Have S1N197 Mustangs reached “that” stage?

Today I saw my first S197 Mustang all ”done” in gray primer.  I remember when Fox bodies hit that stage. . .

a beater GT would be hooligan fun.   Or maybe a rough is cylinder for the RWD ice race class .

Edit: *reached

Darn iPad keyboard.  

They're up to 15 years old now, so they should be well depreciated. I like the look of them and would consider one for driver/beater status.

Been shopping these for awhile. 4.0 V6 cars are dirt cheap, 3.7 V6 start at 10k for a nice one. Not many coyotes under 18k unless it a high mileage auto. 4.6 cars are all over the map, but not cheap.

4.0 V6 cars are cheap as chips. Under $5k easy to find. A manual transmission makes them nearly impossible to sell which is good for us.

Chassis is all the same with the GT so accepts all the goodies. Biggest downsides are the one-wheel-peel rear (swappable) and the cheesy driveshaft that is speed limited to about 115 mph.

3v GT's aren't expensive either, mostly in the $7-10 grand range. The advent of the Coyote engine really trimmed down their desirability. Still a rock solid car you can have a ton of fun with.

Yes they are, there is a few people drift local. It's currently the easy button. 

in March of this year, a 2010 and older could be had for under 10k (manual v8), then prices went nuts. 

I was looking at 2011-2014 cars and seeing 15k to 25k for 50 to 60k mile coyote cars... now 25k is a high mileage 2012... It's beyond belief. 

(I moved for my company this summer and it messed up all my toy car plans.)

This is all good news to me as I own an 08GT 5MT that just turned 30k this summer.  

Cams, exhaust and a tune brought mine to 320 hp at the wheels.  The intake made a noticeable seat of the pants difference in the upper rpm but I don't feel was worth it for the loss from 3-4500rpm.  My point is these 3V motors have room to grow and they sound great uncorked.  You can get real close to 400hp NA, enough to have fun with, or boost one to 450-500 and hope for the best.

I feel like this is an opportunity to plug my Budget Track Beater build.

I took a bone stock 2007 V6 and had it on track for $6700 total including the price of the car.  I have a whole series on Youtube.

The title of this thread is driving my OCD nuts. It's S197. 

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

Ugh.  Sorry.  Someone fized my earlier goof in the thread title.  Maybe that someone can fix it again . . .