Here is the story, slightly edited, that a,ppeared in the final SHO Registry in 2000, when it was the last SHO of the Quarter......
I purchased it almost as an afterthought, from a dealer in California which I think is one of the best dealerships in the country. The folks at Jim Burke Ford, in Bakersfield, have always treated me fairly, and given me good deals. I consider the management there among my personal friends. I have never had to bicker with them regarding prices, and they have always been able to handily beat any new car price I have gotten anywhere else. Setting a price for a car there takes 5 minutes...the longest part of the sale being filling out the warranty paperwork and contract. The service after the sale is incomparable. I could wrrite volumes on how they have taken care of me over the years, even when I was far away from home. I was extremely sorry to move away, which my air traffic controller job finally required me to do. In January of 1990 I was down at the dealership looking for a used Taurus for a friend of mine, and my close personal friend/salesman Rudy Galacia said, "lets go in the back lot and see what we have...here's a set of keys. Try out this car...it's outside parked by the grass lot." The key fit one of two white SHOs, both with all options, except the other one didn't have a moonroof. I had driven an ‘89 many months before, and didn't like the way the shifter went stiffly into 3rd from 2nd. I was driving my ‘87 TurboCoupe at the time, and was spoiled by the slick shifter it has on its T-5. But this ‘90 was different, at least it felt that way to me. The shift between 2nd and 3rd was a lot smoother, and I was amazed at the ease in shifting. I whispered to Rudy, "they fixed the shifter.....they fixed the shifter." Rudy just smiled at me.....I thought at the time he was agreeing with me, but after the fact I realized, he wasn't sure what I was talking about....it had been close to a year since I had driven the Titanium ‘89. He said, ‘I need to go to the bank to do some dealership deposits, so let's go'. The bank was a few blocks away, but we got on Highway 99 and roared up the road to the next town, Shafter, about 40 miles up and back, and then turned around and went to the bank. I had totally forgotten about my friend's car.... So, I had to do some reconciliation with myself during the next day....I didn't want more than one car loan at a time, and I was financing the T-bird, but I twisted some figures, and made some concessions, and the next evening I went down and picked up my ‘90 SHO, the future Lowrider to be! At that time, I had only a handful of Cds at the time, and the one I picked to play in the in-dash player on the way home was the soundtrack to ‘Chariots of Fire', and to this day, that main theme reminds me of buying the Lowrider. I paid about $24,500 (including tax and warranty) out the door for it, which is about what it stickered. I got the ESP Plus warranty, a $2200 value, for basically nothing, and that was one of the best deals I have ever made. I financed it for 2.9%, over 4 years, with a $300 down payment. Basically I paid for one outside mirror, and got the rest on time. I paid it off about 2 years later, with a total interest cost of about $800.
I drove it around Bakersfield for the next seven months, before I moved back home to the San Francisco Oakland Bay area for a job promotion. No one had seen the nest of snakes, and I seriously considered getting a plexiglass hood. People ‘oohed' and ‘ahhed' whenever I showed them the engine. And the handling....the Tbird was a distant second, even with its adjustable suspension, compared to the balance available in the SHO. I guess I had some particularly good struts, because after all this time, they are still functioning in a pretty good handling ‘91 Sable I have inherited and plan to give to a good fiend's son, down in Bakersfield, my first passenger in the SHO, hereafter referred to as the Lowrider. David, my friend's son, is responsible for the first mod I did to the car....he introduced me to ‘Alice Cooper', whose ‘Poison' promptly blew out the subwoofers after about 4 plays!!
After moving back up north in August of 1990, the adventures began to occur. First, the original clutch and throwout bearing started to give problems. It only had about 13 thousand miles, but the pedal was binding. It sat up in the air at the local dealer with the engine hanging from a 2x4 for two weeks waiting for a clutch repair kit. That never came, so they stuck another original clutch in it. The local dealer said it would fail again, but they would fix it with no deductible charged when the parts came in. Later in the fall, on Thanksgiving Day, my daughter and I were rearended in a 3 car chain...me being the front car...due to a Camaro not being able to stop and miss the Honda behind me. I saw it coming (warned her, and we were fine) as I braked hard for cars in front of me, and so did the Honda, but the Camaro was out of luck. He dug under the Honda, which caused it to dig under me. Lowrider's damage appeared slight, but the bottom line was about $1500 for it alone due to bending of the body upwards in the center where the trunk latch is. The only visible damage was the decklid not shutting tightly, and the driver's side of the rear bumper cover was pushed forward about an inch. The Honda was only scratched in the front, but buckled a bit in the rear. The Camaro was totaled. It ran, but body damage was extensive. Early in 1991, I was rearended again, while on a local shopping trip, when someone failed to see the red light I had stopped for, as well as failing to see me. Damage was two scratches in the new bumper cover from the other car's license plate bracket. No sweat. But the days of the factory sheetmetal behind the back doors were numbered....
