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For Those of US That Are Buying From a Small Ford Dealer---I Had a REVELATION...

ChuckXX

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For those of us that have ordered our new 2020 Shelby GT 500's from a real small Ford Dealer I had a revelation after watching both of Speed Phenoms 2 videos. Plus the dealers video as well. Most small town Ford Dealers probably do not spend much time working on these very high end and complicated cars. Now having said that and again after watching Speed Phenoms videos on the following items: Installation of the "Catch Can/Oil Separator", installation of the "Wicker Splitters", taking off the "Rain Tray" etc etc. I thought to myself I bet their tech at the small town Ford Dealer might want to watch those videos and get some updated training on how to work on this car. And lastly when the Lead Ford Salesman said "I want to make sure they remove the "Suspension Blocks" it truly hit me like a Sledge Hammer that they need to study up on this car or it could be a DISASTER. My educated guess is that they rarely if ever even sell a Shelby GT 500 and Iam also guessing that this car is "WAY WAY DIFFERENT" than the normal Mustang that they sell so YES, its scares the hell out of me. I will be talking to the Service Mgr. in the near future even though I will not be getting delivery till Spring. It will give him some time to get educated on this very complex car.
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Jmeo

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For those of us that have ordered our new 2020 Shelby GT 500's from a real small Ford Dealer I had a revelation after watching both of Speed Phenoms 2 videos. Plus the dealers video as well. Most small town Ford Dealers probably do not spend much time working on these very high end and complicated cars. Now having said that and again after watching Speed Phenoms videos on the following items: Installation of the "Catch Can/Oil Separator", installation of the "Wicker Splitters", taking off the "Rain Tray" etc etc. I thought to myself I bet their tech at the small town Ford Dealer might want to watch those videos and get some updated training on how to work on this car. And lastly when the Lead Ford Salesman said "I want to make sure they remove the "Suspension Blocks" it truly hit me like a Sledge Hammer that they need to study up on this car or it could be a DISASTER. My educated guess is that they rarely if ever even sell a Shelby GT 500 and Iam also guessing that this car is "WAY WAY DIFFERENT" than the normal Mustang that they sell so YES, its scares the hell out of me. I will be talking to the Service Mgr. in the near future even though I will not be getting delivery till Spring. It will give him some time to get educated on this very complex car.
Chuck, although you may be right about their inexperience with Shelby cars, I wouldn't worry too much about it. The master techs will be tasked and there is technical information that the technicians can access quite easily.

I am extremely excited to do all the work myself. If we were closer I would have you come on over, throw it on my lift, and I will install for you.
 
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ChuckXX

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Chuck, although you may be right about their inexperience with Shelby cars, I wouldn't worry too much about it. The master techs will be tasked and there is technical information that the technicians can access quite easily.

I am extremely excited to do all the work myself. If we were closer I would have you come on over, throw it on my lift, and I will install for you.
Jaime; THANK YOU for that vote of confidence. My small Ford Dealer is the nicest guy in the world and the Sales Mgr. and their lead salesman would give you the shirt off their back. I have not met their "Head Tech" guy yet as this is my first ever Shelby. Iam very excited and I will anxiously await spring to get my beautiful car. I truly found the videos quite helpful to this old guy. One thing on the video that did surprise me was Speed Phenom picked the car up in Michigan where the temps are pretty darn cold but yet he never mentioned anything about the "soft compound tires" and not suppose to be driving them in 40 degree type weather. I guess it worked out for him on his way back to California but it was just something that I was thinking about. Thank You again Jaime and since you are from the great state of Mass. I will say "Go Patriots" the home of the GOAT. Tom Brady= GOAT= GREATEST OF ALL TIME.
 

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Jaime; THANK YOU for that vote of confidence. My small Ford Dealer is the nicest guy in the world and the Sales Mgr. and their lead salesman would give you the shirt off their back. I have not met their "Head Tech" guy yet as this is my first ever Shelby. Iam very excited and I will anxiously await spring to get my beautiful car. I truly found the videos quite helpful to this old guy. One thing on the video that did surprise me was Speed Phenom picked the car up in Michigan where the temps are pretty darn cold but yet he never mentioned anything about the "soft compound tires" and not suppose to be driving them in 40 degree type weather. I guess it worked out for him on his way back to California but it was just something that I was thinking about. Thank You again Jaime and since you are from the great state of Mass. I will say "Go Patriots" the home of the GOAT. Tom Brady= GOAT= GREATEST OF ALL TIME.
Chuck, I know people have mentioned standard MPSS tires being temp sensitive, as far as deterioration, but in my experience this is not an issue. Cold temps will affect the grip of MPSS and now the 4S, but you will not experience cracking. I regularly drive my car in temps well below 30Âş with zero issue, other than grip. Have been for years. Cup 2 tires will crack though...

