January 2008
Gary Alsobrooks 85
#49
Lets flash back now to September 2001. I owned a SVO Mustang that had
started out as my daily driver five years earlier. After getting
interested in SCCA autocross and adding a full package of Kenny Brown
suspension stiffening components the car wasn‘t comfortable to drive
daily or for pleasure with the family. I had decided to sell this
particular SVO and replace it with a nicer SVO street car. I didn’t have
any trouble selling the SVO but was having trouble finding just the
right car I had imagined. Now it was January 2002 and still I hadn’t
found that SVO yet after searching the internet for four months. One
this special evening my wife Lynette and I were sitting in the bonus
room watching television and I mentioned that I didn’t think it would be
as hard to find another SVO.
Lynette spoke up and said “You have always liked those Saleen Mustangs,
why don’t you look for one of those?” I continued searching ebay,
autotrader on-line, and this type internet classifieds but slowly my
search efforts were leaning toward finding that Saleen instead of
another SVO.
I
had always associated a white car with blue stripes with Saleen just
like a white car with blue stripes to Shelby. Then one day I was
checking out ebay when I ran across a 1985 Saleen that was located in
Tampa Florida. The ad stated that the seller, Butch Nance, was the
second owner but his repair shop had maintained the car since new. The
auction description went on to say that the car was in good condition
mechanically but needed to be painted due to the hot Florida sun had
faded the gloss to the paint. The photos also revealed that some
interior work was going to be needed, but was all intact and original
parts still on the car. I emailed Butch and ask several questions that
came to mind and got the answers I was looking for. I knew I was looking
at Saleen but didn’t really know what I was looking at.
I
contacted a long time friend Stu Akers in Indiana for his opinion and to
see if he knew anything about this particular car since he was probably
the most knowledgeable person alive on the early Saleen Mustangs. Stu
told me quite a few things about this car that armed me with the
information to ask the right questions. I bid on the car three
different times up to what I thought the car was worth considering
condition but the auction closed without meeting the sellers reserve.
I
pretty much forgot that car and continued watching the internet that had
now included searching several Saleen related sites that host classified
sections on the message board. I went all summer without finding just
the right car and in November I decided to post a “wanted” ad to a
couple of those forums
WANTED:
1985-1993 Saleen, prefer white with blue stripes but others considered.
Gary Alsobrooks, Tennessee, email svogary@comcast.net
On
December 9th I received an email from a gentleman named Greg Wackett
that told me he had a 1985 Saleen he had bought six months earlier with
plans to restore but he had bought a new house since and he would
consider selling it. The car was stored at Performance Autosport in
Virginia and Greg had not actually ever seen the car.
Details were 1985-0049, White with blue stripes, blue LX interior, and
was 1-of-12 t-top cars built, 81000 miles, clean CarFax, and his asking
price. By coincidence this is the same car I had bid on in the eBay
auction almost a year earlier. I quickly called Stu again and told him
the story. Stu had been to Performance Autosport two weeks earlier and
had seen the car and saw that it was a big wing car and told me to “buy
the car“ that I was on to something.
From that day until December 24th Greg and I had emailed and talked
several more times and that evening I called Greg to make a final offer.
We talked for a few minutes and I was getting more nervous and told him
what could give for the car considering the restoration work it
needed...after a pause Greg told me
we
had a deal and even arranged getting the car transported half way to
Nashville for me to save me a few dollars. Lynette, our son Ryan, and
I hooked up the trailer on December 28th and traveled to upper east
Tennessee to pick the car up. I didn’t consider the problem I had with
loading the Saleen due to the front air dam being so low so we pulled a
McIver and used what was at hand to get the car loaded.
For the next three months I did a lot of parts collecting and took #49
to a old buddy Aaron Allen at All Things Custom body shop in early
April. The car had never been wrecked so Aaron didn’t strip the entire
car but used the factory paint as a base. Aaron held to his word and
called in less than two weeks later that #49 was ready to go. Two weeks
later I screwed In the last part on a Wednesday evening and started
packing for my first show with the new Saleen. The MCA club in East
Tennessee was hosting a regional event that featuring Saleen Mustangs
and Steve and Liz would be present for the weekend. I received second
place that weekend and that’s the weekend I became a deep down Saleen
enthusiast and owner forever.
