President s Pit Stop... By Dan Nicewander

Transcription

1 SWMMC Monthly The Official Newsletter of the Southwest Metro Mustang Club The Twin Cities Mustang Club Of America Chapter April, 2017 President s Pit Stop... By Dan Nicewander Ahh spring the time when birds build nests, foxes have pups, lawns get dethatched, college students run off to Mexico for a week of well as parents we try not to you appreciate something you don t look at it so much as a job. Now that it s wiped down, if I didn t get to do a wax over the winter, I do that as well. But normally the detailing spray is all it needs to get it to the shine it deserves. think about that, and classic car lovers start the yearly ritual of getting their rides ready to go for the year. Most of us work hard to prep our Mustangs in the fall before we put them away for the long Minnesota winters, remembering the old John Wayne saying to never put your horse away wet. But regardless of what we do in the fall, there s always things to do once the cold breaks and the daylight starts to hang around a bit longer. This is the time that we get our first glimpse of what we convince ourselves is sure to be the greatest INSIDE THIS ISSUE President s Pit Stop 1 New Member Welcome 2 National Mustang Day 2 Our Car 2-5 Our New PA System Cruises Shows 6 Charity Update PL Auto Tech 6 Things That Make You Smile 6 Member s Rides 7 World of Wheels Wrap-up 7-8 Upcoming Grand National Show Northern Star National Show 9 Want Ads Club Calendar 10 Your Club Leadership Team 10 Next up is the oil. If you didn t change it in the fall, you should do so in the spring. I believe this is necessary regardless of miles. Yep, some of our cars only get a few hundred or a couple of thousand miles on them each year, but its still really cheap insurance. Now do you do it in the fall, prepping it for it s long winter s sleep, or do you do it in the spring ensuring that only fresh oil runs through its veins? There are pros and cons around each. So, what do you do? Maybe this would be a good club poll at some point. year yet for the season of driving our Mustangs. Even if we start our rides each month (I recommend it) or do some projects on them like many of us do, there s always the spring ritual when it becomes nice outside. There s the cleaning from the long stationary position they ve had to sit in all winter. Even using a cover, this is part of my yearly ritual before I do anything else. I spritz on the detailing spray and use fresh microfiber towels to wipe it off, gently pressing and following the form of the Mustang s body lines. One of the things I love about this work is that you get to know your car very well. It s like the farmer who walks his property, you see things and know what its supposed to look like. This is actually my favorite task as it brings you close to the fine lines the Mustang has regardless of the year. Our cars are art. Fine art. There s something about running your hands over Then the is the busy tasks. These are short, brainless but necessary tasks that are more time fillers than anything since you do them regularly throughout the year. The tire pressure gets checked, the other fluids are examined, recleaning the interior (another quick wipe down if you did it in the fall), a vacuum, and lastly the glass gets a good wipe down inside and out. Then you wait for Dan s rule of thumb 2 rainstorms. The first one washes the salt and crud off the roads, and the other cleans up what the first didn t get). No salt! The point of this is to ensure we re like boy scouts by being prepped and ready to go before the big day when we drive them out of the garage for the first time of the year. Because driving them is what they re made for and how we enjoy them! Here s hoping you re ready before the bends and shapes that brings it close to you. And, if Apple Ford Shakopee Sponsors the SWMMC 1624 Weston Court Shakopee, MN our club s dinner on April 17 th, National Mustang Day, at Buffalo Tap in Savage! Dan

