This is my first post...

1. Corvette guy for 20 years.

2. Moved to sub-suburbs in March.
Two acres on golf course. Need a truck. Wife says no used stuff (social image thing).

3. July 28; go to dealership, research info in hand to get white F150 flareside with white bumpers, prepared to order at $30K to get EXACTLY what I want.

4. Sales says no can do. No white flareside with white bumpers anywhere. Checkbook in hand, getting pissed off now.

5. Now getting REAL pissed off over resistance to order me a truck. All of a sudden, while arguing with salesman about ordering white F150 to my specification, white flareside F150 with white bumpers driven into showroom . Don't like being lied to. Starting to loose it big time.

4.Walk up to white F50 with white bumpers, read sticker, eyes roll back in head, regain composure, start waving my hands asking who to write the check out to.

5. Drove my Vette home. Sat in driveway since 28 July. Drove it three times since L purchase. Twice to dealership last week to trade on Expidition. Third time while Expidition was being detailed yesterday morning.

6. Today, one black Expidition and one white L sitting in my garage.

Oh, while I was waiting yesterday, another Vette was traded in on an Expidition.



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White 2000 L
Black 2000 Expidition

 

Welcome to the board.

Thats one way of buying a Lightning. Haven't heard that one before.

Ever heard of them before you saw it on the Showroom floor?

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99 Black Lightning
factory tonneau cover, 100k mile warrantee, bed/under liner,

1/4
2.145 60' 8.789@82.71 (1/8) 13.603@101.05 1/4 same run
straight pipes, 'Major' rear lights, no chip
Lightning!

 

Gotta' be honest. I thought I was a gearhead. I was just a greyhead.

I had never even heard of a Lightning. How embarrassing to put that in writing...

I had followed the Cobra R somewhat (being an old Mustang fan). But the Lightning, what a humbling (shocking) experience it was to read that window sticker.

I know what stuff costs, and what was on the sticker was a lot more than I could buy for $30K. I didn't want to drive it. No need to crank it up. They just couldn't deal with it...

All I wanted to do was write a check and they just about wouldn't take my money... Idiots... It took me an entire day to buy it.

It's been over a month and I still get a kick every time I crank it up.

By the way, any idea what the big, single clunk, like a muffled backfire on a cold startup is? It just started doing this a few days ago...

And thanks for the reply to a newbie.

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White 2000 L
Black 2000 Expidition

 

Welcome and congrats on your new vehicles. I bought my Lightning sight unseen and of course no test drive, but, I knew all about them. As far as your noise on start-up, I don't have it,but, after buying TWO new vehicles, your dealer should should be doing flips to service you. Good Luck.

 

tmiller

welcome and congrats.

Since you had never heard of the L before purchasing and not knowing its performance, what did you think when you first drove it down the street??

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Jim
Jim@FordMotor.cc

Black 00, 4.10's, SuperChip/R9, super whites, Airaid w/10" Big Mouth, Mobile1 w/FilterMag, chrome wheels, AIM 2" drop, clear corners
2000 E320, 1993 Cobra R, 1959 Corvette,
1949 Plymouth Coupe

 

Tmiller,

Glad to have another D/FW guy owner here on the board. This is a great place to learn stuff.

Nice taste in vehicles. (see below)

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Wes Tarbox
90 LX 5.0 (10.69 @ 134.7)--597rwhp/590rwtq
96 Cobra (12.63 @ 114.5)--392rwhp/433rwtq
99 Lightning (13.20 @ 103.3)--364rwhp/444rwtq
00 Expedition XLT 5.4
http://members.aol.com/Wa2fst/index.html

 

Thanks, everyone, for the warm welcome. It is pretty cool to know that there are so many high octane computer savvy guys out there.

To answer Jim about my first impression on driving the L with no idea what to expect, I was expecting acceleration like a '70 SS454 Chevelle or 428 Cobra Jet Mustang. That scary, plant you in the seat kind of power.

But instead it was like when we took the hemi out of the B/Gas '46 ****** and put it in the '70 HemiCuda. Grown man with insurance, B/Gas in traffic fast with brakes and suspension. That is the Lightning...

The L is fast like you have a 700hp big block and you are just driving it around. With 300/300 staring you in the face at 1000rpm, you have electic motor power.

What impresses me the most is the total integration of all systems. The L is so well engineered, so totally sorted, that suddenly you are going 120, no fuss, no muss.

And let me make one subjective observation about our toy. A big part of fast is who is paying if I wad this thing up, and will I walk away from it. Nothing in the L feels like 'enough'. Everything feels like there is 'a lot more I am not using'. That is what you get from real engineers.

