Ronnie Posted March 12 Topic Author Share Posted March 12 16 hours ago, Ronnie said: I installed new Monroe shocks on the rear today. There was something I forgot to mention when I talked about replacing the rear shocks. To replace the rear shocks, you have to remove all the carpet panels inside the trunk to get at the nuts on to of the shocks. Getting the carpet out is actually harder than replacing the shocks. When I had the carpet out I looked up at area where the large rear speakers are mounted, and I saw a fairly large power amplifier mounted on each side of the trunk next to each speaker. After reading up on my Mustang's speaker system I found that there is another power amplifier, separate from the radio, mounted in the dash that powers the front speakers. This Mustang has a great sound system and I guess the amplifiers make it sound better than a standard radio. Although the radio sounds great, it uses all buttons to control all the functions of the radio. I like knobs to control a radio like my GMC truck has much better than all buttons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 About a year ago I sold the '88 Black pretty much at a loss to 2seater's son as I decided I was just going to drive the Red year round. But as we got closer to winter I just realized I couldn't do it so I started looking for the Regal I bought. As it turned out I could have waited a year because of my traveling and the unseasonably warm weather. But it didn't matter we have the money and I wanted a winter car and now I have a real nice looking winter car that I can drive us and another couple without driving a minivan. And my wife was all for it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 14 Topic Author Share Posted March 14 Did my first gas mileage check on the Mustang today. The tank holds 15.7 gallons. I filled it up when it was down between 1/4 tank and the empty marks. I had traveled 245 miles and it took 11.09 gallons to fill it up. That comes up to 22 miles per gallon. That's pretty good considering none of it was on the interstate highway. I'm very happy with that. Gary said to expect 15-17 miles per gallon. I may have babied it a little more than I normally would but it's good to know it's capable if getting mileage that good. That's about what I usually got with my Reatta driving the same roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 14 hours ago, Ronnie said: Did my first gas mileage check on the Mustang today. The tank holds 15.7 gallons. I filled it up when it was down between 1/4 tank and the empty marks. I had traveled 245 miles and it took 11.09 gallons to fill it up. That comes up to 22 miles per gallon. That's pretty good considering none of it was on the interstate highway. I'm very happy with that. Gary said to expect 15-17 miles per gallon. I may have babied it a little more than I normally would but it's good to know it's capable if getting mileage that good. That's about what I usually got with my Reatta driving the same roads. BUT REMEMBER, Ronnie, you didn't buy the Mustang for the gas milage...you bought it to whip around the mountain roads and blow its doors off on the highway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 15 Topic Author Share Posted March 15 3 hours ago, ship said: BUT REMEMBER, Ronnie, you didn't buy the Mustang for the gas milage...you bought it to whip around the mountain roads and blow its doors off on the highway! Right you are! For this car it won't be as much about miles per gallon as much as smiles per mile. 🙂 That extra 100 horses under the hood will make up for less MPG when it comes to smiles per mile. When going up long hills at slower speeds the Reatta would unlock the converter or downshift to maintain speed, the Mustang just powers up them with ease. I like really that. I drove it about 40 miles yesterday. I love driving it on curvy backroads. I handles better than my Reatta did, but I must admit, I sorta miss the smoother ride of the Reatta on rough pavement. The Mustang has more road noise on rougher pavement but it's smooth as silk on smooth roads. It has a stiffer suspension and shocks. I have got use to the louder exhaust note and I've actually got to where I don't even notice it. Maybe I will get use to the way it rides and won't notice it either once the new wears off and I stop paying attention to it. Overall, I think the Mustang was a good choice for me as a car to replace my Reatta. The photo below is is still the screensaver on my computer. Every time I look at it I miss my Reatta. The Reatta was a beautiful car, better looking than the Mustang, I owned my Reatta for 15 years, the longest I've owned any car. I still feel it was time for it to go and move on to something else. Change is good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 How you keep your foot out of it, I cannot fathom😁 I know this may not be desirable, or even possible, but going to a smaller wheel with more rubber height would likely help the ride quality. Many things enter that calculation, looks, size of the brakes, handling, etc...but it may be worth an experiment? Another unsolicited opinion: I saw a similar Mustang drive by while I was at breakfast this morning. It was red with that lower side stripe in white. I think there is something about that stripe, even though nostalgic, that just doesn't look straight? It has the feel that it was applied as several short sections that almost line up, but not quite. Of course it is just my opinion, but to me, a small stripe should be used to enhance the body line, sort of in the pinstripe category, not as a standalone without the heft needed to be a feature. Again, just my narrow view of things🥴 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 15 Topic Author Share Posted March 15 I guess I just got use to the Reatta so it actually seems normal for me to ignore the extra power the Mustang has. It has took me a while to get use to mashing on the gas pedal the way I normally did in the Reatta when pulling away from a top sign or red light. Where the Reatta would pull away normally, the Mustang tends to jump with the same amount of pedal pressure. I've only got on the Mustang hard once. I was at a stop sign on a straight road where no one was around. I mashed the gas pedal about 3/4 the way to the floor and the tires started spinning. I let off and it shifted to second at about 4000 RPM. That is all I needed to know to tell me it had enough power to suite me. 