SVT/GT500 News

Ha hah, I see. It is a kit similar to V8 Fiero conversions & S-10 V* swap-outs. Quite a bit different then a complete car engineered & produced by a factory as the Mallet cars are. While the overall concept is cool it is quite old (throwing big engine in little car) and just a kit to simplify the process.

With the Mallet GM platforms it is a donor car (usually new) and sacks of money to end up with damn near a production level model. Hell there is even a 2/2 warranty to go with it. Now what did surprise me with the Mallet Solstice/Sky is that they are limiting them to 100 end-units which seems strange to me. Why would any end product manufacturer constrain themselves to any output other then by demand? Why wouldn't they want to make as many as they can sell, unless GM is restricting their new parts access of course.

Personally if I did go this route I would want to wait for a while after buying the car to have the conversion done. However, it looks like with the Solstice & Sky, he who waits will be lost.

Oh their Caddy CTS-V unit looks interesting as well.

That's a given when supply purposely constricted.

Did you have a point?

You know the old saying "You can't miss what you never had". :)

More then likely you are correct. However, I highly suspect the price point will vary from dealer to dealer and time of year as well. Ford about damn near hung themselves with 2004's as many were sitting on local lots wayyyy into 2005. Even Mach 1's.

I dabble in the art myself.

Except when it comes to wimmen folk, I've missed everyone I haven't had.

news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Sounds like a good car and the price isn't bad for what you get. That

2/24 warranty is worth a lot, IMO.

The best application of a big engine in a little car was an MG I saw in my teenage years that had a 327 stuffed into it. It looked like an ass kicker and probably was.

With more production comes more problems to overcome. Maybe they just don't want to expand for one model that Pontiac might decide to cancel next year. Having been a business owner, I can think of many reasons why they might want to limit production.

If you want one you will probably need to pull the trigger now.

I've never been a Caddy man.

My big issue with Ford on the GT500 is all the hype they have generated about bringing the car to market at the $40k-$45k level. They know a low production run will hike the price well beyond $50k. If they do limit production then I figure the '89 LX sitting in my garage will be my last new Mustang. It really irritates me that they have made such an issue about the price of the GT500 and if what is rumored comes to pass they have shown their word means nothing. All I want from Ford is to say what they will do and then do what they have said. Maybe that is asking too much of them.

D'ya suppose that had anything to do with the soon-to-be-released redesign? After all, if it's June and I'm trying to decide whether to buy a 2004 or wait four months for the all-new much-better 2005, I might have left that

2004 on the lot, too.

dwight

"Michael Johnson, PE" wrote in news:FLmdnZi1cuBX67nZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

My vote goes to the AC Cobra.

LOL! Deja Vu. Sounds exactly like what's been said about the GT500.

OTOH, a nice late-60s muscle car would be nice too. And about 1/3 to 1/2 the price.

Me neither until I checked out the CTS-V. It's basically a 4-door Corvette. 400/395 LS2 stock.

At least with the GT they stated a production number and an MSRP and for the most part have held to those numbers. The dealers did what dealers do and tried to maximize profits. Ford has made a huge issue since last summer of bringing the GT500 in at $40k and making them in decent quantity. The GT500 was to be the next incarnation of the Terminator Cobra with a little extra by adding the Shelby name on the rear end. They aren't saying this anymore. Now the car is some kind of special limited production run targeted at collectors.

I'm a patient man and will wait this out to see what really happens with the pricing. If I can't get a GT500 then a garden variety GT will not be what I am looking for. I have done the buildup routine and don't want to take that path again. I want a monster from the factory that I can drive and enjoy from day one and with a warranty. Funny but that is what I thought Ford had now with the Cobra model. A high reasonably priced, high performance Mustang for those of us wanting a more than a GT could deliver. Maybe that isn't so anymore. Hell, I would have settled for the current model with the '03-'04 Cobra drive train. I'm not greedy and didn't need, or want, Shelby's name on the car.

I haven't warmed up to the new style of the Caddies. They look like something that the Bizzaro Superman would drive. ;)

Of course it does, and it happens more & more every year as the design gets older and suspected new toys are added to the next model years version.

"Michael Johnson, PE" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Seen 'em in person yet? Pop the hood on one. You'll like that view a lot. ;) Better yet, sit in one and imagine driving a 'Vette. It's not that much of a stretch.

I have no problem with what they have under the skin. I think Caddy has some very well engineered vehicles. I'm just not a big fan of the "cut" design style. Caddy seems to use designs that become dated too quickly, IMHO. To me, Mercedes designs, by contrast, seem more timeless. It's just a personal preference thing on my part.

"Michael Johnson, PE" wrote in news:x-adnb1fPptaI7vZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Gotta agree with you there, Michael. Although I think the new 'R' series looks weird.