Fox Body 'Stang (Part 1)

 

What says, "Blue Blood, American Muscle" better than a Mustang?  Since their initial re-conception as a high performance car, the Mustang has always had a powerful V8, a stick, a fairly light curb weight, and a live axle out back making it really fun to corner sideways at high speed.

This car is so awesome, but don't even get me started on the Crown Vic wagon in the background!

This paradigm has worked well through almost five decades!  This post (and the next one) is going to cherry-pick one right out of the middle of that timeline and focus on it for a little while.

'84 GT with the funk bulgie hood, T-tops, and '07 rims.

'80 Mustang with T-tops and the most righteous stance I've seen on one of these!

I'm a huge proponent of the mid-'80s Mustangs.  I'm even a member of the "Four-Eyed Forum."  I want one of these so bad.  I've heard a lot of knowledgeable car guys talking about these cars, that had been modded slightly, being one of the scariest cars to ride in because they were so quick and powerful compared to their measly 2800lb curb weight.  A lot of people like to use these cars for drag racing.  (We'll talk more about racing in the second part of this post.)

My favorite part of these cars is the shear number of restyles within the 14 years they built this body.  You could build a completely unique car with factory parts from different year.  For instance, I would use the fron end from an '83-4, the rocker covers and back bumper from a '87, the louvre-less quarter windows from a '93, the taillights and spoiler from an '80, and put it all on a T-top body ('79-'87).  It'd be a sleeper because of the engine swap as well as the bolt-on body parts.  People would see it and know something's different, but they wouldn't be able to pin point what it is because all the parts are stock.  They don't normally get put together on the same car, but they are stock.

I always kind of thought this would make for a good second gen Mad Max car, but maybe that's just me...

So, my T-top Franken-Fox body would have the classic, beautiful black paint job.  Like a good drag car, the rims are still up in the air.  This car would be a complete stealth build.  I might put flat black stripes on it too, like my GT500 KR clone concept.

This is the only view the people I drive near will be seeing.
Again with the stance...

Also like my GT500 clone concept, I would drop in a supercharged 5.4L in this car.  This would have to be mated to a 6-speed because and automatic in a Mustang like this would simply be a travesty.  I would definitely go for a road-hugging, pro-touring stance on this, but I'd run drag radials in the back (or at least leave room for them in the wheel tubs).  The interior would stay as stock as possible.  The only major changes I would do would be a roll bar (see pic), remove the back seat, and replace the front seats with something that has a little more "hug" to them.  I want to be comfortable on road trips, but not meet the shifter if I take a hard corner.

Let's see this car try to kill me with that inside!

So in the end, I'll need to get at least three of these Mustangs.  This one for awesomeness, the one in the next post for racing fun, and a stock '86 like the picture below for general mayhem and accidentally wrapping around some sort of tree, post, or bridge support.

Doesn't this shot just make you want to go out, jump in, and burn some tires towards the horizon.  I picture this doing a butt-sliding 180 onto that street on the left border there, tires ablaze and gravel flying everywhere.  The people left behind won't be able to tell which way it went other than the sound of revving engine because the cloud will be so thick!  These are the things I think about late at night...

Dodge vs. Chevy Goes too Far

This is an awesome video.  I must warn you, though.  There is some language from hicks that may not be suitable for children, but the content of what this guy does with his truck far outweighs ignorant hillbillies...

For your viewing pleasure:  Enjoy!

So Far Behind

Ok, so I realize that I haven't posted on her since September, so I owe my readers about 14 posts at this point.  Well, school gets out in three days, and I've been thinking about things for a while, so I should have some material to dish out to all y'all once all these exams let up.  If you need something to use your time up in the meantime, go watch Drive TV's show Big Muscle on Youtube.  That stuff is awesome!

Here's a sneak peak of some of the cars I've been thinking about:

'80s Ranger Rock Crawler
'80s Grand Marquis Sleeper
Fox Body Mustangs
'91 SHOble Project
A Better XJ
Off-Roading ZJ

That's just a taster, we can't give away all the fun!

