Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply!
Crystal asks: You have driven lots of cars (I’ve been reading your reviews since the ’90s) and I’m wondering whether there are any you were personally tempted to buy? That would be a strong recommendation, which is why I’m interested. Love your stuff – thanks!
My reply: A few do stand out. One I will never forget was the ’95 Cobra R Mustang Ford let me play with for a whole week. For those not hip, this was probably the last race car you could buy and drive as a street car – if you had an SCCA road racing license, lots of cash and a friend inside Ford who could massage the paperwork for you.
I had something close – press credentials.
That got me a week in the R, which had almost nothing most people want and everything a guy like me desires.
It had no radio.
It had no AC. 
It didn’t even have back seats.
No power windows, either.
What it did have was the last of the 351 cubic inch (5.8 liter) small block Ford V8s ever factory installed in a new Mustang, with a hot cam and high-capacity injectors and tube headers whose heat you could feel through the uninsulated floorpans. A close-ratio five-speed Tremec manual transmission and a high-capacity fuel cell in the trunk, to give it legs for a non-stop 112 MPH (average) run up to New York City from the DC ‘Burbs one hot summer night.
If, like Cher, I could turn back time I would have sold a kidney or whatever else it took to buy that car – but I was not wise enough to do it and so allI have left are memories.
But they’ll do!
. . .
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Eric, where was this pic taken? By your current garage?
Morning, To5,
That pic was taken a long time ago, outside my parents’ house – back in the summer of ’95…
I didn’t see that one coming….why not the GT 40 or the a Saleen 351?
Eric, your story about that ‘Stang and spirited trip to NYC, as told in the piece you wrote about it a while back is something that’s lodged in my long-term memory! Maybe it’s good that you only had that car for a week though; Imagine the opportunities it would have created for the pigs to mess with ya….. I know with me, even if I had money to burn on a toy like that, I would refrain, ’cause it’s impossible to resist not taking advantage of it’s capabilities- and that can entail major consequences these days here in the gulag, though we’ve hurt no one. Seems to be their favorite way of interfering with decent average folks…..
Oh, and nice bow-wow in the pic! (Does that make it a “dog and pony show”? 😀 )
Thanks, Nunz!
That’s Porkchop in the pic – my lab/chow mix. She’s been gone almost 20 years now but I think of her every day and always will.
Aww, man, Eric. I had a lab/chow mix too! Candy- she’s been gone 3 years this month. 🙁 Same here..think of her every day- She had been a feral dog who had taken up residence on my neighbor’s place, and he was going to shoot her!!! I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and took her home with me. She only made it to 14.5 years- youngest I’ve ever lost a dog- and was still perfectly healthy in all other respects, but had developed internal bleeding (a leaking spleen or something, ‘ccording to the vet). Dogs and cats make life worth living!
Nunzio,
I had a ZRX 1100, which is a high performance motorcycle. I got rid of it because I got pulled over SEVEN TIMES that one summer! It’s a miracle I didn’t lose my license. Giving me the keys to a high performance vehicle is like giving a drunk the keys to the liquor store! So, I got rid of it, so as to remove the temptation…
I’d be the exact same way, MM. I’ll do 85-90 MPH on the way to the grocery store in my 3/4-ton trucks…. If I got a performance vehicle today…I’d be in jail, or dead, tomorrow. (Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m half blind too!)
Nunzio,
When I had my ZRX, if I saw a long, smooth stretch of pavement, I couldn’t help but give her the gas, and put the speedo in triple digit territory! Hell, that machine felt like it was a thoroughbred trotting along at 80. It went so fast, and did it so effortleslly. I don’t know HOW I kept my license with that thing…