Ford Mustang GT

Retro Styling; Modern power

When the new Mustang came to market I was pleased to see that one of my favorite vehicles, the 1967 Mustang fastback, was making a comeback. I was the kid with a subscription to Mustang Magazine growing up. I always liked the fastbacks in orange or black with the American Racing Wheels. The 1967 Mustang came with a center consol air conditioner with four vents on it that looked a whole lot like the vents on the new A/C. The new black dash is squared off and looks very retro as does the satin aluminum paneling.

You have heard of MySpace? The Mustang GT has My Color. My Color is the ability to set the dashboard instrument cluster color to over 125 settings. The driver chooses between several combinations of Red, Green and Blue just like your computer monitor, very cool. Above the dash is that distinguishable hood bulging into view. It was calling me to jump behind the wheel of a GT painted in Screaming Yellow. By the way, my friends know that I love yellow sports cars; they call it Ben Racing Yellow. I could have just stood there and stared at that yellow GT but instead we gassed up and went for a drive. Bob Burnett from Maxwell Ford (5000 South I-35) jumped behind the wheel and headed out of the parking lot. We went on and off the access road to IH-35 to a spot Bob usually rides his 1000cc BMW motorcycle.

This was the kind of road they ran hooch on back in the days of prohibition and Bob and I felt a little bit younger as he buzzed down weary drivers in front of us with the 4.6L SOHC 3-valve V8 engine. Before I knew it the road was up and it was my turn. Bob didn’t know what he was in for. All I could see was Ben Racing Yellow. I blinked and still all I could see, think or feel was Ben Racing Yellow. I blinked a couple more times and punched it. The traction control was on overload and it worked brilliantly. This GT hugged every corner and the traction control kept all 300 hp steadily powering the 18” Polished-Aluminum Wheels with no spin. Growing up my brother had a 1986 Mustang GT 5.0 and that car would slide around any corner in front of it with pleasure but not with the control that this 2006 GT offers 20 years later.

We hit a number of turns at high speeds, well above the speed limit. I could see Bob grab for imaginary brakes and I just smiled and went faster. I had it up to 80 on the back roads over doubling the speed limit. There wasn’t really a point that I felt unsafe. While going 80mph I felt like I was traveling at 40mph. The fit and finish was above the previous years of the Mustang and with a 0-60 speed of 5.1 seconds, a quarter mile in 15.3 and a top speed on 143 you are looking at a whole lot of fun from an American automaker on the rise.

What is a Mustang GT without the pavement whizzing by at a great speed below it? I just wanted more roads and a Mustang GT of my own. I always felt like my brother’s GT was hot and ran fast 0–60s but this felt like a much more expensive sports car than the listed price for $28,000. If you are in the market for a sports car under $30K it is worth a spin if for nothing more than to get a kick out of scaring heck out of the car salesman.