Next we loaded up again and went north to the Indiana region SAAC Spring
Fling show where there was always a big presence of Saleens in
attendance including my source of information, Stu Akres and what I now
call the Saleen Ranch Posse. That weekend Stu, Marc Allen, and Ken
McDowell looked #49 over very carefully and determined that not only was
this a big wing car but was originally built with the complete 1984
fiberglass ground effect kit. When I started what I call the
cosmetic
restoration on #49 my goal was to keep the car as original as I could.
The interior plastic trim panels were delaminated from the Florida heat
while being in storage for several years and I found those hard to
replace so I simply repainted them to work until replacement pieces are
found. Replacement Carpet, vinyl seat covers, and a later model Saleen
Momo steering wheel were installed. Its funny how you simply forget
things and after the car was home from the body shop I realized that I
had been so concentrated on getting the 19 rivet holes repaired in the
front air dam that I forgot to get the front bumper repaired where the
license plate bracket was attached so I stayed period and installed the
Ford Motorsport tri-blue license plate to go along with the theme.
I
once had seen a Saleen at a show where the owner had a hand painted
pinstripe put on his car and use a two-tone stripe to match the
motorsport theme and I couldn’t resist adding that to my car too. The
interior is stock down to the Saleen alarm module. I had to have
quality tunes so I added a Clarion CD player (orange face display) in
place of the original Ford Premium Sound cassette deck. I rolled on the
original 15” gold Hayashi wheels for two summers but after searching for
a set of the 16” Rikens without success I stayed with the basket style
design and bought a set of Epsilon 16X8 silver finish wheels that I
found on another Mustang forum.
I
have kept in touch with the owners previous to me and it has paid off
because through them I have received the complete history and many of
the original items associated with #49. Butch Nance (second owner) sent
me the original blue rear cargo shade, an appraisal from 1989 and the
instructions to the Calsonic alarm. First owner -Frankie Coe sent me her
original Saleen Performance catalog, a partial stripe kit, radar
detector, one old headlight cover, she told me she had worn her jacket
until it was thread bare.
Before retirement Frankie and Don Coe lived in Richmond
Virginia where on a Saturday morning in early 1985 they bought the
Saleen. Frankie told me they had gone to Universal Ford on a Saturday
morning to buy a Turbo Coupe but when she walked into the showroom and
#49 was sitting there with the t-tops out she changed her mind on the
spot. Don was a salesman of aluminum grand stand seating so he had the
perk of attending a lot of motorsport events and became friendly with a
lot of famous people..
At
one such event at Mid-Ohio Don had driven from Virginia in the Saleen
and met up with his old buddy Bobby Rahal. Sometime during that weekend
Bobby test drove the Saleen on track and what started as a joy ride
became a all-out session with the 300Z pace car. During that joy ride
Bobby pulled the Saleen shift knob off of the threaded insert. When I
bought the car in 2002 the original threaded insert was on the shifter
handle with a standard Ford knob screwed down onto the top of the
insert.
Where Universal Ford ordered a replacement wheel and front air dam after
she slid into a curb in a sleet storm. By the time Universal Ford
ordered the front air dam the replacement was the later style urethane
and they decided to install with 19 large rivets from wheel opening to
wheel opening.
My
intention from the very beginning was to build a car the family could
enjoy and be dependable enough to drive where ever we wanted. The entire
front end was replaced with new components along with the braking
system. I ran out of money before I got around to the engine compartment
and have now gathered all the parts I need but just haven‘t gotten to
that yet. I continue to read and do research on the early 4 eye Saleens
and always listening to other owners about these cars. I feel very lucky
to have bought this particular Saleen even though when I bought it I
didn’t really realize what a piece of Saleen history it is.
