2007 Ford Mustang GT - 1967 Called and they Want their Hurst Shifter Back

Ford went retro with their Mustang back in 1994 with their so called "SN95" model and while a big hit for Ford, I was never impressed with it. Whereas what came before it was quite awesome, thank you very much, even if it was in a most brutal, raw and primitive kind of way. My insightful, car crazy 21-year-old son feels the same way so I know I was onto something. A freshening for 1999 got rid of a lot the SN95's awkwardness but it still rode on the same flinty Fox body; no amount of horsepower being able to overcome a chassis that came out in the late 1970s. My perception of the Mustang changed completely when Ford introduced a new model for 2005 based loosely on the same chassis that underpinned the 2000-2006 Lincoln LS, 2002-2005 Ford Thunderbird, and 2000-2008 Jaguar S-Type. Our subject here is a 2007 GT that's been for sale for over seven months at a Chevrolet dealership near my home here in Cleveland's west side.

I've had my eye on this since June and I've seen them drop the price an astonishing $4,000. Incredible. Amazing too considering that it has just 23,000 miles on it and with it advertised on the internet, you'd think someone would swoop in from out of town and grab it; especially considering that it's priced thousands less than comparable Mustang GT's of this vintage. For weeks now I've been yelling to my wife that "they dropped the price again on the Mustang" and she'd yell back that I needed to go to  the dealership and see what the story was. Last weekend with that car crazy 21-year-old son of ours home from school on Christmas break, he and I finally did just that.

 

Months ago I called about this car and the story went that someone traded this in for a Jeep Wrangler; they had no idea if that person was the original owner or if they were responsible for the after market Hurst shifter. Excuse me, 1967 called and they want their aftermarket shift kit back. Yeah, this was an eye brow raiser - why would someone swap out a perfectly good stock shifter? 

I'm glad they did because that unique Hurst knob does do wonders to dress up what's already a very handsome interior; red leather buckets to die for.  

Out on the road test, it was apparent that Ford dialed out a ton of the refinement the Lincoln and Jaguar built on this chassis had. This thing is harsh and jarring by comparison. Some people like that but you don't have to be a professional driver to appreciate how far along the state of the art these cars have come in the last decade or so. This car felt primitive and old school and not in a good way.

There's also a funky three valve per cylinder 4.6 liter, overhead cam V-8 under the hood that makes 300 horsepower. Sounds impressive but this is a pretty heavy car and keep in mind, Ford's latest Ecoboost 4-cylinder cranks out 310 horsepower. This car also lacks the off the line punch of a GM "LS", and I've heard horror stoires about these engines as they get older. Was this car fast? I guess - at least in comparison to the 200 horsepower, 1996 V-6 Camaro we drove to the dealership in but compared to a "modern" Mustang 4 or six cylinder, this thing's a brick. And I'm not even going to go there comparing this GT to a late model "5.0".

After I finished my spirited test drive, oh, don't get me wrong, this car's a blast to drive and I loved the notchy Hurst shifter, I asked my kind sales person how much they were asking for the 2016 "Ecoboost" Mustang that was parked two cars away. At 18 grand, it wasn't priced any more than what they wanted for this car when they first listed it. While it had slightly more miles on it and was "only" a four-cylinder, it could run circles around this car and, subjectively, it's a better-looking automobile. Also, I could get the balance of the remaining factory warranty and get an extended warranty for peanuts. They wouldn't even sell me an extended warranty on this car.

So, all that taken into consideration it's no wonder this has been sitting for so long.