Hell yah, GO PATS!. We are extremely lucky, that's for sure. Most everyone hates us, because of the GOAT. Hope the offense gets motivated, or we may not survive the post season this year....
 

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No offense to Jaime, yourself, or the other Pats fans, but being from Texas, they're not too popiller down this way. :-)

That said, he is certainly ONE of the greatest QB's of all time. He's earned that many times over.
 

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Not all small dealers are bad , ask to meet the service tech that will be servicing the car . I work at a small dealer , I have been at the same dealer for over 30 years . I have a highly modified gt . I am ,so to speak , in the scene . We get a small allocation of 350 and now 500. I do all the predelivery inspections on our mustangs . If it is a special order I ask to meet the owner . Some owners want specific things . Do they want the car debaged , ship blocks removed , detailed , stickers removed , camber plates installed , and etc . If it is a stock unit ,350 , Bullitt , 500 . I will detail it my self , I like the guys in our detail department , but it needs to be done right . What I'm trying to say is that not all dealers are the same , big or small . And some of the guys that work on these things rather work at a small dealer , I cringe everytime I read a horror story of how people are treated at a dealer . With that said , good luck with your purchase and always ask another question! Here is a pic or 2 of what I've been working on , this hopefully shows that small dealers have techs that are trained to work on fomco svt cars . And of course I had to take one next to my gt lol
20191005_065632.jpg
20191005_064839.jpg
 
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ChuckXX

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Not all small dealers are bad , ask to meet the service tech that will be servicing the car . I work at a small dealer , I have been at the same dealer for over 30 years . I have a highly modified gt . I am ,so to speak , in the scene . We get a small allocation of 350 and now 500. I do all the predelivery inspections on our mustangs . If it is a special order I ask to meet the owner . Some owners want specific things . Do they want the car debaged , ship blocks removed , detailed , stickers removed , camber plates installed , and etc . If it is a stock unit ,350 , Bullitt , 500 . I will detail it my self , I like the guys in our detail department , but it needs to be done right . What I'm trying to say is that not all dealers are the same , big or small . And some of the guys that work on these things rather work at a small dealer , I cringe everytime I read a horror story of how people are treated at a dealer . With that said , good luck with your purchase and always ask another question! Here is a pic or 2 of what I've been working on , this hopefully shows that small dealers have techs that are trained to work on fomco svt cars . And of course I had to take one next to my gt lol
20191005_065632.jpg
20191005_064839.jpg
Hello "fmc_smt"; THANK YOU for your very great reply. I fully agree with you 1,000% because I know that "Personal Pride" plays a huge role in the whole process. And if I owned a small Ford Dealership I would make it the techs duty to learn about the cars I would be selling. You know the old saying of : " Good News Travels at Turtle Speed but Bad News Travels at the SPEED OF LIGHT=670,616,629 MPH". Almost as fast as our Shelby's that we all have on order. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR INPUT.
 

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fmc
Hopefully you are letting the detail guys know why and how doing it right is important!
 

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I’ll be debbie downer...OP you have a valid concern. If @fmc_smt was working on it you’d have no problems, but you run a fairly good chance of not getting the same level work.

I sent my dealers the video after my 350 splitter came off the first time. It was all of 5 minutes, included part numbers and all the detail anyone would need(they didn’t watch it)...installed wrong AGAIN, but even worse this time using mismatched hardware and between the splitter and engine splash guard that also got tore up when it came off at 145mph, they had left out 16 pieces of hardware...16. They fired that guy, and while i felt a little bad about it he apparently had it comin.

I also received a 350 after engine replacement with a CEL on and shining bright...twice. So here i am, in a camaro, slowly working on my mullet. I also know full well i could have a horrendous experience at a GM dealer, but it hasn’t happened yet. First oil change the guy knew NOT to wash it and when done parked it away from everything...it was refreshing for a change. If i come back to a 500 the car will have to go on a 1.5hr trek to a better dealer.
 

