My story: Last year I was in the final stages of fully restoring/building a 1995 Mustang that had been my only car since I turned 16 back in 2000. I had a full Eibach suspension, Flowmaster 44s, custom paint, rims, Steeda shifter, etc. In my basement was a Ford 8.8 rear end with 3.73 gears, Steeda diff housing, J&M tube control arms, and braided lines. On a stand was a 302 newly bored 0.030 over and ready for SCAT forged 331 stroker internals and a Trick Flow kit that included heads, intake manifolds, cam, and timing set. My goal was 400 naturally aspirated RWHP.
Then winter happened and coming home from work one day turned into an icy, slippery, steel signpost disaster. Somehow I escaped uninjured, but my beloved Mustang was annihilated.
To start I had my heart set on a 2011+ Coyote 5.0. After driving a Scion FR-S (gutless) and Camaro SS (overweight, ugly and poor handling) I went to Hagerstown Nissan to drive a 370 and see what all the fuss was about. Only problem was, they didn't have one. Pathetic! So after finding a gunmetal gray 6MT 5.0 at a Chevrolet lot of all places, I was ready to pull the trigger until my wife said "let's look at Mustangs at the Ford dealership first." Ironically enough they didn't have anything I wanted (gunmetal gray or black, 6MT, leather, 3.73, Brembo) but there was a black 2009 370 NISMO that was a trade-in. I asked to drive it, and the rest is history.
