Buying Custom Built To Order Ford Mustangs

Friends and colleagues who've seen me run through a series of used high-end collector cars during the past two-plus decades were surprised to learn I'd never bought a new car for myself. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, when interesting stuff was much less expensive, new cars couldn't touch the performance and personality that second-hand exotics, luxury, and musclecars offered.

Flash forward to 2006, and it's a different ballgame. For around $30,000, Ford's new Mustang dishes out the cachet and fun of a classic car (and more) without the headaches. I was bitten from the moment it was introduced.

That's how I found myself at Salinas Valley Ford, walking the lot with general manager Lars Frieberg. "The green Stage 1 Roush caught my eye," I told him. Frieberg said the first owner hadn't kept up with the payments, and I figured on using that situation to my advantage to save a bundle on the purchase. But after the test drive, I came away unconvinced it was the Mustang for me. Frieberg and I strolled the rest of the lot, looking for that one car to give my guts a good twist.

But nothing satisfied my craving.

"Let's head up to my office to see what other dealers have in stock," Frieberg suggested. "What exactly are you looking for?"

My ideal Mustang started with deleting the rear spoiler, the factory's tacked-on appendage that to my eye hinders the purity of the car's shape. It also had to have a V-8 and five-speed tranny. Color combinations were up in the air, though a black interior was low on the list. I don't like sitting in a dark cave.

Frieberg printed out spec sheets for different Mustang GTs. The spoiler delete eliminated 90 percent of the cars available, and the five-speed just about took care of the rest. Colors and interior packages were all over the board.