New Member Intro

[Gary_H]

I just took delivery of a 2019 GT350 yesterday, 2 July 2026. I have been researching information about these and many of those searches lead me to this forum for the answers.



Before I talk too much about the new ride I’d like to give a little Mustang background about myself. My first car was a 1965 convertible automatic with power steering and a 289 power plant. My Dad bought it with just under 20k miles and it became mine in 1972. The car was Caspian Blue and 7 years old when it became mine. It had may-pop tires worn out by my older sisters driving it to school. I worked on and maintained that car until just a couple months ago. I’ve reached that age I didn’t drive it much anymore and felt like someone else that would should enjoy it, so I sold it. Miraculously, it has never wrecked during its 61 year history. I did own a couple other Mustangs thru the years, but none memorable enough to hold on to.



I was looking to get a manual transmission sports car with creature comforts and my son told me about the Voodoo engine I had never heard of. As I looked into it, I became intrigued. Intrigued enough I bought my first car off the internet without seeing nor test driving it in person. I quickly found out these cars don’t stay on the market long – I lost several good ones before this realization. This one ticked a lot of boxes . It is blue, has a V8, just under 20k miles, is 7 years old, and never been wrecked, I have to have it! I called the dealership as soon as they opened, verified it was still available, and put my money where my heart was.



I have a busy day ahead of me today. I hope to be able to provide some first impressions tomorrow. In the meantime, this is a dealership photo:

Sponsored

 

[Unbridled5.0]

Congrats!

 

[wingnutt]

welcome to the party

 

[Gary_H]

Well, rain changed some of my 4th of July plans, so here are the promised first impressions:

Every time I cranked up the 289 my wife always looked over at me and said “That sound never gets old!” While driving today she said “You know I loved the sound of the ’65, but you know what, I like this one better!”

This is by far the quickest and fastest car I’ve ever owned. I know it isn’t the quickest nor the fastest car out there, but I am grinning ear to ear thrilled with the handling and engine performance. The power band reminds me of a motorcycle engine (I drag raced a modified Suzuki 1100 for many years) in that it is very docile and tame until it starts passing 3 to 4 thousand RPMs, but man does it start turning on past that! BTW, I have not redlined, yet, but will definitely turn the AC off and be sure to follow the 190 degree oil temp guidelines I’ve read. Another positive first impression is this engine is definitely not loud at all unless the “loud” switch is on. Don't get me wrong, it still sounds great in quiet mode, but some of my neighbors might be happy if I keep it in quiet mode till out of ear shot.

This car is much larger than I expected, both in length and width. It’s not a bad thing, but I’m rearranging some stuff in the garage so it fits comfortably in the stall the ’65 was in. I showed it off to my 6’5” tall friend that drives a Corvette C7. I had moved the passenger seat all the way back and down before arriving – you didn’t think I was going to let him test drive it did you? He got in, quietly sat there a minute, looked over and said “I’m jealous, I’m comfortably sitting in your car with not only plenty of leg room, but my head isn’t touching the ceiling. By the way, why is this seat so cool?” The air conditioned seat feature was turned on.

I had a little trouble programming the garage door openers. The first thing I did was a factory reset on the Sync system to remove all previous Bluetooth, Homelink, Android Auto, etc. connections. I pressed the two outer buttons, waited for the flashing, and programmed the first remote door. The first door worked. I repeated the process. The second door worked, but now the first door doesn’t. It took me a while, but then I realized if I only repeated the second part of the process, then both doors continued to work. Press and holding the two outer buttons between programming must have deleted my first input. Who’s the dummy now?

“We” had planned to put black stripes on it, but my wife has changed her mind and thinks it looks better without them now that she’s seen it in person. My son and I are still voting for the stripes, but it was technically her turn for a new car so she will have the deciding vote – at least in the short term. Worst case my son can stripe it when he inherits it. I’m thinking I might funnel the stripe funding into a spare tire setup.

This unfortunately leads into a couple of minor negatives. My car is missing a couple of things I thought it would come with:

• A can of fix-a-flat or a plug kit, plus a 12V air pump
• A Mustang Owner Manual
• The Shelby GT350 Supplement Owner Manual
• Maybe a maintenance record manual – I am a DIY shade tree mechanic that keeps his own records

Fortunately I have already been down the spare tire path with my GLC300 that came with run flat tires. I’ve also found several threads regarding spare tire kits on this forum, so thank you to the folks that contributed that information. I just want to be sure the spare is the same diameter as the rear tires as I don’t want to needlessly stress the differential if I ever have to use it. I’ve downloaded PDFs of the manuals, but an original printed copy is always comforting for me to have in the vehicle. Oh well …

Had I test drove the car I would have known it pulls slightly to the right and would have had the dealership align it. I have an appointment with a local business to address it on Tuesday, it will have to come out of the spare tire funding. Hopefully it can be aligned within the factory adjustment ranges without additional camber and/or castor adjustment kits.

The Shelby badge/logo/emblem on the trunk is mounted with two snap into place posts. One of the posts is broken. Unfortunately the broken piece allowed it to rotate and scratch the paint when I washed the car yesterday. It’s not bad, I think I can easily buff it out, but does anyone have a recommended source for a replacement logo? If not, then I am thinking I could reattach this one with a couple of short SS panhead screws from inside the trunk?

 

[dpAtlanta]

A Mustang Owner Manual

Unfortunately, Ford did not provide paper owner's manual since at least 2019... they are available online or thru the on-board infotainment system stuff.

Welcome to the GT350 club... you will NEVER get tired of driving this thing, trust me!

 

[wingnutt]

Stripes are like tan lines, seems to be a love/hate thing

and tan lines only seem to get me in trouble, so I’m rocking without

Sponsored