Evening all:

As reported last night, the negotiations continued on into the evening, morning and afternoon today and at 4:00 Eastern Daylight time I sent Moby (My '99 White Lightning) on to her just rewards and am now the proud if a little shaken lessee of a Blackwood.

To be honest, I am not totally sure why I did this but I think I had been a closet Blackwood groupie from the day it debuted at, I think, the Detroit Auto Show in 1999. As I stated yesterday, I fully intended to purchase an HD SC SC or a Diesel Excursion in the next few days and just stumbled on the two Woods my local dealer just got in.

Essentially, I am much more a stereotype for the Wood than a Lightning or an HD. I'm 62, own my own business and rarely used all the performance of the Lightning. But, I like driving something a bit out of the ordinary and that has at least a reasonable performance profile.

Anyway, the Wood was way out of my price range for what is essentially a toy and I thought I was just having fun with the salesman. When I realized they were serious about moving one or the other of the two they just got, I got serious too. So, in a sense it was "the deal" that put me in a new driver's seat.
In short strokes by the time we were done, I was in the Lincoln for $75 a month more than I paid for the Lightning and got a vehicle that at lists for about $25K more than Moby. I am not a rocket scientist, but I think that is a pretty good deal.

How we got there was a mixture of discount on the Lincoln, overallowance on the Lightning, "preferential interest" on the lease and a very high residual value (50% after three years).

I only put 25 miles on it today as I had stuff to do at home, but it seems a sweet driver and I was pleased that the upshifts are quite firm as opposed to the stock Lightning and Pat's 02 Continental. A tire burner it ain't but it moves out right smart.
Now I am waiting for nightfall so I can push the button on the remote and watch the hard cover raise up and show off the LED show in the bed.

Will report more later

Bill

 

Congrats Bill!!

Looks like I'll have to keep this forum open after all.

I'm glad that you'll still be around to announce the member count milestones.

Steve

P.S. I still owe you a banner ad.

 

Hey Steve:

Thanks for the notel

I am terribly sorry that I missed the 20k/21K/22K milestones but business has sort of sucked pond water the first quarter and I have been pulling 7 day a week shifts.

I will be watching more carefully and if CJ (F150Europe) doesn't beat me I will celebrate #23,000.

As to the banner ad, give me a month or two and I may have something for us to talk about.

Bill

 

Bill,

What dealership did you buy from? I work at Pugmire of Marietta,we have 7 Blackwoods on our lot. Thought they would sell better than they have , disapointing to the sales staff thus far. As far as the service end I hope all we do is services on them!!

 

Morning CaptJJ:

I got mine at Pugmire Kennesaw. Based on your stock, I should have probably driven over to Marrietta, but I have been trading at this one since they opened getting all my service there for all vehicles and we also leased an 02 Conti from them. They treat me right so even if I paid a bit more up here I am probably just as well off in the long run. Also, they are right across the street from my business so I just drop the vehicles off and walk to work.

7 Blackwoods on one lot is a bunch!! About $350K at dealer cost and I wonder how the new car manager explains that to the GM?

As to service issues, my '99 Lightning had a chipnfilter and a complete exhaust system and I had 0 warranty issues in three years. The basic vehicle is pretty well built so I don't anticipate any problems especially if I leave the Wood stock.

The only possible area for problems I have seen in three days is the barn doors on the bed. As you know, the whole thing is made of lightweight composite materiels and the doors don't close with that reassuring clunk of real steel. In fact they have to be shut carefully and firmly. Methinks they may have to be adjusted from time to time. In the same vein, God forbid I ever get hit from the doors back by someone as I would bet you would have to replace the whole shooting match. The whole bed assembly seems to be a unit and if one part goes the whole deal goes.

I assume you are a technician, and if so may I ask how you rate the DOHC 5.4 motor. I have no experience of this one and thankfully missed all the posted problems associated with the SOHC Lightning motor. I have seen several Navigators in my area with what I assume are 20" wheels and exhaust systems so I guess the motors are somewhat tunable like the rest of the range. Any ideas?

Otherwise, I am very happy with my decision. Sunday is my next day off and I am going to fire up the Navigation System as well as do all the other "pre-sets" like the radio and so on.

Only "modification" so far is I had some leftover carpet from our now defunct indoor RC carpet track that is a very tough non-static non-unravelling materiel and I cut a piece the size of the bed carpet to protect it when hauling stuff which I will still have to do from time to time.

As a heads up to your sales staff, have them visit the Hawks, the Braves and any Recording companies in the Atlanta area and show off the Wood. We have customers from all three of these entertainment areas and they all drive tricked out SUVs with lots of goodies. If they have the stomach for it, it will also probably appeal to certain underworld types.

Bill

 

Congrats.
I saw my first Blackwood ever here in Maine today. I thought, what the hell is that... ooooh ya. Anyway, today is my 34th birthday. Maybe its an omen or hint from God or Dali-lamma or something seeing my first Blackwood on my birthday.