Reviving the Car from My Past - The '91 Sable

So, as my family will find out when they get around to reading my blog, I bought a car Thursday.  The means of how I got it are odd and don't need to be posted online, but suffice it to say, "I have my old car back again."

The car in question is my old '91 Sable LS that I drove from August of '08 until the winter of '09 and it sat until '10 ( I think) when I sold it to a friend in need of some wheels.  The car has worn quite a bit since I sold it, but I needed to buy it before he traded it in for Cash for Clunkers.  I've been through a lot of crap with this car and lived to drive it another day, and I just can't see it (or any of my cars) go to the crusher.

So, I know this car isn't impressive or cool or classic or even desirable, but I have always liked this car, and it's mine again.  It's not so bad...

This car is loaded with options; it was the Taurus that all first gen Tauri longed to be.  (I feel I should stop myself, and mention something that I don't know if I've mentioned before.  My dad used to buy Tauri so when they died, we'd have parts cars.  Including my '00 and my sister-in-law's '96, We've had roughly 15 Tauri, but most of them were first gen wagons, so I know the line fairly well.)  The best part that made it an ultimate Taurus is the fact that it's a Sable!  This thing has "bucket" seats, console, floor shifter, moon roof, alloy wheels, fully digital dash board, fake wood trimmed interior, four wheel disc brakes, 3.8L V6, full power everything, and even an aftermarket stereo.  I always thought this car handled way better than my previous Tauri (especially considering I went from a '90 Sable GS with a middle of the road trim level to this fully decked out car).  I thought this thing could be easily road raced with a few tweaks, but I never got that far.  The handling is hard to gauge right now due to worn out steering components, but I think we need to do some reconditioning on this car to get it back to how it was when I first drove it.

Who am I kidding?  It's pretty bad...

I really didn't want to get rid of this car.  I loved how the car felt and drove.  It was a really fun car.  Plus, I have a lot of history with this car!  (I think I'll save the stories for the comment section, so check those out if you want!)  Another thing is that this is the last car my dad bought for me to use.  I recently read a comment on the Taurus Club forum, and it kind of struck a chord with me:
     "That's a really nice ride! I would drive it and enjoy it, but don't abuse it or beat on it. If you do and you wind up scrapping it one day you will find yourself saying "man I wish I had treated that old car better so it'd still be around"...especially if it's something that was passed down to you by your parents. I had a 1994 Chrysler Concorde that got passed down to me by my mother. I gave my parents my 2004 Impala when she needed something more reliable to get to and from the hospital in. The Chrysler was the last new car she ever bought and it was sharp and really clean, but had some mechanical issues that needed sorting and they could not afford to do it. I spent a few thousand fixing little issues over the course of a couple years then I traded it in because it had a broken motor mount and I didn't want to fix it...and wanted something new(this was in 2006/7). Now that she has passed away I really hate the fact that I didn't keep it to hang on to. Not to get all downer on a subject or whatever. I'm just saying...it's nice to keep something that someone in your life passed to you....to remember them by one day. In a way it can help to keep them alive for you long after they are gone."
That is also why we will never sell my Mom's F-250 which was the last car my Dad ever bought, but that's a much later post when we start to restore that one too.

Check out the digital gauge cluster!  Oh, right; it's off...

 So, this car is in rough-ish shape, but the body is still pretty clean, except for the rear wheel wells and a little on the doors.  I'm thinking I should try to inhibit the rust, make the interior more awesome, and fix the suspension issues.  Then, I hope I can fix the rust that's there, the bad body work from the previous, previous, previous owner (before I ever got it), and at some point, paint it.  By that point, I will be well into the debate of whether or not I build a bored out SHO motor to go in it and beef up the trans to transmit the extra power to the roadway.  At this stage in the game, I'm thinking yes, but the motor in there right now is big and still good, sooooo...  We'll see, I guess.

