Between Afghanistan and Europe, I've been away from the US for almost 3 years, except for xmas with the fam). I'm hanging out on Camp Pendleton attending a training course in preparation for my next cush job as a range safety Manuever training OIC for Grafenwoehr. Today, while coming back to the hotel from class, I got next to a white convertible fox GT and asked the guy what was up with the car. Aside from its 3-ish inch cowl hood, a super clean paint job, and euro 1-piece headlights, 4-lug 16" aftermarket wheels that were reminescent of '03-'04 Cobras, it looked and sounded pretty stock. Evidently, it wasn't. The guy said it had hooker headers, an after market heads/intake (didn't specify), and a Paxton Novi 3 (not sure what the "3" is).
The cam couldn't have been too radical because it idled without a lope, and I doubt the car was making insane power through the stock 2 1/4" tail pipes. Still, it looked beautiful, and I'd forgotten how much I missed driving mine. Fortunately he was headed the same direction as I was for about 20 minutes, and I got to listen to the car. God, 5.0s sound sweet! Even stock, their sound is just a thing of beauty. I drive on the autobahn all the time in my C5 Corvette. I've heard numerous 911 turbos, ferrari's, and even the occasional lambo, but none of them, my vette included, have anything on the sound of the old 5.0! I'm serious... I really think that motor is possibly the best sounding engine on the planet. The high-winding ferrari's sound pretty sick when their at the top of the RPM band, but nothing else does it for me like the Ford V8.
On another note, it was really nice to see so many damned nice cars again. The Germans are so restricted, and have a different taste in cars. "Car guys" there tend to drive sport compacts because their gas is more than twice as expensive. Or, if they're rich, they're driving M3s, M5s, or Porches. You don't get to see much in the way of American V8s. Today, I must've seen 20 Mustangs, and Camaros, some LS1 Vettes and F-bodies, a couple of old GTOs. Yesterday, I saw a 60's Shelby Cobra - probably a kit-car, but still... I even saw a really clean SN95 5.0 Cobra, too. Man, I miss this stuff!
The cam couldn't have been too radical because it idled without a lope, and I doubt the car was making insane power through the stock 2 1/4" tail pipes. Still, it looked beautiful, and I'd forgotten how much I missed driving mine. Fortunately he was headed the same direction as I was for about 20 minutes, and I got to listen to the car. God, 5.0s sound sweet! Even stock, their sound is just a thing of beauty. I drive on the autobahn all the time in my C5 Corvette. I've heard numerous 911 turbos, ferrari's, and even the occasional lambo, but none of them, my vette included, have anything on the sound of the old 5.0! I'm serious... I really think that motor is possibly the best sounding engine on the planet. The high-winding ferrari's sound pretty sick when their at the top of the RPM band, but nothing else does it for me like the Ford V8.
On another note, it was really nice to see so many damned nice cars again. The Germans are so restricted, and have a different taste in cars. "Car guys" there tend to drive sport compacts because their gas is more than twice as expensive. Or, if they're rich, they're driving M3s, M5s, or Porches. You don't get to see much in the way of American V8s. Today, I must've seen 20 Mustangs, and Camaros, some LS1 Vettes and F-bodies, a couple of old GTOs. Yesterday, I saw a 60's Shelby Cobra - probably a kit-car, but still... I even saw a really clean SN95 5.0 Cobra, too. Man, I miss this stuff!