A little background:

I’m a bit of a Mustang enthusiast. I’m not one of those frothing-at-the-mouth kinda guys, nor am I a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy the Mustang line of vehicles from their first release to present with very few exceptions.

In 2015 I purchased my late father’s 1998 Mustang from my sister (who had inherited it when he passed). It was a base model, automatic, with a few dealer add-ons. The 3.8 liter V-6 engine produced a relatively modest 150 horsepower. Weighing in at just over 3,000 pounds, it was light and fun but not crazy.

Perhaps I bought it from her for sentiment reasons… but in short order I was completely hooked on it. It was never the fastest car, but it had some muscle when it counted and was in reasonably good condition for a car then 17 years old.

I came to think of each Mustang as it’s own sort of character. Each has a unique personality, often influenced by its owner’s whimsy in decorating or installing aftermarket enhancements. Mustangs range from the quirky to the insane; there is no such thing as a regular, or standard, or basic Mustang… at least not to me.

But an unfortunately short time passed before the transmission on my ’98, dubbed the “White Knight,” failed and I was forced to make a hard re-evaluation of my finances. We sold the car, probably for less than it was worth, and I moved on to another car.

For a while anyway…