As of right now and as far as I know, the car needs tie rod ends, at least one strut, body work, new rear bumper (from last time I owned it), muffler (or not), AC, steering rebuild, tires, alignment, possibly a wheel bearing, and definitely some weather stripping (also needed before I originally sold it).  I drove it across town with no title, expired out of state plates, and shaking, loose steering, and it is a bit of a handful right now.  I'll need to at least do the tie rod ends, alignment, tires, and possible wheel bearing just to make it road worthy without risking life and license every time I go places.  Once that is done and the moths settle back into my wallet, we'll be able to make a game plan and see what else needs to be fixed after that.

This is just SOME of the unintentional body customization I did last time I owned it!

This will be a fun ride!  (In more ways than one!)

P.S.  I just got this picture sent to me from my mom tonight.  This is a view of my mechanic's yard right now.

These cars just refuse to be separated from each other.
Some things will just always have to be in my garage...

Fairlane Wagons

As some of you know, I used to have a '64 Fairlane Ranch Wagon back in high school.  That thing was sweet with a 289 "Special" V8, C4 Cruise-O-Matic auto trans, something close to 4.11 gears out back, and dual exhaust with glass packs.  I had my fair share of tire smoke and sideways moments on those MN/SD gravel roads.

My Fairlane, shortly after I got it.

 Sadly, as most high school students, I was forced to give up my precious Fairlane to pay for the mechanic bill on my daily driver, after two years of ownership.  Lucky for me, my bill was more or less of a trade to my mechanic who was a close family friend.

Fairlane as I last saw it while my name resided on the title, right before I went off to live in Milwaukee and left it at my parents' house in MN.

The sad shot that was e-mailed to me at college of my car being dragged away.

That was in '08.  I was kind of sad because my Fairlane had never gotten to see the glory it deserved.  Last week I was talking with my mechanic (still current owner of the Fairlane), and we were talking about car projects.  This conversation always winds up talking about our Jeep FC-170 that is still in a grove in MN, but then it usually turns back to the fact that all that's happened to my Dad's '52 F-3 and my Fairlane, since he's gotten a hold of them, is increased their rust content.  I was mentioning how I missed having an old car around, and he should make a deal with us and give one of them back.  He made the comment (quoted roughly), "Charlie, you know I wouldn't feel right selling it to someone else."

Armed with this knew knowledge and the image of what this car could look like with some help...

I know.

Right!?!

I started to think about what I could do with this car.  Although, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't feel right doing anything rash to the car.  It's all original, a very desirable year, higher trim level, factory V8 with low gears, and is simply an awesome classic that's fun to drive no matter what I do.  With that in mind, I would upgrade the suspension to have a sweet stance like the first pic, fix the rust, and rebuild the drivetrain.  Oh, I would also definitely have to get some sweet tires and wheels too.

Back in high school, I used to go and get parts from a Mustang restoration shop in the next town.  That place always had tons of awesome parts cars sitting out front.  While I still had the Fairlane, I saw a rundown '58 Fairlane wagon in the lineup out front, and in my classic 17-year-old style, I had this awesomely amazing idea:  Why not get a collection of Fairlane wagons!?!  I asked the guy who's car it was, and he directed me to his brother who, conveniently, worked there too.  He said I could buy it after he pulled some parts off of it.  I don't remember the price, but unlike my 17-year-old self, I realized that that was a bad idea (unlike the time I bought a '72 Mercury Monterey out of some guy's grove almost 2 hours from my house, realized I didn't have the gear or funding to bring it home and it wasn't worth it, and left it there to keep rotting).  Now that I may very well be re-acquiring my '64, I'm starting to think I should find a '58, and rat rod it.  A Courier would be way more awesome though.

Picture this in white and pink instead and pulled out of a leaky shed after 45 years, and that's what I tried to buy.

 As though that weren't enough Fairlane wagons for one man's garage, I've spotted another one!  When we moved here 3 years ago, I stumbled upon a great '67 Country Squire with 66,xxx miles on a factory 390!  It's even the same color as the '64 (minus the wood)!  The guy only wants $2000 for it, and here's the kicker, it runs and drives!  The front brake is seized, but it runs and can drag the tire under its own power.