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Jason: Most sorry to hear about your bad experience. Sadly, I had more than one at the closest dealership to me. But, I switched to another Ford dealership down the road a piece and have been quite happy with one purchase prior to this car.

My two salesman, (long story,) have put the word out that no one touches the car any more than necessary to do the PDI. They're even going to let my buds and I strip off the plastic and then use their wash bay and pressure washer to clean the car. We'll throw a quick spray wax job on her and then turn it back over to the tech to install "the stuff."

I truly hope this goes smoothly and without hindering the dealership in any way. I'm told, not to worry so we'll see.

Anyway, I HOPE I can return in the not to distant future and say, "Hey, the guys here did a fine job on delivery and install." <fingers crossed>
 

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ChuckXX

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I’ll be debbie downer...OP you have a valid concern. If @fmc_smt was working on it you’d have no problems, but you run a fairly good chance of not getting the same level work.

I sent my dealers the video after my 350 splitter came off the first time. It was all of 5 minutes, included part numbers and all the detail anyone would need(they didn’t watch it)...installed wrong AGAIN, but even worse this time using mismatched hardware and between the splitter and engine splash guard that also got tore up when it came off at 145mph, they had left out 16 pieces of hardware...16. They fired that guy, and while i felt a little bad about it he apparently had it comin.

I also received a 350 after engine replacement with a CEL on and shining bright...twice. So here i am, in a camaro, slowly working on my mullet. I also know full well i could have a horrendous experience at a GM dealer, but it hasn’t happened yet. First oil change the guy knew NOT to wash it and when done parked it away from everything...it was refreshing for a change. If i come back to a 500 the car will have to go on a 1.5hr trek to a better dealer.
Thank You for your post. I have been buying muscle cars now for over 40+ years (Yes, Iam Ancient). Anyway, this is any true Muscle Car Guys "Worst Nightmare". Believe me, I have many stories I could put you all to sleep with. Atleast the GSM and my salesman are super great guys so atleast that part of the puzzle I have solved. Now, I just need to talk to the Service Manager soon. I don't take delivery till spring so just waiting impatiently like most others. LOL
 

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Thank You for your post. I have been buying muscle cars now for over 40+ years (Yes, Iam Ancient). Anyway, this is any true Muscle Car Guys "Worst Nightmare". Believe me, I have many stories I could put you all to sleep with. Atleast the GSM and my salesman are super great guys so atleast that part of the puzzle I have solved. Now, I just need to talk to the Service Manager soon. I don't take delivery till spring so just waiting impatiently like most others. LOL
yeah hopefully you’re off to a good start then. my sales guy was great and he was utterly embarrassed by the service guys, on literally every occasion lol. felt kinda bad for him too, but my hands were tied. I asked to install the splitter myself, but it was a warranty job so that’s a no go. i ended up getting the box of hardware that hadn’t even been opened on the 3rd try and we did it ourselves...finally it was correct!

i left that car with mixed feelings of leaving warranty intact, when the very people you take it to just break it in other ways or simply don’t fix it. the bigger part of me would like to mod away, and dad and i fix it, but these things are about getting too expensive to do that.
 

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Jason: Multiple really bad experiences with my first Ford dealership more than a few moons ago. When I finally got around to upgrading the first truck, I went to a slightly more distant Ford dealership to buy a new one. That experience went very well and that's when I got the signed statement from the GSM to sell me a '20 GT-500 for no more than $5k over sticker. They are living up to the deal but I suspect a higher up or two isn't particularly happy about the low ADM.

I have only had one issue with the new truck and it was fixed promptly. As it turns out, one of my good friends is the Assistant Service Manager and he ended up getting me two new batteries even though they really only needed charging.

So, I'm hopeful that this dealership will provide the quality of service that our top-of-the-line vehicles deserve, as do we, the customers.
 

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fmc_smt, thank you! I looked to see how far away you are from me, because I'd sure like to have you working on my car-to-be. You really care, and because of that, you know what you're doing. Thanks for posting!
 

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fmc_smt, thank you! I looked to see how far away you are from me, because I'd sure like to have you working on my car-to-be. You really care, and because of that, you know what you're doing. Thanks for posting!
Well Johnny , Henderson is a little bit of a drive , but thanks for the complement. If you ever get to the area , look me up .
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