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In a perfect example of a good idea gone wild, we bought a 2000 Mustang convertible for Mary's birthday and our 19th wedding anniversary in June, 2004.

We started out looking for a used, 4-seat vehicle to get us back and forth to work, to use instead of our 2-seat pickup truck.  After spending several weeks researching, and several days actively looking, we decided it ought to be a "fun" car, with a bit more pizzazz than just another Toyota Corolla clone.

This evolved into looking for a sports car -- preferably a convertible.  Friends of ours owned a Mazda Miata convertible, and absolutely loved it.   We couldn't live with just 2-seats, but we sure could try to find the fun of a rag-top! 

I immediately fell in love with a beautiful '99 Mitsubishi 3000 GT, but alas, the back seat was a complete joke.  Even our young kids had to sit with their necks bent sideways, and no adult human could ever hope to survive back there.

Just as we were about to give up for the day, we stumbled upon "Rick's" up in Cedar Rapids (See them at www.ricksautonet.com).  Rick's is a small car lot that specializes in late-model, higher performance cars. There, sitting in the front row, was a stunning red-orange Mustang convertible.

We had already test-driven a Mustang coupe, and found that the back seat was also virtually unusable, even for children, because of the sharply sloping roofline which severely limited headroom.  Because of this, I almost drove past without stopping. 

Mary, however, really liked the looks of this little hot rod, and mentioned that perhaps the convertible roof would allow for more backseat headroom -- what a great line! -- so, we stopped in, just as they were locking the doors for the evening.

With a hard sigh, the long-suffering sales rep went to fetch the keys, while calling his wife on his cell phone.  I'm sure he thought we were just joy riders, dressed as we were like bums.  Factor in two whiny kids (they were totally sick of looking at cars), and it's amazing how stoic and patient he was to let us take that car for a spin at closing time...

Needless to say, we were blown away by what we found.  The convertible top allowed back-seaters at least two inches more headroom than the coupe (more, with the top down!) -- and the performance was stunning.   Even though it had the stock 3.8 liter V-6 (not the big, fire-breathing V-8), this little 'Stang had been given quite the treatment by the previous owner.  Dual exhausts, frame stiffeners, Cobra racing wheels, high-performance tires, dual piston disk brakes, and all the Cobra cosmetics had been added at some point.   

Top all this off with an awesome premium sound system, a 5-speed transmission, electric seats, anti-lock brakes and traction control, and within three minutes we were totally hooked.

With no trade-in or loan to deal with, negotiating was amazingly simple.   We went back and forth a couple of times on price, and signed the paperwork.   Literally within an hour of first laying eyes on it, we were driving our Mustang home!

Here are a couple of pix of this beautiful street rod:

First day -- Mary & Becca with our '00 Mustang!	This car looks good from any angle!	Head on view...	From the rear, top up	Tail-end view...
Right front...	With the vehicle it replaces as our daily ride!