I know you'll like it.

 

Bill,
Which salesman do you deal with at Pugmire north? I bought my 00 F150 from there a few months ago,wish I would have waited until you traded your Lightning!!!
I am a Service advisor/dispatcher at Pugmire in Marietta.
We had I believe 9 Blackwoods on our lot in Marietta about a month ago. Our GM actually owns part of Pugmire @ Town Center, he is a go getter!
I agree with you on the barn doors. I hope they hold up well for you.
As far as the DOHC,it is a very strong motor. We have had some issues with low compression on these DOHC motors in Navs being low. We have replaced a few engines over the past few years. Luckily Ford seems to have gotten their act together,we have yet to replaced an 02 with the DOHC.
Aftermarket exhaust for the Blackwood should work out fine, I would recommend C&S muffler on Hwy5 going to Woodstock for any pipe work you may need. Don't have any other ideas for you there. We have seen 1 Nav in 3 years with aftermarket exhaust with the DOHC, sounded pretty good I might add.
I am really surprised that more celebs have not bought Blackwoods from us. We have a pretty good sports following and no bites,seems the Caddy truck is the choice of ballplayers right now.
The navigation system is pretty fun to toy with!
If you ever need any service or warranty work done and they can't accomodate you,give me a call.
What line of work are you in?

 

Morning Capt JJ

Thanks for the info. Salesman is Clay Mayfield who is a textbook example of laid back. Really decent guy and very low pressure. Works for me as this is the second vehicle I have leased from him since January. Sales manager is Charles McKeithan who is more typical of the breed.

If I decide to do an exhaust, I will try the shop you recommended. For now I am just learning about the truck and what it may or may not need.

I own the HobbyTown USA franchise located in the old AMC 8 Theatre in the center across the street from Pugmire. Love to have you come and visit.

Don't know what Pugmire did with Moby (my '99). It never hit their used car lot so either they sold it right away or took it to the auction. Tidwell (World) Ford next door has several used Ls so maybe they just dumped it.

Hope to meet up with you.
Bill

 

Bill,

How is life with that Blackwood??

The most recent incentives are at $11,000 of MSRP, so I am *seriously* intrigued by this...

If I understand your numbers correctly, the 3-year residual value you got was 50%, correct? That puts the residual at about $28,000 for version with the navigation system.

Bear with me here, so with a $10,000 incentive, that puts the purchase price at around $45,000...

Over three years, with no additional down, I would pay $17,000 plus tax on the lease, or about $472/month + tax, right?

That seems like a bargain to me for this truck...

Any thoughts??

Steve

 

Evening Steve:

In essence, you are correct on the basic math but don't forget the interest on the lease. Your figures were based on the basic flat price to be leased.
My payment, including tax and interest is about $620, I don't have the paperwork here at the house, but that is close.
It may well be that on a no trade deal you may do better than I did as they now have pretty much a one years supply on dealers lots according to Automotive News. They are producing them at an 18000 rate until they are done next month so there are going to be a lot of them dumped on dealers.
Generally, this means that Lincoln Division will have to pay the dealers some sort of flat fee to take them and get them off the lots.

If you can give me a day or two to get mine to the car wash to get 2000 miles of road crud off of it, you are more than welcome to borrow my Wood for a couple of days to try it out. I need to put some miles on the 92 TC anyway. I do have some "fixit" issues that cropped up on the trip but none too serious to require immediate surgery.

As soon as I can get to it, I would like to try to do a four car comparison (TC, Conti, Lightning & Wood) as an over the road warrior. I was lucky enough to have had at least a 2000 mile trip in each of the four in the last 2 1/2 years.

let me know if you would like an extended test drive in the Wood and I will set it up.
Bill

 

Bill,

That is an INCREDIBLY generous offer, one that I should not at all be surprised by based on the communications we have had in the past.

I have put in a few inquiries with local Lincoln dealers on lease rates and if they come back in our price range, I just might take you up on this.

 

Well Steve,
Any good responses from the local dealers?

 

We are on the very high-end of what we have discussed that we can afford. (which is actually higher than what I think we can afford)

Pugmire is quoting me a lease of $699/month, no cap cost reduction, 36 months, 15k miles.

We had planned to drop by our local dealer to peruse one, but Christine (Wife) was very sick this weekend, so I was Mr. Mom all weekend.

 

Steve:

I will talk to "my" Pugmire guy today and see if I can help. Remember, it took me the better part of two days to get down to my number.

I am waiting patiently to post congrats on 25,000 members, but this thousand is takin' a while.
Bill

 

Hey Bill! Are you the Bill Murray that starred in Ghostbusters? If your not, that's cool. If you are, that's even cooler! P.S.: If you are, do you care to give me an autograph???