June 2007
Dane Busch 2000
#282
By Dane Basch
Greetings all. I love the story of my 2000
Atlantic Blue Saleen, S/N 00-282, and I am honored to have the
opportunity to share that story with my fellow SCOAers. Getting my
Saleen was the culmination of a life-long dream when I bought it, but it
didn’t actually work out the way the story started.
In 1999, I was driving a Taurus SHO, which I had
since 1994, and loved her dearly. But she was about to eat her third
automatic transmission (anyone who had an SHO with the auto knows what I
am talking about), so I decided, with the encouragement of my then wife,
to replace her. The only stipulation was my car had to have a back
seat. And I knew just the car I wanted…….an SVT Cobra! Wait….it gets
better, I promise.
In
1999, the Cobra wasn’t offered in the color I wanted: silver. I always
wanted a silver car, and in 2000, the Cobra was going to be in that
color. So, I ordered one. I had about an 8 month wait. So, I
paid, and I waited. And waited. And waited. And, as many of you know,
I waited through all the 1999 Cobra engine recall issues and suspension
issues and other issues. And then Ford canceled the 2000 Cobra
outright. The 99s killed off SVT’s resources.
So, now what? The car “might” be built as an 01,
but I couldn’t wait that long. Then, fate, and an oil change on my
wife’s Explorer, interceded. We were at Team Ford of Marietta (yes, the
location of our national show in July) getting the oil changed on the
Explorer, and we went into the showroom to say hello to Carl Yarber
(yes, that guy who is one of the contacts for the show), who sold us the
Explorer, and took my order on the Cobra.
And there it was…….sitting in front of his desk. An Atlantic Blue
Saleen. I had never seen Atlantic Blue before, certainly not on a
Saleen before. And it stopped me dead in my tracks. And it was sitting
next to a Silver Saleen, and we got to compare the two. And the wife
said, “I like the blue one better…….buy that one”. Wonderful
woman…..pity she didn’t stay that way, and became an ex-wife. But that,
as they say, is another story.
Two days after that, I picked up the Saleen, and
sold the SHO a week later. And she’s been with me ever since. Every
mile on her is mine past the first dozen. Every change is mine, and she
is stronger now that ever. I have not kept the car stock, but I have
tried to make changes that I think Steve himself would have made if he
didn’t have to satisfy Ford and the government. Headers, X-pipe,
intake, cams, lots of billet inside, outside, and under the hood; and
even nitrous for that little extra something when I want to smile
really, really big.
She’s a multi-time MCA Gold award winner, best of
show a couple of times, and just an all-around crowd pleaser. And the
fact she is only one of 20 Atlantic Blue coupes makes her, to me,
special and precious. And in July of this year, she’s going home, as it
were, to the place where my love affair with her began……Team Ford of
Marietta.
