My wife and I had gone to Carlisle, Pa for the Ford Weekend for several years in a row. In 2000, I read that John Coletti was going to be there with a 2000 Cobra R. Like all of us, with raising kids, etc, I could only dream of owning one someday, but to see the "Man" himself there with one, we had to go. We had an awesome time as always, and sure enough in the program they had the time listed that he would drive the car up on the stage (where the bikini girls are always prancing around) LOL!!
Sure enough here is my dream car, driven by the Man, right in front of me. I told my wife, that "someday I will buy one". Fast forward to 2003. The company I worked for decided to cut headcount and I had an "involuntary reduction in force". Now this was the golden fleece, because I had 27 years, fully vested and I could come back to work the next day of my termination. I had a chance to "double dip". We also had decided to sell our house since all of the kids were gone, move out into the country, get some acreage and for Momma to find her dream home. All of this occurred, Southern Colonial, in ground swimming pool, pasture, woods, pond and plenty of room for a 40' by 80' pole barn.
Pole barn built and working as a contractor making really good money. I began my search for my dream car, but I didn't want a wrapper car nor one for $54995. One Sunday morning, I am surfing and up pops this 2000 Cobra R, in Georgia about 4 hours away. The Exotic Auto Dealer was asking #38995. It has around 2600 miles on it and was listed with new tires.
The first thing Monday morning I called them and inquired about the car. The Dealer said it was bought from Ford Motor company and had not been in a wreck. It was bought by an individual and Ford bought it back, but he did not know why. I said here is my credit card number, I will be down Friday with a certified check. He agreed.
Friday couldn't get here quick enough and I drove down there in my daily truck, and drove the R back. I had never driven one, sat in one, but I knew what a special car it was.
Car shows, one track day at Barbers during the 35th MCA show and drives to the Dragon, and cruises always put a big grin on my face. Fast forward to April, 2011. The tornado's that began in Alabama and came up into Georgia and Tennessee hit our house, pole barn, everything we owened. I was in Knoxville,Tennesse working but my wife was home. About midnight I got the call from her, that she was ok, but our house was destroyed. I immediately drove home as fast as I could. Eight of my neighbors lost their lives that night. The road we lived on was actually a small valley 8 miles long and a mile wide. The F5 tornado that hit was a mile wide. It took out everything in its path. My pole barn was completely gone, it pulled the 8" posts up out of the ground. The 2000 Cobra R had damage, my 93 Teal , F 350 diesel dually, my 86 SVO Comp. Prep, my wifes Infiniti were wall damaged. All that mattered was that my wife didn't even get a scratch.
Thank God for my home owners insurance and collector car insurance. Everything that Man makes can be repaired or replaced. We bought another house, built a really nice finished 40' by 60' garage and all of the cars were repaired. Actually better than Ford built them. All OEM parts were used, and the paint jobs were a lot better than the original.
My daily driver and track car was a 89 Georgia SSP. I got hooked on track events and my favorite track is VIR. My wife and I love the Cobra club events by Tony Sorrento, and we went to a Spring track event at VIR with the GSP. Ford utilizes the events to show case new cars and they bring different Ford engineers, Executives to the event to participate in the track days and to get public input on their products. On Saturday nights, they have a big dinner where Speakers talk about different products, etc.
At our table was several Ford personnel, with one in particular that would make an impact on me, not only from being kind to me, but blessing me more than I could imagine. Dave Dempster was this person. We are talking about Mustangs and he asks me what Mustangs I have. So I began the list and when I get to the R, he immediately asks, what number? I said #33. His face changes immediately and he asks me , "do you know the history of that car". I told him how I found it and what the Exotic dealer said. He told me immediately, that this car is the only R buy back car. He told me that the original owner paid $65000 for the car and he lived in North Carolina. That even though the car has no factory warranty, in North Carolina they have a state law that each car will have a warranty.
Sure enough here is my dream car, driven by the Man, right in front of me. I told my wife, that "someday I will buy one". Fast forward to 2003. The company I worked for decided to cut headcount and I had an "involuntary reduction in force". Now this was the golden fleece, because I had 27 years, fully vested and I could come back to work the next day of my termination. I had a chance to "double dip". We also had decided to sell our house since all of the kids were gone, move out into the country, get some acreage and for Momma to find her dream home. All of this occurred, Southern Colonial, in ground swimming pool, pasture, woods, pond and plenty of room for a 40' by 80' pole barn.
Pole barn built and working as a contractor making really good money. I began my search for my dream car, but I didn't want a wrapper car nor one for $54995. One Sunday morning, I am surfing and up pops this 2000 Cobra R, in Georgia about 4 hours away. The Exotic Auto Dealer was asking #38995. It has around 2600 miles on it and was listed with new tires.
The first thing Monday morning I called them and inquired about the car. The Dealer said it was bought from Ford Motor company and had not been in a wreck. It was bought by an individual and Ford bought it back, but he did not know why. I said here is my credit card number, I will be down Friday with a certified check. He agreed.
Friday couldn't get here quick enough and I drove down there in my daily truck, and drove the R back. I had never driven one, sat in one, but I knew what a special car it was.
Car shows, one track day at Barbers during the 35th MCA show and drives to the Dragon, and cruises always put a big grin on my face. Fast forward to April, 2011. The tornado's that began in Alabama and came up into Georgia and Tennessee hit our house, pole barn, everything we owened. I was in Knoxville,Tennesse working but my wife was home. About midnight I got the call from her, that she was ok, but our house was destroyed. I immediately drove home as fast as I could. Eight of my neighbors lost their lives that night. The road we lived on was actually a small valley 8 miles long and a mile wide. The F5 tornado that hit was a mile wide. It took out everything in its path. My pole barn was completely gone, it pulled the 8" posts up out of the ground. The 2000 Cobra R had damage, my 93 Teal , F 350 diesel dually, my 86 SVO Comp. Prep, my wifes Infiniti were wall damaged. All that mattered was that my wife didn't even get a scratch.
Thank God for my home owners insurance and collector car insurance. Everything that Man makes can be repaired or replaced. We bought another house, built a really nice finished 40' by 60' garage and all of the cars were repaired. Actually better than Ford built them. All OEM parts were used, and the paint jobs were a lot better than the original.
My daily driver and track car was a 89 Georgia SSP. I got hooked on track events and my favorite track is VIR. My wife and I love the Cobra club events by Tony Sorrento, and we went to a Spring track event at VIR with the GSP. Ford utilizes the events to show case new cars and they bring different Ford engineers, Executives to the event to participate in the track days and to get public input on their products. On Saturday nights, they have a big dinner where Speakers talk about different products, etc.
At our table was several Ford personnel, with one in particular that would make an impact on me, not only from being kind to me, but blessing me more than I could imagine. Dave Dempster was this person. We are talking about Mustangs and he asks me what Mustangs I have. So I began the list and when I get to the R, he immediately asks, what number? I said #33. His face changes immediately and he asks me , "do you know the history of that car". I told him how I found it and what the Exotic dealer said. He told me immediately, that this car is the only R buy back car. He told me that the original owner paid $65000 for the car and he lived in North Carolina. That even though the car has no factory warranty, in North Carolina they have a state law that each car will have a warranty.