In the spring of 1992, I loaned it to my second ex, who lived in New Mexico. She had been using a 1987 Mustang I had loaned her before, but I wanted that back to give to my daughter for graduation. So I temporarily traded with her in the desert halfway between Albuquerque and San Francisco. She didn't know how to drive a stick, but is a car nut, and learned within a few minutes. She had tried to drive the T-bird before, but it is difficult to drive smoothly, so she gave up. But after half an hour or so of starting and stopping, she had the basics down, and was ready to drive back to New Mexico. A couple of months later, I was ready to get it back, and she said on the phone, "it's in the body shop". Turns out she and her children had been hit square in the back by a Toyota whose driver missed noticing a red light and stopped traffic because she was fooling with her baby in its carseat. She hit the Lowrider going about 40 mph, and moved the backseat, contents of the trunk, and taillight panel right up behind the front seats. The decklid was unscathed. The kids in the back seat, amazingly enough, were bounced up into the front and scared to death, but unhurt. The estimate was 4 months and $7,500. I was fit to be tied. I was so angry I about killed her over the phone. After a few days I cooled off and was glad they weren't hurt. This body shop had done other work on the T-Bird while it was visiting in NM in the past, and the folks there do awesome work. Even now, you cannot tell the back end is not original. Their work was flawless...all the joints and fittings and panels fit perfectly.
So, that fall, I finally got it home, or almost home, after I flew back to Albuquerque to pick it up. The second clutch was binding, and so, as I was going through Bakersfield, I figured I'd stop and visit Rudy and the guys, and get it fixed. My aunt had recently passed away, and a family member had taken a year off her life to spend it dealing with my aunt's Alzheimers, and she needed a car, so I decided to get her something with a bit of my Aunt's inheritance to pay her for her trouble. She had an older Escort, which she liked, but it was getting tired, so I thought a SLO wagon would be a good replacement. I could drop the Lowrider off for a clutch replacement, and drive the SLO home, which is what happened. That wagon is the one I mention now on the SHOtimes list (and on the SLORider Wagon page) as having Tokiko suspension and has the famous grounded heater core. It has always had a seeping cooling system...not enough to be a serious problem, but she is allergic to antifreeze fumes, so I bought it back from her two years ago to keep it in the family....it is as good a car as the Lowrider.
In the late fall of 1992, I moved from my home in Fairfield...a 50 mile commute...to my Aunt's house in Oakland, which is only 4 miles from my work. It is in an older neighborhood, with less parking. With as many cars as I have, I needed to make some changes. The Lowrider was only 2 1/2 years old, and still worth a fair amount. So, I thought...I need another Mustang; my daughter was having too much fun with hers. So, I sold the Lowrider to my husband-in-law, my humorous term for my first ex's husband. He had never had a powerful car, and had always liked it. I came up with a figure of $12,000, without checking on any values or anything....just picked it out of the air. Went down to Bakersfield, and got my ‘93 GT Convertible. He took the Lowrider, and let me take care of it. I missed it, but I had an ulterior motive in selling it to him....I could always get it back....though how I did is a tale for the ages.