Not the car in question

 I'm suddenly reinvigorated to buy this car.  I had decidedly put it out of my mind as something I wouldn't wind up keeping long-term, but that all changes when you have a set of them!  I'm a bit torn on how to go with that car, though.  Do I go with a pro touring style build like the one above, or do I do more of a dragster feel like the one below?  Either way, I'm definitely boring out the stock 390 and adding an off-roading cam for more low RPM power.  I also found a totally sweet dual 4bbl intake that would make this car look downright sick!  I would also get the trans, which I assume is a C6, rebuilt and adding a trans brake and some sort of gear splitter/overdrive add-on.  I'm also going to implement the concept I had when I was trying to chase down an Armadillo ('92-6 Buick Roadmaster wagon) and cutting off the rear end of the wood paneling to leave wood grain flames in the wooden frame on the sides.  However it looks beyond that will still look awesome no matter which way I go with it.

This website also makes a good case for the drag car look: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=254862

 This also goes along with my late dad's idea that we should open a station wagon restoration shop and call it Wagon Ho!

Reliant Nomad

So I was driving through downtown Milwaukee about a half hour ago, and I had a brilliant idea: I should customize a reliant wagon into a 2-door wagon.

Then I was reminded of one of my previous posts talking about swiping the AWD system from a Talon and grafting it underneath a K-car, and I thought that would be a perfect combination.  I would definitely use the 5-speed manual, but I'm starting to wonder if I'd still want to stick with a 4-cylinder turbo or if a V6 would be better.  I wonder if I could still use the factory 2.5L instead of needing to take the DSM route for the whole powertrain.  It's an interesting idea, and I think it would make for an epic sleeper, city car, daily driver, or track day car.  I really want to shoot by a BMW 325i in a corner while being sideways in this car.  What a jaw dropper!

Semi Ghymkana

The timing on this couldn't have been better!

Trucks, Torinos, and a Mix of the Two...

So one night, I was down in the Menominee River Valley taking pictures of all sorts of awesome industrial stuff (as I am wont to do), and I stumbled across an old 2wd baby blue '67 F-250 reg cab long box.  The only thing definitive I know about it is that it hasn't moved in forever, it has 8-bolt steel wheels, a full-floating rear axle, and what appears to be a 4-speed.  It doesn't look too rusty, and I had this awesome thought about buying it for $300 and making it into a super-cheap rat truck.

Because all cars look better at night, and this is how I found it...

I assume it has something in the range of a 361 or a 390 V8 and a 4-speed, so I figured I'd just freshen those up, maybe add a 5-speed if the 4 is too bad.  I was going to chop 2-3 inches off the roof, build a roll cage that would go through where the back window used to live, and hide some short stacks among the box-section of the cage (I'd also have cutouts to normal muffled pipes that empty under the box for longer hauls).  I'd get a '71 grille and black it out and mesh out the main grille holes and put a bull bar on the front.  I'd also put on a Mach 1 style shelf hood scoop, and a visor on the cab.  I'd cut the box down the in incremental steps as I go back (maybe).  I'd also get custom steel wheels to look like the dually rims, and have a pair with drag radials and another with super singles off a semi with standard dually rims up front.

Sorry, I only have a tiny version of this one, but it looks so good!

The interior would be very racy feeling.  I'd build my own cluster for the dash with aftermarket gauges, a radio, and a bank of safety-covered toggle switches to run everything.  I would get rid of the key and run everything from the switches (power, fuel, electronically run power steering pump, exhaust cutouts, flamethrowers, etc).  I would put in 2 hidden keyed shut-off switches like you see on race cars so I could still park it in the city.  The rest of the interior would basically be seats and a big console for hiding stuff.

