Saleen Club of America

Featured Car of the Month

Christa & Mike Chessnoe's

#00-0291  ~ September 2005

This month we feature Christa and Mike Chessnoe's 2000 Saleen S281-SC Speedster. You may have seen their Saleen at various events such as both National Shows, and various events in the mid-Atlantic region such as Fords at Carlisle and the Turkey Trot cruises. Below are a few words from Christa & Mike. Enjoy!

-The Saleen Club of America

It was 1998, and we already owned one Saleen, 89-0634, a navy convertible with a 5-speed, and wanted to add to the stable, but did not know exactly what we wanted at the time. In April 1999 Mike headed down to the Carolinas to meet up with an old friend, and to go to the MCA 35th Show, and this is where he saw the 1999 Saleen for the first time. There were a few on display that really caught his attention, a white one, a yellow one, and a "Rainbow Extreme" one. Once he returned from the trip visiting his friend we talked about the car, and what we wanted to do with it. The main thing was that we wanted a car to go out and enjoy a nice relaxing drive with the option of driving it every day if we felt like it. With that in mind, we decided on getting an automatic transmission Saleen, and to pass on the "Extreme" paint option. Now to figure out the model. We looked into the S351 and Cobra versions of the Saleen, but neither could be had with the automatic, so we decided on the supercharged S281 model. This was to get a bit more power under the hood, as we wanted a bit more than the factory GT offered at the time. It was now time to head to the dealership. After some trouble with ordering the car from the local Saleen dealer Mike found Marvin Street, the Saleen sales manager at Billy Talley Ford in Richmond, VA and ordered the car from him. A more perfect sales transaction could not be had, as Marvin and Billy Talley Ford were excellent to deal with. We picked up the Saleen in January, 2000, and Mike had the pleasure of driving it home with the Speedster cover on in the dead of winter.

From Ford the car came with leather seats, the Mach 460 sound system and the automatic transmission. Then Saleen supercharged the 4.6L and also added the Speedster option, Carbon Fiber treatment option, Carbon Fiber Hood option, Wheel & Tire upgrade option and Saleen Floor Mats option. Since owning the car we have added the carbon fiber front splitters, the carbon fiber "SALEEN" letters on the rear and the windscreen.

We now have over 40,000 miles on the Saleen, and have enjoyed the over 5 years of owning and driving it. We plan on continuing to drive it on a regular basis, so plan on seeing it at the shows as we work on racking up the next 40,000 miles.

 Please click any of the pictures below for the full size image.