Perceptions of Middle-age Men in Mustangs

[The Demon]

I was 20 when I bought my first Mustang new. 1988 Black GT. Most of my friends couldn't buy a new car but I didn't care. It was very helpful with the ladies at the time. I'm 53 now and still driving them.

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[19gtMD]

I am a newly middle aged man and this is my first mustang. I truly get compliments and the occasional " hit it one time" gesture. Im loving it

 

[Biggus Dickus]

I was 20 when I bought my first Mustang new. 1988 Black GT. Most of my friends couldn't buy a new car but I didn't care. It was very helpful with the ladies at the time. I'm 53 now and still driving them.

Your story parallels mine - my first nice new car was a new, factory ordered, white 1990 GT Convertible 5 speed w/ black top and interior I treated myself for graduating from Medical School, and I haven't quit the habit since.

 

[The Demon]

Your story parallels mine - my first nice new car was a new, factory ordered, white 1990 GT Convertible 5 speed w/ black top and interior I treated myself for graduating from Medical School, and I haven't quit the habit since.

The 1988 was an automatic. I know, what? I traded it in on a white 1990 5 speed after 2 years. Mine was a hardtop though.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

When I was ready to graduate from college I had two dream cars: a maroon 1989 Mustang LX 5.0 hatchback (didn't like all the fairings on the GT) or a red 1989 Firebird Formula with the 5.0, both with manuals. You could get a 5.7 in the Firebird but only with the automatic. Never was a Camaro guy, lots of IROCs running around back then. Living in Pittsburgh, though, RWD wasn't an option for a daily driver and I sure couldn't afford two cars so I ended up getting a 1990 Eagle Talon AWD, damn what a fun car that was. My first brand new vehicle. $17,500 and mom and dad couldn't believe someone would spend that much money on a car LOL.

I had an '89 LX 5.0. Great car. I also did not like all the GT tacked on stuff. It was a Saleen orphan. For some reason, Saleen no longer wanted part of some order. So, a dealer near me took a couple of them and Ford shipped them directly there instead. It was white of course, like all Saleens then. It was a great car other than a terrible service department. The 5 speed didn't shift right plus the lever did not center horizontally in neutral. The manager tried to convince me those transmissions are not supposed to center in neutral as if I was complaining about that rather than telling them a symptom. I had a big debate with him in front of a few mechanics. Finally got him to focus on the transmission not shifting right and he reluctantly accepted it had to be fixed. They rebuilt it in house and fixed the original problem but created a worse one. They did a 2nd rebuild and made things worse still. Finally, Ford either let them or made them put in a new transmission. I put those original mechanics to a laugh suppression test by getting in a loud rant with the manager in front of them because the lever centered now and he had sworn it was not supposed to. LoL

 

[Fassn8]

I'm 51yo, and built and taught my kids how to use computers since day 1. They still have trouble with the basics. "Dad, the printer doesn't work!"... They don't have any trouble using Instagram on their cell phones though.

 

[Kleiss1]

What’s middle age? My first was a 1976 Cobra II 302.

 

[traxiii]

Buying my third Mustang (EG Mach 1 HP) for my 60th birthday this spring. My wife accuses me of having the brain of a 13 year old, and see's right. I have lusted over dark green Mustang fastbacks since I can remember, and I'm finally replacing the "67 Dark Moss Green 390 GTA Fastback I had in high school and college. The thing with girls half my age...if only! LOL

 

[TicTocTach]

I have always had performance cars, usually Mopar muscle-cars that I built. When kids came along, I was nearly 40 and made the child seat work in my muscle cars until the second one arrived. Parked the muscle cars and bought a Honda Fit Sport for my commuter - the most fun & tossable small car you could get back in 2008. Enjoyed the hell out of that car, even though it only had 109hp. I used every one of those 109hp every day, and it toted the family and tons of stuff easily.

By 2018, the boys were big enough to not need car seats, so that stopped being a criteria for my next car. I still wanted a small-ish car, but wanted more power and something I could autoX. Challenger? Too heavy and too big for my garage space (still have the muscle cars stashed). Giulia? Soooo close to buying that one, but were significantly more expensive than the Mustang, and what aftermarket support was there? The Mustang was just the most logical choice. The boys fit front & rear, 300+hp, RWD, and the Ecoboost was not faster than my muscle cars. So Mustangs are really very sensible Dad cars. I can't tell if I get any attention from women, I'm too busy enjoying driving this thing to notice.

 

[MIDLYFE]

When I told wifey I was trading my Jeep in for a 5.0 she said "Midlife crisis?" I replied "ABSOLUTELY!". Anyway the car gets compliments but not as many as the plate. It's great because I've answered everybody's question without them having to ask it.

 

[MIDLYFE]

Ahahaha too funny.

Great looking car. Never seen white with the 20's before.

Thanks, next Black Friday I'm probably going to do the Steeda progressive springs and a Steeda CFiber light bar. The CS spoiler is going to be installed by Santa on Monday. So psyched. Here's another shot.

 

[MIDLYFE]

Great pic.

IMO the stance is perfect with the 20s.

Since you are in the snow belt and probably have crap roads like most snow belt areas, I would swap dampers to Steeda ProActive, B6 or Koni Active first.

Spoiler is personal taste I like the CS one but also like the clean look.

I almost got a white vert then decided after many white cars time to change, back to silver haha.

Do the dampers help minimize body roll?

 

[Hack]

I was 20 when I bought my first Mustang new. 1988 Black GT. Most of my friends couldn't buy a new car but I didn't care. It was very helpful with the ladies at the time. I'm 53 now and still driving them.

I also bought a 1989 Mustang GT within a couple years of getting my first full time job - I think it was in 92 or 93, so the car was a couple years old. And it had lived a hard life. But I loved that car.

I've always owned at least one Mustang ever since. People still made the mid life crisis comments to me, either they were joking or didn't know me very well. Sometimes I can't tell. Maybe my mid-life crisis was just buying a better Mustang (GT350). That was a great ride.

 

[MIDLYFE]

I have only researched this deeply, while deciding if needed magneride for vert.

My conclusion is that the stock dampers are the weakest element and that dampers only will make the biggest difference with highest ROI in snowbelt.

I love the mildly lowered look just to full wheel gaps but your looks good with 20s.

Seems lowering degrades comfort. You will need dampers anyway with the 20s based on my experience with vert on 20s.

I do have lowering on my potential project list but after I priced the Steeda assembled dampers and springs (and similar kits), rear spacers for vert, rear bump stops, bump steer kit ( geometry change compensation), new bolts, shipping, install (DIY or pay) and alignment it's starts to get up there.

I will probably just go for dampers only because I need the clearance and travel for snow belt roads. I will drive with the top down on warm snowy winter days and generally speed up for bumpy roads.

Sounds like a plan. Thank you for the advice!

 

[agjake03]

As long as my wife likes it, I'm good.

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