New GT350

Yeah, I like the car but that particular sound just isn't for me. I prefer the all American tone 5.0 in the regular GT.
Too bad you can't get the mag-ride suspension in the regular GT as $6,500 option. All in all, a track-pack car would be more than adequate, plus our roads suck so bad that I need the extra ground clearance to get in and out of parking lots. I hope to see this in the wild at track days in 2016.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

jv8 wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Ford priced the GT at around $150K, they made a lot of them, over 5,000. I do not see them as having controlled or restricted the market or sales. They were building them faster than Ferrari or Porsche were building the closest competitors. I honestly don't know what the # of GT350's or new Ford GT will be, but at least with the GT 350 I bet it will be like the GT500. Once we are passed six months or so and the initial demand has been satisfied I bet there will be no issue getting them without mark up, I bet you wont find A plan on them though.

So assuming in 6 months you can get a GT350 for MSRP... what's the guess on how the depreciation curve will run from there? Similar to Boss 302?

I doubt I'll ever get one. But as far as depreciation goes I'd guess similar to the Boss 302 or GT500. The Boss was an two year only vehicle so far more rare then the GT500. They made the S197 GT 500 from 07 - 14 starting at 'onl' 500hp and climbing to 662 by the end. They made a shed load of them which would normally hurt resale, but damn they are strong. In 07 the coupe retailed for $41,950 and the convertible for $47,800. Today 07 coupes are still $25-35K cars with a few outliers on the bottom end and many nut job's wanting $50K for them. So they've really only depreciated 20-40% in 7-8 years. With the convertible it's much the same with only 20-40% depreciation, I've even seen some crack monkey asking $80 for one!

So if the resale is that strong on a Shelby... If you have an extra $20K laying around to store in a vehicle it starts to make a $50K vehicle sound sane compared to a $30K base model w/ a few options. You'll get the extra returned on the back end and in the meantime you're driving a GT350 instead of an ecoboost.

I wouldn't normally consider a $50K run-of-the-mill vehicle but this sounds like an almost acceptable deal.

tuna55 wrote: Wow. It's incredible that cars like the Z28 and this exist these days. Just think that in 2003 it was reasonable to outperform that Cobra with a stock Mustang and the aftermarket, even without spending a ton. In 1993 it was -easy- to outperform the OEM with the aftermarket. In 1983 it was ridiculous. With these, though, it's going to take some doing to outdo them with the base model without giving up something major.

For decades I would buy the cheapest model and then mod & tune up past the factory specials. However, the mods killed the resale and I would usually reverse them before sale. Plus there was all the time investment. Now that I'm middle aged with more money and less time... and the factory special editions look better - what say you? Valid way to go? Or would you still buy a slightly used and mod it? My friend is trying to convince me the latter (used + mods) is the way to go. I dunno. My last experience with a niche speciality vehicle has me leaning that way. I don't see much opportunity lost storing capital in a vehicle. Interest rates are really low and the stock market has been pumped up... Might as well store capital in a GT350...

Money aside, buy three:

Car 1. Store away undriven

Car 2. Daily driver

Car 3. Mod the heck out of it and make it a track car

20 yrs from now, sell Car 1 for 10x the buying price.

kb58 wrote: Money aside, buy three: Car 1. Store away undriven Car 2. Daily driver Car 3. Mod the heck out of it and make it a track car 20 yrs from now, sell Car 1 for 10x the buying price.

1. GT350R

2. GT350

3. GT350R or Body in White and do it right

I keep looking at the Boss 302 LS versions. There is one sitting not to far from me for $43K that I honestly think will not depreciate much more. It's the pinnacle of that generation and I think if kept clean will be a collectible that you can drive today.

The mod or not thing really depends on the car. There are certain cars that the factory doesn't really offer to a level that I wouldn't want to mod it at least a little bit, the FR-S for example. There are other cars, like my CTS-V that I don't feel any need at all to mod, not even a little bit. A 'regular' Mustang would get the mod stick from me, a GT350R would just get driven. I could be happy with either one, but as an old man, the prospect of just driving something awesome appeals more and more to me.

kb58 wrote: Money aside, buy three: Car 1. Store away undriven Car 2. Daily driver Car 3. Mod the heck out of it and make it a track car 20 yrs from now, sell Car 1 for 10x the buying price.

Well sure... But my question is whether Car 2 will cost less in overall deprecation vs buying a lower model and modifying. For example I had a friend buy a $25K 2004 WRX then throw mods at it and the whole package depreciated to almost nothing over 10 years. He could have bought a $32K STi and kept it close to stock and still had $15K in resale after a decade. Which car cost more?

I agree you're not going to lose much if anything on the Boss 302 LS. Plus you get to enjoy a kick ass car in the meantime. It's definitely on my radar.

Exactly JV8. I'm at the point now that the house will be paid off in 3 year I've got 25 years to retirement and my wife and I are DINK's. I've done the buy cheaper and mod route before too and if I would have saved up that money, I would have been much higher up the car chain now.

We rented this for a week in california and loved it:

Maybe when I'm in Dallas next weekend I should pick up this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Mustang-Boss-302-Laguna-Seca-/371411541203?forcerrptr=true&hash=item5679da5cd3&item=371411541203

mazdeuce wrote: I could be happy with either one, but as an old man, the prospect of just driving something awesome appeals more and more to me.

That's my line of thinking. Other than tires, I wouldn't touch the car other than maintenance. I have a small fleet of other cars I can modify to my hearts content.

Ok... where is JG's "teaser review" after the introduction event?