2 + 2 = 4

The factory floor mats in the 2006 were a little small and there are only two for the front, none for the rear seats. I found a set of four for only $85, and they are much larger.

They also include the GT logo in silver and fit great. (Other logos are available too for a couple dollars more.)

The rear seat mats are quite large and look great too (without logos).

Back to Grill 57 in Garner

I briefly stopped by the monthly show at the Grill 57 in Garner, NC, today. It's actually a nice drive down there and back, going through downtown Raleigh. There are only a few shows left this year, so I figured I'd try to get to some of them.

>> Check out my photo album (77 pix!)

Char-Grill Car Show in Cary

I hadn't planned on going to another car show today. I'm still getting over a nasty cold-thing, but I dragged myself to a show about 30 minutes away, in my '66 in fact. The '66 received a fair bit of attention actually so that was cool. There were a few dozen cars there, but mainly classics. I ate a 1/2 pound Char-Grill cheeseburger while I was there, took photos, and left exhausted!

>> Check out my photo album (80 pix!)

MADD - Shifting Gears Road Rally and Car Show

I've been sick the past few days, so I just wasn't able to make it to the huge Auto Fair in Charlotte, about 3 hours away. But I had to get out of the house for a very short while, so I stopped by the "MADD - Shifting Gears Road Rally and Car Show" in Raleigh with my daughter. (She hasn't felt well either!) There were a handful of cars there when we were there.

>> Check out my photo album (26 pix!)

The Albatross Has (Finally) Dropped From Around My Neck...

Just like Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, the albatross hanging from my neck (an inoperable passenger brake light, in my case) has dropped into the ocean and freed me from my life of misery. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it seemed that way sometimes! :-)

A couple years ago I had noticed that my passenger rear taillight seemed to be not working properly. I didn't think too much of it since I had so much other work to do on the car as I disassembled much of it for paint. I did, however, ask the vendor of the LED sequential taillight kit to replace the passenger side unit. (They did.) I figured it would be fixed when I reassembled everything after paint and that would be that.

Fast forward a couple years. My car is done with paint, and it's pretty much assembled. I replaced just about all of the wiring and switches last year. But the passenger taillight is still dim when the lights are on, and the brake light only works (dimly) when the car is off. When the car is running, the brake light on that side does not work at all. To fix the light, I've wracked my brains and spent stupid money replacing (again) new wiring, taillight housings, the turn signal switch, headlight switch, and even flashers... (I did after all have my share of defective reproduction wiring and switches.)

So today, perhaps out of complete confusion and total despair, I swap in two regular ol' 1157 bulbs, and voila! the passenger tail light and brake light work... I guess I got two bad LED lights in a row for that side? I couldn't get the slick LED backup light bulbs to work either last year, so I stuck with the regular incandescent bulbs there. Just to complete the trifecta of LED aggravation, I removed the LED parking lights on the front of the car (which worked fine!) and went with the 1157s up there too.

So now the only LEDs in the car are in the gauges (which work fine.) And all my lights are operational. I also decided I'm not putting sequential taillights in the '06 like I was considering... Not sure of the moral of the story here—besides having a run of bad luck perhaps—but it's a relief for sure!

So Many Shows, So Little Time...

Today I stopped by two local car shows. The first was the Triangle Italian Motorsports Group Car Show in Brier Creek. I didn't take many photos since the kids were with me, but I did shoot a handful of Cobra kit cars and a particularly nice late-model Ferrari.

>> Check out my photo album (14 pix!)

Later in the day, I drove out to Char-Grill in Raleigh and saw dozens of classics, and a few late-model sports cars. The bagged old Ford truck (see above) was really nice. Interestingly, the dark blue '68 Mustang coupe in my photos was painted by the same shop that painted my '66.

>> Check out my photo album (90 pix!)

I've Got ESP! (And I Didn't Pay Too Much.)

My 2006 Mustang GT had a three-year, bumper-to-bumper warranty from the factory. For the 2006 model year there was no extended powertrain warranty included beyond that new car warranty. With the warranty set to expire late last month, I set about finding an extended warranty. Ford offers an extended service plan or ESP through their dealers. The ESP is offered for various time/mileage options and with a range of service options. I wanted a seven-year plan (starts on Day One, so four years remain now) and a mileage of 60k miles (44k more than where the car is today).

I found Anderson & Koch Ford out of Minnesota and they hooked me up with the best Ford ESP out there called Premium Care. Premium Care basically covers everything including the radio, but no interior or exterior trim pieces though. (See plan details online.) They offer this particular plan I selected for $960 (with a $100 deductible) since my car was still under the new car warranty, and there are a few options you can choose for a small additional cost. I went with a $50 deductible and first-day rental.

This is the exact same Premium Care plan the dealer will try to sell you when you buy a new Ford, but sold online here for much less $. The plan documents arrived a couple days later in the mail. If you are in the market for a Ford ESP warranty, I suggest checking them out. [Update: I had a small $350 repair done in October (a common TSB actually). The plan worked great as expected, I got a free rental car, and my total repair cost was only $50. Cool!]