Thank God Ford admin had the ***** to put SVT off limits to the femineering department.

We better find out where the L design team is and plant a guard around them. I am sure GM, Mercedes-Chrysler and the Japanese government has contracts out on them as a group...

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White 2000 L
Black 2000 Expidition

 

Hmmm, welcome aboard. If Ford ever decides to do commercials for their SVT products me thinks I know where a good writer would be...

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Red '00 Lightning,
Power Surge Performance enhanced,
Sound effects provided by Flowmaster,
13.701@100.81

 

Let me tell you how I bought my L.

I walked into the dealer on December 18,1998 and said: "Here's $1000 as a deposit, what do I pay in total for a Lightning ?"

The salesperson did not know what I was talking about, so he gets the fleet sales manager and this guy says: "No Lightnings are coming to Canada." So I say : "Keep my $1000 and give me the first one as soon as you hear otherwise."

So I got one at MSRP minus a little, because he did not know the demand at the time. I know the owner of the next one and he paid MSRP plus the little I got discounted

 

Sounds like they were as out of it as the guys down here. I just can't understand how a dealer can turn his nose up at someone with waving a $30K check around.

My sales crew weren't rude, they just weren't car guys. I just don't understand how someone can be in the car business and not like cars.

Now, if they (Ford) would just put a mustang together like an L and sell it for $30K. I could find room around here...

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White 2000 L
Black 2000 Expidition

 

Heck TMiller, I can't imagine a salesman not falling all over himself to get the sell. The salesman I bought my L from even took me to the riverboat to feed me and I think I could have gotten oral sex out of the deal, "IF" I went that way.

I didn't get rid of a vette to get the L, but I did buy the L instead of a Z06. I haven't regretted the decision for a second so far.

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00 Lighting, stock and staying that way (for now)
95 Cobra, turbo, T56, lots more to come
70 GS455 Conv. Holley ProJection 4di
74 VW Thing, Slow, but cool

 

Fastcars: What's with the Turbo Cobra? Incon? What do you think of the T-56? I would love to build a strong low compression shortblock and boost the crap out of it.

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2000 F150 XLT 4x4 Short Bed. Amazon Green, 5.4L, SuperCab, ORP, Tow Package, Sliding Rear Window, Electronic Shift, Keyless Entry, LT265-70-17 Tires, Clarion Pro Audio, Herculiner Bedliner, Air Silencer Removed.

1994 SVT Mustang Cobra. #1032 of 6009. Black coupe with black leather int., 3.73 rear, Bassani Exhaust, Aluminum D/S, Bridgestone RE-71 255-45-ZR17

My Home Page

 

Not Incon, took the car to Houston and had Mark Harwell at Speed Innovations install his kit I read about in one of the Mustang Mags. Used a Turbonetics T-04, very mild tune, stock fuel system just added an FMU, stock motor, throttle body down has never been touched. Dyno'd 318 rwh, 387 ft lbs, before removing the 4 cats, feels as if it picked up a lot, haven't been back on the dyno but I will be surprised if it is under 350 hp now. Will be putting TFS head and upgrading the fuel system over the winter and bump up the boost from 8 to 11-12 lbs and should break 400 by a bit.

Love the six speed, only thing I don't like is the 2.62 first gear, that will be fixed when I get my rear gear swapped from 3.73 to 4.30 or 4.56.

Could have saved a thousand or so dollars on either of the mods by running either a SC or tremec, but right now I have the money to spare so I spent a little more than I had to.

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00 Lighting, stock and staying that way (for now)
95 Cobra, turbo, T56, lots more to come
70 GS455 Conv. Holley ProJection 4di
74 VW Thing, Slow, but cool

 

My dealer told me when I bought my lightning that if I wanted a low apr, cash back or some other incentive, he could hook me up with a Tauros...they didn't need to have incentives for the Bolt there. I bought my 2000L in March and I bought the last black one they were getting.

Daniel

 

Me too on the Vette swappage - sold my 99 back to GM because the paint didn't match (torch red loaded coupe). GM got me po'd because they wouldn't give me the tax difference between trading a $25K car and buying another Vette outright. So for $1200 they lose a customer on a $50K car. Some kinda logic there eh?
Never even sat in a new Vette before driving away with that one, and never sat in or drove a Lightning before flying from Houston to Ohio to pick up the L and drive it home. That was a pure blast!
Don't know about you, but I'm having much more fun with the L than I did with the Vette!
Welcome aboard and have fun!