Who out there has or has seen Mustangs with 200K+ miles? Also are there any folks who have reached 200K miles from brand new? I always said when I buy my new stang, whenever that day may be, I'll keep it forever. Currently though, I drive a 99 V6 with 269K on the body, the motor was replaced and has to have around 150 to 160. Love my car, been through so much. Any other stories?
Mine has 209,646.9 miles on it as of my return home from work about a half of an hour ago.
I'm not the original owner. I think I'm something like owner number four or five.
I saw the car advertised on the Internet by a Jeep dealer in the nearest big city to me. The "Internet Special" asking price was $3,995. I thought that was a lot for a '99 with 196K on it. But, I paid the dealership a visit, anyhow.
When I got there, the salesdood asked me if I was looking for something in particular and I showed him the Internet ad I responded to. The car wasn't there. In was in some mysterious "off site" location. But, they'd fetch it for me, if I was serious. I was, so they fetched it. Now, I had arrived there on a Saturday at 1:00 PM. That's "primetime" for selling cars in my corner of the world. But this car that they had advertised wasn't even on the lot. That told me that when Tuesday rolled around, that sucker was going to auction. They'd already had it for three months.
On the test drive, the old bucket of bolts was the quickest New Edge I had driven while appearing to be the most unloved. Test drive over, salesdood asked me if I wanted to "go in the box." I said, "Hell, yeah," and when we got in his little cubicle, I told him to tell his desk that I'd give him $1,200 in cash for the thing. Salesdood said he couldn't do that. I got up out of my seat and started for the front door. It turned out that salesdood COULD go tell the desk what my offer was. Desk came back with $2,700.00 saying he wouldn't go lower because the car had a rebuilt engine at 160K. I told the desk to come back with with some proof that the car had a rebuilt engine in it and I'd give him a counter offer. Desk didn't have that paperwork. My original offer stood. Desk said "no way" and came back with $2,200.00. I said "Have a nice day and good luck at the auction on Tuesday."
My now ex-wife was with me for this deal and she about screwed the whole thing up when they came back with $2,200.00. I told her that if she like the thing that much, she could pay $2,200.00 for it but I was taking myself, my business, and my cash elsewhere.
In the end, I got the got the car for $1,200.00.
It was an 80 mile trip from the dealership to my home. I stopped at a truck scale on the way and weighed the car. It scaled at 3,070 pounds. A few days later, I drove it another 80 or so miles to my nearest drag strip. I made a few passes with it, and it ran around 15.8, which is about what a car at that weight putting 155-160ish horsepower to the ground should do, according to math. The drivetrain definitely seemed healthy enough.
Underneath the grime and crusty crud of neglect was a pristine interior. It took a massive douching to reveal it, though.
Under the spare tire, along with hair scrunchies, tampons, un-used diapers, empty mascara tubes, and mis-matched toddler socks, there was a pile of paperwork.
In that paperwork was a towing bill to a Ford dealer. Along with that was a receipt for diagnostics and an estimate. Then, there was some warranty claim paperwork. A chain of evidence, suggesting that someone tried to start a hydrolocked engine and destroyed it, requiring a replacement at 167,000 miles.
One big mystery to me was why my car had an 8.8 rear end in it when I bought it. (It doesn't now. It now has a 7.5 with 3.73 gears and an Auburn limited-slip). The answer was in the pile of papers under the spare tire. First owner had some kind of on-going complaint about weird noise from the rear end. The car got a new 8.8 3.27 geared, limited-slip equipped rear axle as a warranty repair. I have that axle in case I decide to go forced induction. I put an overhauled and modded 7.5 back in to reduce unsprung weight and improve handling. That was the theory, anyhow.
I daily drive my '99 and run it on a nearby road racing course on open track days. It might suck as a "Muscle Car," but as something to grab-ass Porsche 944's and Subaru BRZ's with, it's been the bargain of the century. Hands down, it's my favorite hobby car of any I've had, even though it doesn't do anything great and isn't the easiest thing in the world to haul ass around a road racing course in. I've had two Mustangs previously: a '66 GT and a '92 LX 5.0. And a Corvette.... And a GTA Trans Am... And some British roadster junk here and there. My last play toy car was a Porsche 924S which is a 944 drivetrain with closer-ratio transaxle in the lighter and more aerodynamic 924 body shell. That's what my 99 V6 was meant to replace. I guess I like my Mustang so much because, although it doesn't do anything great, i.e., it isn't the best handling (Porsche for the win, there) or the easiest thing to set good lap times in (Porsche and GTA Trans Am in a two-way tie), or the quickest (AAR 'Cuda and LX 5.0 in a 13.75 second tie), it is quick enough, handles well enough, is a hell of a lot of fun on the track because of its Fox-Based Mustang handling quirks that remain present and accounted for, it is comfortable enough, roomy enough, gets good enough fuel economy.....
When I bought my Mustang, my goal was to find a New Edge to build a sports car out of and if I didn't find one by some arbitrary date I had selected, I was going to give up and buy a new Subaru BRZ.
The way it turned out, I think I have a lot more fun than I would have had with a BRZ and I have it for less that what you might expect to pay for a brand new golf cart. I'll never get rid of it, unless I wreck it beyond repair. If that happens, I'll have another V6 New Edge to replace it, but I'll never be without one, going forward.