After a year or so of ownership, the Lowrider's new owner, who happened to have Parkinson's Disease, began to run into troubles. His family life fell apart; he was given a medical retirement with reduced benefits from his job; and his ailment was not responding to the medical treatments he had available. He discovered by accident that crack cocaine is an excellent medication for Parkinson's. So, he became an addict. His wife was very distraught by these events, and, because over time he became identifiable to his drug buddies by the SHO, she begged me to buy it back, even steal it if I got the chance. I did take possession of it several times during this period, the middle of ‘95 or so, and pretend it needed maintenance or was awaiting parts, or would come up with some other excuse. Finally, he did agree to let me take over the loan he had, which he had been paying down two payments a month. My cost would be about $2,800. Not bad!! At this time, it had about 85,000 miles, and still had its ESP Plus warranty. It had had all the usual failures during this time...another clutch, this time replaced with the modified quill, release bearing and flywheel, air conditioner compressor, bad visor wires, water pump, etc. So, it was in exceptional shape, thanks to that warranty. He also rearended someone just before I got it back, and so it had new sheet metal and lights in front. He delivered it to me in the fall of that year. In October, he wanted to borrow it for one more weekend of enjoyment, and promised to have it back by Sunday night. We didn't hear from him until the next Tuesday night, when I had to go rescue him from a skid-row bar in Berkeley. There was no sign of the car. He said it was parked down some side street, but couldn't remember where....he could barely walk. By Wednesday afternoon he finally conceded we needed to report it stolen. His story was some mumbo-jumbo about parking somewhere and locking it, then having someone steal the key from his pocket as he walked. The Oakland Police Department theft division officer rolled his eyes when we gave him our best summation of the details. I didn't hold out much hope for its recovery, due to the lack of details of its loss, and was particularly upset. I did continue making the payments so he couldn't bail out of the deal, but I was pretty depressed.
Then, 4 months later, in February of ‘96, I got a call from my ex, now his ex. She said the Hayward, California, PD had called her, and said it was in a recovery lot in the industrial part of town. It was accruing a $10 a day storage fee, and to hurry and get it. I got the required paperwork and went to get it, not expecting much. She said it might have some transaxle damage, and was pretty bad on the inside. It turns out I was very lucky. It was missing the battery, the entire factory stereo system, including speaker brackets and plastic grilles in the back, and one muffler. The ignition key had been jimmied and the finger guard was missing, plus the trunk had been popped and the key tumbler was pulled out. All the doors were apart, with the door panels laying out everywhere, as far as the wiring would let them go. The worst part was that the moonroof was half open, and it had been raining almost constantly that winter...plus the headliner and lots of the interior plastic trim was missing or broken. Apparently the perps had driven it from Berkeley to Hayward, about 25 miles (still read the same amount of fuel it had when I let him take it), parked it in the far back of an apartment complex parking lot, and stripped what they had wanted. The stereo was no loss, but leaving the moonroof open did not do a lot of good for the health of the interior in general. The floor was sopping wet, the seats were soaked, and the console glove compartment was full of water. The back seat back was bent horribly, and there was rust on all the interior metal parts. After getting a battery, and doing a cursory inspection of the transaxle, I tried to start it....I had the key, so that was easy...the ignition switch still worked, even though it was damaged. The fuel pump piped up just like normal, and with a further twist of the key, it leaped into life. It settled down immediately, and appeared to be ready to go, despite the rather loud exhaust, due to one muffler being missing. A friend followed me home with the other car, and restoration started. I was so glad to have it back...I cannot describe the feeling. It had some scratches in the roof, in front of the moonroof, but other than the interior and the trunk lid lock, there was no significant damage. I got a muffler for 20 bucks, a new decklid for 75, and later, a windshield for 75 more, which a friend installed for free. Coke's insurance company was glad it was returned, and wanted nothing more to do with him....he had accrued many claims since his decline into Cokeland. After some time spent discussing a settlement, they agreed to pay me about $4500 to repair the interior. This included replacing the leather on the front seats, the carpet, and professional installation of a new factory stereo system and headliner with moldings. About this time I had made friends with a local High School Autoshop teacher, who got me a connection with one of the local Ford Dealers and their parts department. I dried the seats, shampooed the carpeting with the seats out, and replaced the headliner and moldings myself. Total cost for that was under 300 bucks. The doors I was used to taking apart and putting together....just needed a few screws and rubber plugs for the pull handles. The rest I spent on the sound system, and got myself a SHOshop full exhaust system. Up until the first of February this year, it had a Pioneer FH-P 85 double din CD/Cassette combo