My husband and I were both raised Chevy… But just recently, we bought a 1999 Ford Mustang GT. She’s had some weight reduction and exhaust work done. shes loud and fast. I smile everytime we drive her. I can’t get enough… Anyone else have this “problem”? LOL Tell me your Chevy/Ford stories!
I was raised Chevy. Owned and drove Chevy for a couple decades.
Now it’s Toyota…never looked back. Best decision I’ve ever made.
I was raised within the GM family. I worked for GM right out of college. Our first new car after graduation was a Pontiac. It was the most unreliable car we’ve ever owned. We sold it after 30 months and bought a Mercury, then a Ford, then another Ford.
GM divorced my division and it became part of Delphi. Delphi filed for bankruptcy and I fled to better opportunities. GM filed for bankruptcy and as a result my salaried friends and family’s pensions got screwed - I escaped.
My screen name and avatar says it all.
Edit: You might consider upgrading to a 2005 or later Mustang. They are a big step forward over your '99. If you want big power, chose a 2011 or later with the 420 hp 5.0 V8.
My parents bought what they could afford at the time. They owned 2 Chevrolets, three Dodges, a DeSoto, an Oldsmobile, four Buicks, two Ramblers, a Studebaker, and finally a Mercury Sable. These cars spanned the years from 1938 to 1993. I don’t have any loyalty to any brand. Right now we own a Toyota 4Runner and a Toyota Sienna. I need a minivan, and the Toyota dealer gave us a good price. I was just as satisfied with the Ford Aerostar, Ford Windstar, and Chevrolet Uplander that I owned before. However, Ford and GM quit making minivans and I have never been able to work a deal with our Chrysler dealer.
If I could have the car I want, it would be a 1960 Austin Healey bug-eyed Sprite. Side curtains are great. Crank operated windows and certainly power windows are for wimps. High horsepower is also for wimps. Making maximum use of the gears with a 50 hp engine to keep up with traffic is fun. Driving curving hilly roads with a good handling car is fun.
With today’s cars, and particularly minivans, if you’ve driven one of them, you’ve driven them all.
I was raised Mopar and even took my driver’s test in a '59 Plymouth Sport Fury back in the 60s. Also owned 4 Mopars myself over the years.
My daughter has a 2005 Mustang with 220k miles on it. It still looks/drives like new and needs no oil between changes.
She kept the Mustang but did veer off a bit a couple of years ago and bought a Challenger R/T with the Hemi in Sublime Green. Says she never loses it in the parking lot…
We were a diverse family. Had Chevy, Ford, Mercury, Studebaker, Plymouth, Dodge, and maybe I missed a few. The car I like the most but had the most trouble with was Mercury. The car that I liked the least but had the least trouble was Plymouth (except after 78). I’ve bought mainly GM with good luck but also Acura and a Lincoln. Never owned a Ford myself. Now actually Ford has me concerned with their engine and rust issues. I remain concerned with Turbo 4’s, direct injection, CVT’s and so on so I think maybe all the old stereotypes are out the window.
Toyota’s are pretty reliable from what I have heard. I read some of the history of Toyoda today. interesting stuff.
My family was never loyal to any brand. My father was a civil engineer, and he admired older cars, particularly Checker cabs and the slant-six Dodge Dart, but we owned Fords and Chevys too. His first new car was a Ford Econoline van.
Ironically, my father’s brothers are all Ford fans.
All of the vehicles I’ve bought, rather than inherited, have been Hondas: One 1998 Civic and three motorcycles.
…but my next vehicle probably won’t be another Honda. I’m considering a Nissan or a Toyota.
Mustangman, Good thing you are a smart guy and got out when you did. Is that your mustang in your photo? We have talked about other mustang options. We have the 4.6 V8. Hopefully it won’t happen right away, but we plan to rebuild the engine when that time comes. We just replaced the controls arms (that was a fun date night). We plan to keep her for a long, long time. We also have a 98 Volvo C70, and a 2005 Audi A4. Then we have the dead beat dodge sitting in my drive.