2 Page 2 April 2017 Welcome to Our New Members! Bryce and Shelly Boelter New Ulm 2013 Mustang GT Donald Campbell Brooklyn Park 1994 Mustang GT Lucas and Charli Cropp Norwood Young America 1994 Mustang GT Jim Delamater Ellsworth 2010 Mustang GT Convertible Dan and Mallory Deckard Hudson 1993 GT / Cobra clone, 1971 Thunderbird Bob and Sharon Hatlestad Plymouth 2003 Mustang GT Richard Lyons Bell Plaine 2009 GT500 Steve and Renee Sommer Robbinsdale 2016 Mustang GT April 17th is National Mustang Day! Are you coming?!? Check out the calendar update you should have received and make plans now to join us at 5:30 for dinner at the Buffalo Tap, 4990 W 123rd St, in Savage. The plan is for everyone to drive there on their own, but we will have a special place to park our rides and will sit together. Food is on your own and off the menu. A few special NMD window decals are still available for $2! Even if you don t have your Mustang out yet or if the weather is poor, take this opportunity to come and have some fellowship with other club members! We hope to see you there! Our Car Interesting Mustang Tid-Bits In this month s installment of Our Car, we look at The Complete Fox Body Mustang Story as reported on foxstang.com. The fox body Mustang story had started in 75/76 with three design teams competing for having their designs slated for production. It was Jack Telnack s team that had won the privilege of turning their design to reality. Jack had brought the age of aerodynamics to Ford despite being warned against it with this new fox body Mustang. Despite being born into OPEC, high gas prices, fuel rationing and a crisis of confidence, the 3rd generation Mustang is still considered a very important piece of Mustang history. Special Models from Tuners & Dealerships: The early 80 s Fox body Mustang s factory engine options didn t inspire too much. From turbo 2.3 s to the under-powered 119HP 4.2L V8 in 80 and 81. Thankfully we saw the return of the 5.0 V8 in 1982 with the Mustang GT badge which has been in hiatus for a while. Ford s marketing team had used the slogan The Boss is back with the reintroduction of the GT. While Saleen was only ramping up, Summit Ford dealership had started selling a special edition Mustang called the Dominator GT and had three stages of modifications and a seriously beefed up 5.0L as an option. $20 yearly club dues are due! Have you paid yours yet? See our website if not it s easy to pay online or you can send us a check. Then a man named Tom Solomon had created another tuner Mustang with his 1983 Predator G.T. 302 which saw 8 sales in the first year and a substantial increase the following year with 130 units sold also saw the birth of the first Saleen Mustang. In the early-mid 80 s we saw things like the Predator GT302R and supercharged Saleens. Back in 1981, Ford created a division that would oversee the company s racing program and limited-edition street-legal vehicles with technology borrowed from the race vehicles and this was called Special Vehicle Operations, or better known as SVO. It was this team that created the 1984 SVO Mustang.

3 Page 3 April 2017 The SVO fox Mustang was REALLY ahead of its time. It had the aeronose way before 1987, it had a performance-based turbo engine way before the ecoboost Mustangs and it was geared for handling which no other Ford Mustang touted. At some point someone at Ford said Hey, we have a Mustang with no performance option! and asked Jim Clarke (father of the fox Mustang s 5.0 High Output) to put a revised small block Windsor back into the Mustang. They experimented with a marine cam and a 4-barrel cam for power but ended up using an old Ford Torino cam. The 5.0 HO saw some gradual improvements over the years like a dualsnorkel air filter, 4 barrel carb, Work on the 5.0 had stagnated at around 87 though. The 80 s saw some interesting cars like the Grand National s 245HP turbo six but the Mustang had been killing its arch-enemy the F-body Camaros and Firebirds through most of the 80 s and 90 s despite a less advanced chassis and suspension, Ford s lightweight fox body Mustang with the healthy 5.0 HO was really the car to beat. Up in Canada, another tuner Mustang was born in 1985 called DECH, a brainchild of Derek Hanson the Dech Mustang had a unique body kit and the custom built the fox Mustangs as per buyer s specifications. DECH soon dominated in S.C.C.A. road course events. Changes in Design: The Fox Body had a 15-year run and although Ford had some subtle changes over the years, most people divide the fox Mustang into two design categories. The 4 eye Mustang runs from 79 to 86, they call it the 4 eyed Mustang because of the four sealed beam headlights. The 2nd is referred to as the aeronose due to the 6 piece aerodynamic headlight design. Bringing Back the Horsepower Wars: The 80 s brought back the horsepower wars, awoken from a large-cubic-inch and low powered V8 engines of the 70 s. They were hyping the turbo 2.3 and Cologne 2.8L V6 so Ford didn t really speak much about the 5-liter V8 Mustang to 1981 featured the same egg-crate grill and introduced a whole new aerodynamic design to the Mustang brand a clear deviation from the heavier Mustang II saw a change in design with the new Mustang GT, featuring more aggressive front and rear spoilers and borrowing