deck. This deck has a function called Soundscape, which will play a supplied CD with sound effects along with a separate CD in the changer, or a cassette, supplying underlying sound effects, or will apply applause during the breaks between selections, to simulate a concert. In the trunk is a Pioneer 50 CD changer, and 2 big Alpine Amps which drive the MB Quart front speakers and the Infinity dash tweeters and Kappa IIIs in the back, as well as the single 12 inch subwoofer. Within 3 months of recovery, it was fully back to prime condition, although the original white paint was getting tired. Over the next winter I painted it a special white pearl color, using a pearl clearcoat without any darkeners, like Ford and Lexus do. We were worried it might turn yellow over time, but it has held up fine. The factory warranty ran out during the time it was missing, but it had about 92 thousand miles at the time, so I guess you could say I got my money's worth. About this time as well, I decided to start on the suspension. I'd always felt it rode too high in the front, and had been successful lowering my other cars, including the TurboCcoupe. I tried cutting my original springs, but didn't shape the top coil properly, and the strut bearings were extremely vocal in their disapproval. So, I found an almost new set for sale locally, and had them reannealed to support 900 pounds at 7.5 inches loaded rather than 9.5 inches, which was original height. The car looked COOL down there, with the fender lip even with the tire, but it developed another problem. Under acceleration, the car shuddered as if it had a severely flat-spotted tire, or was missing on one cylinder. At cruise, the power was even, but with any strong acceleration, at any speed, the shudder returned. The Helms Manual says that two of the causes for this condition are a bent axle, and an overly flexed axle. I removed the right axle and had it straightened....it was a tiny bit bent...probably from the "4-wheeling" the car suffered during its cocaine runs with its prior owner. Upon reinstallation, the shudder was better, but still very noticeable. So, I bit the bullet and made some spacers to raise the front up one inch. Being a cheap screw, and having a moderately well equipped wood shop, I made them out of plywood. I got jokes from the list about termites and such, and it also earned the name "Krazy George's Lowrider", but the spacers were still there thru 2000, and still look new, even though they are long since removed. They solved the problem. It was actually beneficial to raise it up, because the subframe is VERY low to the ground with the car lowered 2 inches, and it was taking some hits. At the same time, I installed Koni strut cartridges. I was not aware that they only adjusted one way, and had I known I could, I might have had Koni make for me some dual adjustable struts. But, after one failed shortly after installation, and having installed Tokikos on my ‘91 SLO wagon (the one with the grounded heater core....see SLOrider on this site) with great success and satisfaction, I sold the Konis to a list member and installed Tokikos. I was very satisfied with this installation, but over time, all the springs started sagging somewhat, (even after being completely replaced) and I was looking for something better. ...Late addition to the suspension story....just prior to the Indiana (2000) Convention, I installed NAPA's version of Cargo-Coil rear springs, and they have made the rear end just perfect. Later, I might put some newer front springs on, and lower the struts in the knuckles, to give the front suspension more jounce room to travel. (In 2001, stock SLO springs were installed, and the suspension is now just right, with the front struts slightly lowered in the knuckles, for a little bit of loweriing without any problems.
More recently (late '90s), the only major expense I have had with the Lowrider is the replacement of the EGR tube, which was about $550 at the local Ford Dealer. In 1998 I finally found the wheels it needed, and got a super deal on them and tires at my local Sears store. It has MHT ‘Monterey' chrome wire mags and originally had Z rated P225/55/16 Michelin Pilot XGT4s. The wheels made a big hit in Atlanta, and they continue to do so now. Additional servicing has been having the brakes flushed, the power steering flushed, and with the Atlanta Convention (my first) looming, I rebuilt the alternator and starter, and replaced the radiator. It has had several thermostats, two temp senders, and two speedometer cables. One of these was on order for quite a while, and it got driven for several months with no speedometer, so the odometer mileage is less than actual. This January, I traded my stock front brakes and knuckles and a few bucks to a local BaySho buddy for his Wilwood Shostoppers. It turned 195 thousand miles in the spring of 2000, and....I know many will shake their heads...it had not had an official 60,000 mile service. It did have one timing belt at 135 thousand (dealer installed, with improper torquing of the damper bolt, causing crank cancer 4 years later), a water pump at about 80 thousand, along with an A/C compressor, both under warranty, and other than a new CPS at the water pump change, it has been untouched. It has had one set of plugs, at about 75 thousand. Oil consumption is at about 1 quart per 2 thousand miles, and it is changed with Castrol 10-40 and STP every 3 thousand. It has an alarm made by Ungo, which is a Clarion division. Some models of that alarm have been troublesome, but this particular one has been very dependable. The stereo system and the alarm run off a marine gel-cell battery mounted in the trunk. (Now removed, after the final rear-end collision and splicing in 2003.)
