cars was going to be indoors. Recently, I mentioned that now 2 more of them will be indoors. They are mine as well as the 1992 Feature Car that I had previously indicated had a scheduling conflict that prevented him from being there all three days so he was going to join us at the tent until that conflict cleared. That takes the 11 down to 8 that are expected for the tent. This week I checked with the Carlisle folks and they told me that 6 people had officially registered under my club. That leaves a few unknowns among those 11 cars. Along with this, there are still a few people who are on the fence who have yet to make a decision.

The great news in all of this is that the five cars I had alluded to in an earlier Carlisle Update have just confirmed their attendance! They are a club out of New Jersey and consist of two 7up cars, one yellow 93, one white 93 and one red 92. There attendance will be on Saturday. With them and considering the cars lost to the indoor display as well as a few no-shows, I think we will still be around 11.

Just last night I completed the graphics work on a new version of my car show sign as well as a second sign that can be used at the tent to describe the details on our unique cars. They are currently being printed and I will have an update when that process is complete in order to give you a preview.

I still have a lot of work to do. I need to get my car cleaned and make sure it is road-ready for the 5 hour trip. I have gone back and forth on bringing some t-shirts to offer for sale but I went ahead and asked the Carlisle people if I could sell “club” merchandise and they said no. Although, they said I am free to sign-up new members. Hmmmm. Maybe that sign-up could require paying a $17 fee and result in an official club t-shirt? Or maybe not, since I don’t want to get into any trouble and I have enough things to manage and bring.

Regardless, it promises to be a good time! If you are on the fence, there is still time to register and join us!

Carlisle – it’s almost here!

In my last post on Carlisle, I mentioned that only two of the four cars for the indoor display had been confirmed. It now looks like all four cars are in place. The scheduling conflict with the owner of the 1992 Vibrant Red cleared and he can now bring his car. And, they asked me to bring my triple white in for the indoor display and I accepted the offer and submitted my application.

When I first learned they were still looking for a triple white, I have to admit that I considered offering mine. I did not originally go through with it because I wanted it to be with all of the cars that were joining the triplewhitefox.com group. I have spent a lot of time arranging this and encouraging others to attend and it only seemed right that I was on the show field with everyone else. I have been looking forward to the photo opportunities most of all. But, as the deadline neared, a fine example couldn’t be arranged so Mike Poore (who is coordinating the feature cars but, like me, is not officially affiliated with Carlisle) suggested that I submit mine. So, after a little thought, I did. Once I did, the Carlisle people stated that they had expected mine to be the indoor example all along?!

I couldn’t pass it up because I think this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It will definitely add to the history of my car. It is going to be a lot more work to get my car ready. My car is nice but I now feel that I need to take it to the next level in order to be of the same caliber as the other cars being displayed there. My general opinion on my car has been that it is nice but not the quality required for something like this. But, as with many things, I sometimes get obsessed with the little imperfections and it spoils the bigger picture. I’m sure my car will be just great there.

My wheels are definitely the weak point of my cars appearance. But, the good news is that I have a new set waiting to be installed. I just need to find tires since my current set is now 7 years old and, though they still have decent tread, I can’t see putting something that old on new wheels. So, I am in the process of locating something to replace them with. It’s a bit of a challenge to the purist in me since all of the OE options are now discontinued. I want to remain as close to original as possible so Goodyear Eagle F1’s are probably out of the question. I’ll post soon on what I have found regarding tires and what I ultimately go with. I have started a discussion thread on this topic to hear your suggestions.