4 Page 4 April 2017 the slat grill from the 79 Pace Car as well as a new forward facing hood scoop. In 1983 we saw the return of the convertible. The running horse hood emblem was replaced with the Ford oval logo. The 83 model year started with the taillights that wrapped closer to the license plate and a rounder more sleek nose. The 1985 model year featured a cleaner nose design, borrowed from the SVO with the simple clean single slot below the blue oval logo. Not to mention the beginning of the classic stainless dual exhaust tips on the LX models! The 1987 model year debuted the aeronose look for the fox body Mustang. The LX had a simple slot design with a small Ford oval logo. The GT versions had sculpted rocker panel skirts, cheese-grater taillights and a grill-delete up front. The 87 also had an entirely new interior, replacing the 70 s era dash with a then-modern plastic dash with an attached instrument cluster bezel. The same design ran from 87 to 93 although in 92, the LX received body-color moldings and in 91 the fox body Mustang got larger front fender wheel openings to accommodate the new 16 pony wheels. Inspiring a Whole New Generation and The Performance Aftermarket: Some say the rd gen Mustang really inspired the aftermarket performance parts industry. Being a lightweight, rear-wheel drive V8 powered compact car, the fox body Mustang was celebrated by many drag racers and street racers alike. Especially coming out of the oil embargo choked big blocks of the 70 s the fox Mustang was really a whole new lease on life in the performance world. Bringing back a small taste of that 60 s performance we all loved with factory low to mid 14 second quarter mile times out of the box (some got their stock no-option notchbacks into the high 13 s). Being a favorite by weekend warriors, the fox Mustang became the staple car of the performance industry. Which is why, 24 years later, the fox body is still a favorite for racing enthusiasts, even drift and in some cases road course. Today, more than ever, you can practically buy anything for your Mustang thanks to its popularity and success. The Probestang - Our Mustang s Close Call with Death: It wasn t always a pretty picture, we came very close to losing the Mustang brand when it almost became a front-wheel drive Mazda! If you think the Mustang II was bad!? Back in 85/86 Ford had some sort of brain damaging stroke and thought it would be a great idea to fix the slumping Mustang sales by replacing it with a FWD chassis jointly developed with Mazda. By 87 Ford had started to test the Probestang around Dearborn and the word got out about trashing the RWD Mustang for this FWD Mustang abomination. Thankfully the Mustang enthusiast community was very vocal about their outrage and pelted Ford with hundreds of thousands of letters

5 Page 5 April 2017 exclaiming they wouldn t stand a FWD Ford Mustang! Ford swallowed their pride and changed their strategy and the Ford Probe was born and planned to debut in The executives, still thinking the sporty FWD car will outsell the Mustang and pinned the Fox Mustang and the Probe to compete in showrooms and the results must have deflated their egos a bit. With the Mustang outselling the Probe by large margins. Thankfully that crises was averted and the Fox body continued to live strong to 1993 including some special edition SVT Cobras and Cobra R s produced. Even today in 2017, the Mustang brand is as powerful as ever and still a RWD platform. Jun 11 Albertville/Rogers, MN to tour Vescio s Customizing with side trip to Albertville Outlet Mall if desired Jun 24 Airfest & Autorama, Menomonie, WI Jul 29 Fountain City, WI to tour Elmer s Auto and Toy Museum New Club PA System! The club s new sound system is in and checked out! As our shows have grown, we have a found a growing need to be Aug 6 BBQ lunch at the Hoisington s Aug 12 Austin, MN to tour Spam Museum and/or Forestville Caves Sep 16 New Ulm, MN Tour Schell s Brewery 2017 Cruise Schedule: able to communicate over larger areas. With this new PA system, we ll be able to use it at all of our functions which needs sound. Come check it out at our All Ford Show in May! Apr 22 Miesville,MN for lunch at Kings Bar May 6-7 Clear Lake, IA to meet up with Unique Mustang Club and tour The Music Man Square Oct 8 Ellsworth WI, Vino in the Valley winery If you are interested in helping with the club s cruise leadership team, or just have some input on these or other cruises, please contact Dan at dan.nicewander@gmail.com

6 Page 6 April SWMMC Car Show Schedule: May 21st - 5 th Annual All Ford Show at Apple Ford Shakopee completed by mid-april. We are moving forward with the scholarship award process with the committee meeting with the school s guidance team mid-april. We ll pick a student who has participated in the Auto Tech program and is pursuing a degree in an auto related field (or engineering as a backup if none are going into the auto field). We will participate in the Scholarship Award Ceremony at the school in May which will allow us to get some good visibility for the club. We have also begun to work with them to have their students produce the trophies we ll use for our upcoming shows with the All Ford show the trial run. Finally, we are planning a couple of Tech Talks in their classes for this spring. Things That Make You Smile July 22 nd 3 rd Annual Mustangs & Ponies All Mustang Show at Canterbury August 19 th - 3 rd Annual American Muscle Car Show at AutoMotorPlex in Chanhassen September 10 th - 9/11 Remembrance & Honor Car Show at Lowe s Coon Rapids If you can help at any of our shows please contact our Show Directors Mike and Beth Fredrickson at freddie0105@hotmail.com Charity Update PLHS Auto Tech Work continues with Prior Lake High School as our charity partner. We have a banner being constructed by the school which will be hung in the auto shop area so the students can see it. We expect this to be

