Awsome Shelby and a great story Bill.  Thats some wife you have! Enjoy the car Bill.

After 40 years of Mustang ownership I’ve guess you might say I’ve reached the pinnacle of Mustang ownership. I’ve owned a couple of really nice Mustangs over the years to include a 1970 428 Super Cobra Jet Convertible many years ago, a few 5.0 Mustangs, plus a 1970 and 2003 Mach 1’s. I’ve always wanted a Shelby. I can recall looking at a 1966 GT-350H, a 1967 GT-350, and a 1969 GT-500 back in the 70’s and they were always just beyond my reach.

My wife had gotten my 2003 Mach eight years ago. I really loved the car as well as having formed an emotional attachment because of her buying and surprising me with the car after I returned from Iraq in 2003. I told her recently only a Shelby GT-500 bought by her could ever replace it. I was joking, thinking that will never happen. I should have learned many years ago never joke with a serious woman and my wife is a serious woman.

She had taken me window shopping for new Mustangs on a recent late Monday evening after dinner as we have done many times over the years to just pass the time. We were considering getting her a new 2011 Mustang V-6 with a glass roof and since you don’t see many V-6 Mustangs equipped that way I figured we’d have to order one. We usually time it so the dealerships are closed as we window shop. Only this time, they were still open. She asked me if I liked the silver 2011 Shelby GT-500 with black stripes sitting in the showroom. I said yeah that would lessen the pain of losing the Mach if I ever got rid of it in a joking manner knowing I couldn’t. She turned to the salesman and said, "We'll take that one", pointing to the one of the showroom floor. She started dealing with the salesman about a trade for my Mach as I sat there speechless thinking I was in a dream. When he offered the standard wholesale trade-in price she twice told him it wasn't enough. Finally she said, make it another thousand and we got a deal. He went and talked to his boss and came back and said, “I can't believe it but he said okay”. I just sat there in shock and then she whips out this huge cashier's check and gives it to the salesman telling him to get it ready and we'll pick it up in the morning as it was late and the service department was already closed. He said we’ll do the dealer prep and it should be ready by noon. I don’t think I slept a wink that night as I was afraid to close my eyes, oversleep, and miss my Shelby pickup time. The next morning I think I must have called every 30 minutes from 10:00 on hoping it was ready early. They took their time and cleaned it up well and by noon it was ready.

Just like my 2003 Mach she had surprised me with eight years earlier; I never drove the car till after it was bought. For those of you not aware, the Shelby's are programmed with an alternate calibration and won't rev over 4000 rpms until the car has been driven 5 miles continuously or had 50 engine start cycles. I knew about this but still thought, "What a dog", as I drove to my house to get some additional paperwork I had forgotten. I live six miles from the dealership with the last mile being through my neighborhood. On the return trip as I turned out of my neighborhood onto the main highway, I was shocked at the sudden dramatic increase in horsepower. It felt like an additional 300 horsepower were living under the hood. It's going to be a slow learning process but I'm willing to learn.

My wife said the Shelby was a 30th Wedding anniversary present as we have it coming up next Valentine’s Day. I just know I’ll treat her like a beautiful Princess and love her for the next thirty years … and that goes for my Wife too.