🙂 The only other time it has saw 4000 is when I decided to move the shifter from overdrive to drive like you can do in a Reatta. Little did I know that when you pull the Mustang shifter back one notch that you go into second gear. haha. There is a button on the side of the shifter to take it out of overdrive but I wasn't aware of that at the time. Ford does things a little different from GM and I learned about the button on the shifter the hard way. 🙂 I've given some thought about a taller sidewall tire making the ride better but to keep the same tire diameter tires and speedometer reading I would have to go to 16" wheels. Some similar year Mustang GTs came with 16" wheels. I had a set of them on my Reatta for a while. I just hate to get new tires when the ones on the Mustang have less than 6000 miles on them. Below is the Mustang wheels I had on my Reatta. They aren't chrome but I spent a lot of time polishing them to look like chrome. I wish I still had them. I think they would look good on my Mustang. I'm starting to agree with you on the side stripe after seeing a Mustang on the road that had one. I'm thinking now that since the Mustang is stock like it came for the factory I might just keep it as is, maybe including the wheels, just to keep it original. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 I still think you should put flames on it!! At least ghost flames!! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 16 Topic Author Share Posted March 16 When you look at the photo below I took recently, and compare it to the photo above I took of my Reatta a few years ago, it is clear to me the Reatta is the best looking car. I think a Reatta body on a mustang chassis would be the ideal car for me. I took this photo at the graveyard while I was checking to see if anyone had stolen my grave plots. Never know when your going to need them at my age with my health issues, 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 47 minutes ago, Ronnie said: ......I was checking to see if anyone had stolen my grave plots. Never know when your going to need them at my age with my health issues, 😁 I remember back in the late sixties, my dad bought 2 plots in a local graveyard near where we lived. There were 5 of us in the family. He said, "the first two to die get to be buried in those plots. The rest of you are on your own". What a joker. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 16 Topic Author Share Posted March 16 The wheels on my 1999 Mustang are the optional 17" wheels. Ford didn't offer a polished wheel as an option for Mustangs in 1999. In 1998 the optional 17" wheels, shown below, were polished. I like the '98 17" optional polished wheels much better than mine. Maybe they wouldn't be too hard to find. Think they would look good on my Mustang? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 I do like your old wheels. The ones you had on the Reatta. I also like the ones you are considering above. I am a bit surprised they didn't have a more bling or eye catching wheel on a special edition. You are right that the overall appearance is pretty vanilla, so it is somewhat a blank canvas. It really boils down to the image you have in your own mind; boy racer, personal luxury coupe, old guy elegance. 😁 I think you will know when you see them. Maybe you can get Foose to design something for you alone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 I think a mural or maybe script of some sort like "Devil's Carriage"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 17 Topic Author Share Posted March 17 10 hours ago, ship said: I remember back in the late sixties, my dad bought 2 plots in a local graveyard near where we lived. There were 5 of us in the family. He said, "the first two to die get to be buried in those plots. The rest of you are on your own". What a joker. I have four plots in the graveyard where I took the photo of my Mustang. It's where my wife's family is buried. I bought two extra plots so my daughter, and maybe a husband if she gets one, could be buried beside us. I always joke that it's the most expensive property I ever bought if you price it by the square foot. 🙂 I already had 3 plots in the graveyard where my father and mother are buried but my wife wants to be buried near her family. I told my wife and daughter they can do whatever they want with me after I'm gone. Burial, cremation or location doesn't matter to me. After I'm gone I'm not going to complain about what they decide to do with me. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Tell them you want the Mustang in the plot next to you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 20 Topic Author Share Posted March 20 On 3/16/2024 at 5:57 PM, 2seater said: It really boils down to the image you have in your own mind; boy racer, personal luxury coupe, old guy elegance. Boy racer isn't for me anymore. I think turning a Mustang into a personal luxury coupe would be quite a stretch. So I guess I will go for door number 3, old guy elegance. I might just stick with the plain vanilla theme and keep the stock wheels since everything else is stock. I have no intention of changing it by making a lot of mods. Unlike the Reatta, there aren't many mods I want to do to it. It already has most of the mods I wanted to do to the Reatta to make it my own. I'll probably just drive it and enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 how about just installing "Mustang" labeled mud flaps, likely in black. I think they would give it a good look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 21 Topic Author Share Posted March 21 54 minutes ago, ship said: how about just installing "Mustang" labeled mud flaps, likely in black. I think they would give it a good look. About the only mud flaps you see in TN are on big trucks. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 I put "Buick" mud flaps on my Reatta when I originally bought it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Kendall my automotive mechanic buddy put them on both his GTO and Road Runner... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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