So far, (I am aware that for a SHO, especially an early one, its dependability is extraordinary) I have been extremely lucky with this car regarding the lack of breakdowns and failures. It is as much fun to drive now as it was when it was new....even more so, because of the good tunes and almost perfect (for me) suspension. I don't race it, I don't burn the tires off it, and I don't power shift it...I don't even speed shift it. When the shifter is moved, I don't do anything else until it gets where it is going. I think this is the primary reason it has lasted so long. When it is retired, and joins the Boss and the Tbird in the Towe Ford Museum in Sacramento at 300,000 miles, I'll replace it with another one...by that time I'll have another one all ready to carry on the tradition of hot-rod sport sedans in my family.
In all this time, it has never had a 60,000 mile service, although it has had one cam timing belt, and a CPS. In January, 2001, it finally had its first complete front cover servicing, repairing the crank cancer caused by the previous belt installation, including a new oil seal, CPS, timing belt, water pump, and cam sensor. It is still awaiting its first valve adjustment, but with the new astounding silence with which it idles now that the crank sprocket problem is fixed, I don't expect any significant valve wear. It appeared to have a MAF problem, but actually the camshafts were running 25 degrees behind the crankshaft, due to wear of the keyway and key for the timing belt sprocket on the crankshaft. The wear on the crank has been taken up, and it appears to be none the worse for having that gear loose for the last 4 years. The mileage has gone back up to its customary levels of over 25 mpg in all but the most aggresive driving modes. Later in January, the valves should be done, then it will be ready for the next milleneum.
Update as of June 3,2001....the valve adjustment was performed in April of 2001, with the assistance of another BaySHO member, Joe Facer. It turned out that only one valve shim needed changing, to bring the exhaust lash down from .015 to .012. All the other shims were within one thousandth of where they should have been. This will, therefore, be the Lowrider's only valve adjustment. The last major known servicing the car will get will be a new set of rod bearings, to be installed sometime this spring, before the summer influx of family from Asia wanting to see the entire country in two weeks. There are (will be) links on the home page to pictures of the valve adjustment and the crankshaft repair, and an additional link will also show good pictures of the bearing swap.
In late June of 2001, the bearings were changed. Unfortunately, though the car came out fine, my right hand didn't. I picked up an infection from the hospital where I went for a pain shot, and by the time that was under control, I lost part of the use of my right hand. The hospital and I are still discussing that occurance, and I should come out relatively nicely compensated for that event. The Lowrider was happy to get its new bearings, and is nice and quiet now...only one pair of bearings showed significant copper. The crank was fine, and now the engine is set for 100,000 more miles. As of August 2002, it has 245,000, and is still going strong and quiet. In July, it made the 6500 mile trip across the country to Frederick Maryland for the 2002 Convention without a whimper. I had a chance to compare its performance on the racetrack at Summit Point with a very young and healthy '91, and they have equal power. During the first week of November 2002, it crossed the magic mark of 250,000 miles. At that point, the Oxygen sensors finally became unable to switch from rich to lean fast enough to be of service to the PCM, so they were swapped. There never was a CE light for them....the mileage just dropped down in city driving to around 10 mpg. Freeway mileage was almost the same. Two new sensors brought fuel consumption back up to like new economy.
In 2003, in April, it was rear ended again, by my better half in her Lexus RX300. Naturally, it was totalled, but I decided to fix it myself to keep the title clear. A shop in Sacramento obtained a brand new looking '91 LX, and cut spliced the two right through the center of the back window. The page "Lowrider's Owie" on this site documents the repair of that damage. It lasted two more years on the daily commute, though it lost its speedometer drive gear due to some bad replacment cables ordered from RockAuto. By the time I realized they were tearing up the gears, the damage was done. It still has cruise, but there will be no more speedometer until the tranny is swapped. At 293,000, more or less, the differential pins have apparently begun to let go, so that it is noisy in 5th gear. The other 4 are OK, but it also needs a second fuel pump change. Since it barely passed smog last time...CO is high...the SHOshop cats are finally dying, I've retired it, as of June 2005, and am preparing Black Diamond to take its place. Since the Towe Museum does not want modern cars, I'll find it a new home with someone who can rebuild it the way I did Black Diamond, and it can give another SHO lover a long dependable lifetime of service.
Long live the Lowrider!!