Your parents have had their share of cars! Some names I had to look up (I am a newb-ish car enthusiast). The car you want, the 1960 Austin Healey Sprite is a pretty dope looking car (Yes, I had to look that one up too.)
You knew how to take your drivers test in style!! I first heard the name Mopar only a few months ago. I used to be really into Dodge Challengers. The look of them anyway. I don’t notice them as much now though. That bright green would be hard to miss. Happy she kept the Pony. Your daughter inherited good taste.
I’d be a little careful with Nissan with a near 95% profit plunge and staff cuts.
Thanks for the reply, Bing. What did you like about the Mercury? What major issues did you have with it? I had an Oldsmobile once that caught on fire while it was parked and turned off (electrical fire due to radio wiring is what I was told).
I probably doesn’t have much to say in my defense, but…
I was born and raised on Morris Minors and haven’t recovered since.
Actually, the -60 A Healey Sprite (bugeye) shares quite a bit of components with a Minor. Can I use that in my defense?
I have seen some fast Hondas. They sound sexy too. Never owned one though. I wanted a Nissan Altima for a long time, but my taste has changed. Now I kind of want a 2005 Mazda 6, or a 1980’s hearse.Maybe a low Chevy truck…or a motorcyle. Goals, Goals, GOALS! I have heard from toyota owners that Toyotas are easy to work on if you do your own maintenance and repairs. Good forever running cars if treated well.
Yup, my 2013 GT.
I don’t think the time will come very soon for your 4.6 liter 2-valve V8. They are known to run for a very long time. Same engine as used in the Crown Vickie police cars and they run for 400K or more. It was near the end of development for that Mustang chassis so they got it as good as it was going to get. At least if you want a bit more power in your 2-valve, there are quite a few performance parts available.
The S197 2005 chassis is just worlds better than the earlier SN95 chassis cars. The 4.6L V8 in those years are 3-valve engines is pretty good, too.
Hey, you found something that you like. Nothing wrong with that. What do you like about them? I haven’t ever heard of Morris Minors before. Had to look that one up too.
‘Chevie Kehoe was born in 1973 and named after his father’s favorite car, the Chevrolet.’
Hmm, had to think there. What do I like about them?
In short.
It’s very, very simple to work on - should it need something. A hairpin and a broken hammershaft and you can do the most. Reliability (YES, @bing, I wrote reliability), An extremely sturdy body, cheap parts and you can get almost everything, cheap on gas, though if not modified you need to use a lead additive, you can get mods gallore and in good quality to make it a very funny car and I like it’s body shape.
My pick-up is still doing around 12k miles a year and I’m probably spending less than 150 bucks on service and maintenance a year.
Il’l better stop here.
I can relate to that tale. One of our vanpool rider’s dad retired from GM. She told the horror tale that retired people had their pension cut. On an unrelated note, the chairman got a (I think it was) $22M bonus that year.
I stopped buying GM after 1980. They knew they had safety issues, but it was cheaper to buy a Senator and lawyers. My new '80 was the worse nightmare ever. Rotors warped in 2K miles. They turned them instead of fixing them properly, though I argued. “This is GM’s repair, if they fail again, bring it back.” Failed at 6 months, 5K on the car. “We fixed them, you didn’t bring it back w/in 30 days.” The paint was flaking off the roof due to repaint w/o sanding. “Oh we don’t repaint new cars, must have been the factory.” “Oh, we don’t repaint at the factory, had to be the dealer.” With our Senator in their pocket, they didn’t have a representative in the NW for 7 years. Contact the Senator and he refuses to hear complaints about GM, but did put tariffs on Japanese imports. Then there were niggling little things like controls falling apart, etc etc. Oh, and had to park it in the shop with windows open for 2 or 3 months because of the horrible off-gassing. It’d fog the windshield in 3 weeks bad enough you couldn’t see clearly… not to mention making me sick.
I think I put about 10K on the car. I had to give up riding in the vanpool when they switched to GM… the GM stink gets to me, with sore throat and headaches, after all these years.