OCTOBER
By David
Gregoire, Owner
My
name is David Gregoire from Putnam, CT located in the so called quiet
corner of the state. In 2005 my wife Lorraine and I had begun looking
for another Mustang to enjoy after selling our 1970 Boss 302 car in
2004. We have been longtime Mustang fanatics after owning roughly 25 of
our favorite cars in the past 30 years. The majority of our previous
ponies were mostly Ford Mustang muscle cars including three 1970 Boss
302’s, 1967 Shelby GT-500 #645, 1966 Shelby GT-350H #975 Paxton
supercharged and several 69-70 Cobra Jets. I have always liked the fox
body Saleens since owning a 1984 SVO Mustang and then laying my eyes on
my best friend Jay’s 1990 Saleen #113 car which he still owns to this
day. After trying to find a really nice low mile unmolested car with no
luck, we were about to give up when low and behold a bright red 1990
Saleen #33 showed up on eBay for sale. It was a splitting image of my
buddy Jay’s original owner #133 Saleen.
The ad was lacking specifics and had a poor selection of pictures to
view. What really caught my eye though was the documented mileage of
only 2300 original and unrestored miles including the General XP2000Z
tires and flawless paint with no touchups ever applied on the single
stage Ford factory finish. Finding it hard to believe that a car of this
apparent untouched condition would be advertised at all and not sold
collector to collector via word of mouth as typically happens was
difficult to comprehend.
After
contacting the selling owner Mr.Andrew Vogel of Long Island, NY several
times to ask lots of questions before taking a 4 hour trip from our
Connecticut home. He told me to ”just come look at the car as it is
probably the best 1990 Saleen hatchback left in the world and a definite
10 out of 10” ! Liz Saleen also was very helpful in verifying the car as
being probably the best untouched 90 Saleen standard model hatchback in
existence that she had seen or knew of personally. Hearing those kinds
of comments got me very interested in quickly seeing the car in person
and being able to authenticate the survivor condition. Having been
involved on several wild goose chases through the years following up on
cars for sale that where badly misrepresented and not in the condition
they were advertised, we were skeptical but decided to brave a trip to
view the car on July 3rd
2005. When Mr. Vogel showed up at the pre arranged meeting location with
the car I knew we would be buying it that day. It just was jaw dropping
to see the car sparkling in the brilliant sunshine and then discovering
the new car smell still present in the interior. The car was better than
advertised and looked like it just been removed from a dealer’s showroom
in 1990. It was clearly everything we had hopped to find and more. The
only things ever changed on the car since new were the battery and
fluids. We had gone down to look at this car with the intentions to
possibly purchase it and come back the following weekend with a trailer
to bring the new addition home. We had somehow managed to be the first
to view the car when it was offered for sale. Mr. Vogel noted that his
e-mail account was full and the cell phone had been ringing non stop
with buyers wanting to purchase the car sight unseen. It was nice that
the former owner was a true gentleman to his word and waited for us to
see the car first before selling the car to other highly interested
parties. Sure enough during our transaction a Saleen collector called
from CA wanting to buy the Saleen. Andrew explained that the car was
going to a new home with us. The gentleman then told us he would be
willing to give us $5000 over the sales price if we wanted to sell the
car.
Obviously we declined his generous offer as this car could not be
replaced easily. Andrew was quite persistent in persuading us to drive
the car home this weekend! You should have seen me sweat and smile at
the same time driving the car through busy holiday traffic on the ride
home! Talk about instant anxiety attack! I must admit it was truly
awesome getting all the thumbs up and horn blowing from admiring
motorists on I-95 during the long trip home. After getting everyone home
safely I started the long process of finding out all I could about this
unbelievable survivor Saleen we had been lucky enough to have found and
purchased. Mr. Vogel had very few details on the cars history or its
original owner’s name as he only owned the car owner’s name as he only
owned the car for a very short timeframe and did not do any history
research on the car or original owner. I knew this car had to be very
important to someone due to the absolute showroom condition it was still
in after 16 years with so few miles. It had obviously lived a very
sheltered life.
After
following up on several leads that did not pan out, Thanks to Mark @
Performance Autosport in Richmond, VA, I was finally able to make
contact with the original owner from North Carolina. Jerry Greene bought
the car new and only used it for shows and the occasional local trip to
get ice cream. The car has never been driven in rain and has never been
wet, always garaged and pampered and highly detailed since new. The
undercarriage is perfect including Racecraft suspension and Monroe
Formula GP shocks and struts with all paint and chalk marks still
clearly visible upon inspection. It was never undercoated being from a
warm weather climate since new.
In
speaking with Mr. Greene I found out that the car has received quite a
few awards during its show days from 1990-1995. He then stored the car
for many years and rarely drove it until taking the car to the MCA 40th
Mustang anniversary show at Nashville, TN in 2004 just before he placed
the car for sale on consignment at the original dealership (Ciener Woods
Ford in Kernersville, NC). The dealership was formally known as Paul
Ciener Ford when the car was originally purchased. By the way the car
was shown in the highly competitive trailered concours class and took
home the Gold award at this event.
Mr.
Greene then told me the story of our Saleen #33 being the bright red
hatchback car used in the 90-91 Saleen sales brochures and also featured
in detail and on the cover of Patty Redeckers 1994 Saleen history book.
Mr. Greene explained how the car had the side graphics installed by
Saleen for the sales brochure photo shoot and then removed as he had
ordered this car with graphics delete! He finally installed the factory
decal set in 1992. Mr. Greene also had the dealership install the chrome
Ford Motorsport valve covers prior to delivery and they are still on the
car today.
The
total Saleen base hatchback production for 1990 was 173 vehicles . This
car is one of 13 cars factory equipped with the BEL Electronics radar
detector for 1990. It also is equipped with the optional 3:55 gears and
the console armrest option making its options list very rare.
