In my quest to obtain a new Lightning and as an upstanding member of the EAA, I located a couple of dealers in the Indy area willing to X-plan.

After narrowing the field between the illustrious Cooter and Gomer Ford (hereafter known as C&G Furd) and ____ Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, a vacation day was taken and the Mrs. and I hit the road in the pouring down rain.

First stop was C&G Furd. They did not have a Silver Lightning in stock (they said they could trade another dealer for one), I nibbled. Upon our arrival, Salesman Forest Junebug tried his damnedest to hook me on their white L complete with a Leer Hard top, Bedrug , and some B-S pseudo carbon fiber-esque decal kit...B-A-R-F. Guess he didn't comprehend the words ONLY SILVER during our previous phone conversations.

A conversation begins regarding the trade-in value of my Excellent condition bone-stock Red 99 Lightning originally purchased form C&G Furd. When handed the copy of NADA's printout indicating an average trade-in value of $24,000 for my particular vehicle, Forest's exact response was "Should we shake hands and conclude our conversation and walk away?" Here we go..... As I was outside retrieving the VIN off the registration, he then made some snippit comment to Mrs. Speedy about whether it would be HER truck. Her response: "NO, I'll drive my Benz, thank you." Upon my return, she is SILENT and gets up to go 'browse'... Spider sense tingling....

Turns out his BEST "offer" was $18K.... UH...UM...ER..WELL.......LET'S SEE... NO! My reply was something along the lines of "You'll need to do better"

Here is where Mr. Junebug REALLY screwed the pooch, so to speak. In walking over to the Mrs. to discuss the paltry offer, he made some off-handed comment to me about my wife's vehicle of choice. Having not heard what was said earlier and witnessing her mood, now were both pizzed. BAAAAAD idea.

The next words uttered were "Thank you, I'll shop elsewhere from now on, you just lost a loyal customer." As we were leaving, I faintly recall hearing "please give me a chance, I promise to beat their trade........"

A healthy F-U burnout would have been appropriate in this scenario however rain hampered that crazy idea. DAMN

Ok, off to ____ Ford, Lincoln, Mercury some 40 miles away. Upon my arrival we were both greeted as if we owned the place and our contact was subsequently paged. The new Thunderbird on the showroom floor was really nice.

Bottom line with no haggling and excellent customer service, here's the deal I received.

Dealer has a Silver 2001 Lightning on the way.
$28919 X-Plan price
$20K for my L. (Corrected)
0.9% for 48 months.

Lowered my payment by $135/mo.... YES!

Expecting a call Monday or Tuesday with "Your Lightning is here and ready Sir."

Cooter and Gomer Ford pizzed me off for the last damn time.

I need a beer....or something.

Imagery forthcoming.

Have a great weekend!!!

Bob

 

Be sure and drive by and show Cooter your new ride. I when when the Oregon version of Cooter tried to tell me that Lighnings didn't come in silver. Stopped by the next day in my brand new 2000 silver L. His expression was priceless.

Congrats on the new ride.

 

Speedy
Congratts on the new ride, you are going to love the improvements in the 2001, and you will love how much easier Silver is to keep clean.

As allways I love reading your posts, you have a way of painting a picture with your words.

 

Way to go Bob,
Sometimes we just have to put em in their place.The dealership will probably service the new L without looking for mods,just seems like the SVT dealers are more worried about mods than fixing problems with intercoolers and th like!!!!

Yep I know what you mean,none of the ford dealers liked the fact I was driving my wifes caddy when I was looking for my L,they just laughed and said aren't you on the wrong lot,I said yes I THINK I AM!!!! Left immediately , drove about 8 miles and saved 4K,called em back and said beat that!!!!
Good job,
Have a great weekend.
Jerry

 

Silver !!!!!!!!

 

Congrats on the FINE choice! If you think going from red to silver makes cleaning the truck easier, try going from black to silver BTW nice price, so hmmmmm....lower payments........0.9%.........must deal by 10/31..........Wonder how much of a bath gator would take trading 2001 Silver Lightning on a 2001 Silver Lightning.........head hurting.......must go to work

 

guys what if i told you i could get you an 01 or 02 for less than 28000?

 

Here in DE the cost for the L's under the X-plan are 28.4K, and thats TAX FREE as well.

Speedy,
Good move. What were they thinking trying to treat you guys that way. I would most definetly go by with the new L, and let them what is what. Imagine that.. 18K for Speedy's truck..LOL what were they smokin'

 

you know whats funny....back home they actually have a "Gomer Ford and Mercury Dealer"

 

Go Speeden Go!!

Congrats again Robert. I'll be in touch. Ole Franko might take delivery with ya

 

While considering trading for an '02 Lightning, all the local Ford dealerships only offered me $18,000 for my 2000 Red L, mint condition, 19,000 miles. I decided to keep my baby

 

Bob

Congrats on the new truck, Be careful when ya get the new one, those silver ones are a LOT faster then the rest of the colors.

Enjoy...and LET THE MODDING BEGIN........

 

Spiro,
That is all well and good until you go back to your point of origin and register it in that state (assuming you don't live in Del.) Might just think about getting a silver 2001 after the new I/C fix is put in Piggy.

Steve

 

Guys,

Thanks for the replies.


Silver-Bolt,

Will do, complete with copy of the deal highlighting the trade-in amount.

Don,

Despite the headaches encountered in dealing with these bozos, they have provided some entertainment value.

J Man,

Sure you weren't shopping in Indy?

Gator and Silver_2000,



al,

spill the beans please.. Up Nort' ey?


Spiro,

Thinking? they weren't.

2_Fast,

I/we need a picture of their sign!! Please!


'Acious,

I'll touch base with you when they call me.

rs,

I feel for ya brutha. Shop a bit, you never know.


Eric,

Thank you. more like, LET THE RE-MODDING BEGIN.


bolt'

go for it!

 

Another silver beauty blasts off! Way-to-go Speedin'.

Dan