7 Page 7 April 2017 Member s Rides This month s Member s Rides comes from Steve and Renee Sommer and their 2016 GT. Steve writes: When I was growing up a neighbor that lived across the street would buy old Mustangs and fix them up. I thought the cars were so cool and he would let me hang around and help him work on them. When he was done fixing them up he would find If you would like to have your ride published in our newsletter, please send me a short write up and a picture or two! Dan dan.nicewander@gmail.com World Of Wheels Wrap-up Pete Schmidt lead the WoW efforts for SWMMC and he summarizes the effort and show: The SWMMC another Mustang that needed work he would buy it and then sell the one he had fixed up. From those days on I have always wanted a Mustang. helped the UMRSAAC set up and staff a 60' X 20' booth at the World of Wheels Show held at the US Bank Stadium March 17-20, Set up went Last fall I was at the Ford dealer getting the oil changed on Renee's Escape and on the show floor sat this beautiful blue Mustang GT. To me it was the right color inside and out, love at first sight. It even had the six-speed manual which is exactly what I would order. I thought about it long and hard but decided to pass on it back in October. When I returned to the dealership in February to service the Escape again my dream Mustang was still there! It was the only remaining new 2016 GT they had and the price was marked down to where I simply couldn't resist. I talked to Renee' about it when I got home and we decided it must be meant to be. I couldn't wait to get the car so I took the following Friday off of work and drove over and bought it! We put 300 miles on it that first weekend which just happened to be beautiful 50-degree weather in February in Minnesota! Steve well due to a great group of volunteers and some exceptional weather. The theme for the booth was a used car lot circa To that end, the three

8 Page 8 April 2017 Shelby Cobra replicas, 1965 Mustang fastback and 1963 Galaxie had painted windshields with date appropriate pricing. A Star Tribune newspaper The show was said to play host to about 180 total vehicles. Many very high end 6-figure builds were on displayed - likely many trailer queens. A number of local car clubs/organizations were on hand. I would say there were more GM and Mopar cars on the show floor than Fords. Some interesting vendors were on hand, a few of which showed interest in being part of the NSNMS. Seeing Cathrine Bach, Tom Wopat and Mark Martin were show highlights. classified section from August 1969 was on hand to provide some context. The nostalgic theme provided many opportunities to interact with show attendees. An SWMMC booth in 2018 may be a great way to expand the presence of Ford at the show and give the NSNMS a second exposure platform. It will be interesting to hear the Minnesota car enthusiast feedback on the show over the next month or two. And to see if the World of Wheels comes back in Friday and Saturday evenings were lightly attended, Sunday was steady, and Saturday was very busy from 10:00am to about 6:30pm. Information on the two clubs was provided along with flyers for all 2017 shows. A good number of people discussed the details on the Northern Star National Mustang Show and most showed interest. All five cars in the booth won awards at the show. A great showing for the UMRSAAC. It was great exposure to car enthusiasts for the $300 investment. Many thanks to Rolf Erickson for organizing the booth, and to all those that worked on designing, setting up, staffing, and tearing down the booth. Upcoming Grand National Show Just a reminder that The Mustang Club of Kansas City is hosting a Grand National Mustang Club of America show August 25-27, 2017 in Overland Park Kansas similar to what we will do in This would be a great way for any of us to experience what a national show is all about, and we encourage you to think about attending. There are

9 Page 9 April 2017 some of us who will be driving our Mustangs and others who are just driving down to make a weekend out of it to attend and help out at the show without our Mustang. This will be the closest MCA show for the 2017 season and a chance to see dozens of high end trailered Mustangs. d. If you re planning on going to KC, make your arrangements soon and let Pete Schmidt know at tk421tk421@mchsi.com so we can plan on getting together as a group at the show. See the following links for more info: mustangclubofgreaterkc.com/activities/2017- mca-grand-national/ or on Facebook at facebook.com/2017mcagrandnational/ 2019 Northern Star National Mustang Show one of the 3-4 national MCA shows in Would you like to get involved? We can use any and all talents! Contact the NSNMS Chairman Pete Schmidt know at tk421tk421@mchsi.com Want Ads Have something that has to do with Mustangs to sell, trade or give away? Shoot me the information and we ll get it into the newsletter. Dan at dan.nicewander@gmail.com FOR SALE: 1973 mustang convertible, 302, 3 speed manual, factory air, new top in 2015, garaged all its life, original Arizona car, interior original but cracked, 105k miles. Asking $16,000, car is located in Mora, MN. Call Rose at We have a very limited number of preview t-shirts that we ve had made which will be available sometime mid-april to Mid-May. We will have limited quantities and sizes, so these will be available on a first come basis. We will provide more details when available. Our show committees are beginning to meet, and they have started to plan some high-level details. This is a huge opportunity for our club to be recognized as a national entity, and quite the honor to be doing

10 Page 10 April 2017 SWMMC 2017 Calendar Your 2017 Club Leadership Team President - Dan Nicewander dan.nicewander@gmail.com Vice President - Chuck Buchanan cbuchanan51@hotmail.com Treasurer - David Kronk djkronk@gmail.com Secretary - Ron Broekemeier buzzrwb@yahoo.com MCA Reg Dir and NSNMS Chair - Pete Schmidt tk421tk421@mchsi.com Show Directors - Mike and Beth Fredrickson freddie0105@hotmail.com Cruise Director OPEN Are you interested? Content Design Jeff Matson