Also Badass, racy, and visceral, but not the style of truck I'm talking about.  RWD

This truck would be very visceral and give off a badass vibe.  This truck is loosely based on the trucks in the beginning of Fast and Furious (the 4th one).  I would use mine for having fun and also towing.  I'd be hauling, in all respects of the word...

Look deep into your soul, and tell me you don't think that's awesome.

Then i got to thinking.  Why do I need a rat rod muscle truck when I already want a rat rod '72 Torino?  (See previous blog post)  Sure I could score the truck for super-cheap and have something really cool, but in the end, it will just mean more garage space.  Then I found a way to solve all my problems - a '72 Ranchero!  I would do the full-on idea from the grille, interior, roll cage, exhaust, and tires from the truck, but I'd find a big block and a 5-6-speed stick to go behind it.  This thing would be a no holds barred pick-car that could haul gear, pull a trailer, smoke the tires, drag race, and get sideways in the Milwaukee streets.  It would be sweet!  If only I had a more fitting picture to go here...

Best picture I have of a '72 Ranchero

I almost think I should get the pickup, build it, sell it, and use the money to get the Ranchero...

Sweet '49 F-5 Rat Rod

This is way better than any version of a rat rod pickup I've ever come up with! I'm always hesitant to cut off major sections of the body, but this guy makes it look just sick! Personally, I would've stuck with the flat head V8, but that's just me.

This dude knows how to build a truck!

Best Movie Muscle Cars

I saw a video today, and it got me thinking about what would be the best movie muscle car.
Here's the video:



Now granted, this video doesn't point to either one being better, but I don't think it's a fair fight either. Let me explain.


The majority of this race is held on dirt and gravel. The spongier, heavier General Lee will do better on this because its loose suspension will adapt quicker, and the extra weight will help it dig in for better grip. Also, powersliding is key.


The Trans Am is nearly a decade newer and was built tighter with sway bars to minimize body roll and suspension travel, mastering windy roads. The tire choice also plays a decent role in this rivalry. If there were more highway in this race, the Trans Am would've come out on top.

This made me wonder what would be the best movie muscle car for all-around performance. I need to put some limitations on this though. We'll say classic muscle car '64-'85 in a movie from '64-'90.

Now I've been thinking about this for a couple days, and I had a hard time coming up with anything that could beat my choice. I think that the '72 Trans Am from "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (with Jeff Bridges and Clint Eastwood, 1974) wins the best movie car title. It has the good handling you get with a 2nd gen T/A, great looks, and a 455 V8 pushing you through the turns (a little sideways never hurts). Granted, his off-road excursion ripped a good deal of the plastic or rubber body cladding off, but that didn't really affect the car at all. That car is pretty amazing, and therefore is my pick.

New Housing

So, our table at lunch is known by its members for having crazy, random conversations about nothing. Today after everyone else left to pursue other homework, Billy and I realized the best, most economical solution for my housing for school next year.

That's right, a van! To give a little background, the college has an age limit for students who live on campus, and I will reach that limit at about week three this fall semester. Therefore, I need to pursue alternate housing options. Enter van! This is a fairly sustainable solution that is cheap and mobile, so I can take my home to other places! (Yes, Chris's van-living model from aberrant-travels.com had quite a bit of inspiring power... This also fits well with the tiny house concept that has continually been intriguing me more and more.)

The van model is stunningly simple. All I would need is a van (obviously), a sleeper sofa, table and chair (both optional), some insulation, and a heating apparatus. The majority of this is fairly understandable (the couch to sleep on, the insulation because I live in Wisconsin, table and chair as work area), but the main thing I would need to setup is the heater. We decided the best way would be to have a car battery that powered an electric motor that turned a big alternator. This would not only recharge the battery running it but would also power an inverter which could power my computer, recharge my phone, and run a space heater. I might try to add some lights onto that too, if we haven't already used all the power... That's pretty much all you need in the van!

Then we come to daily living needs. Seeing as I'm using this as a mobile dorm room, I am largely basing this on the school. I would park on the side street (I'd need a parking permit: $60) so I would be off their property, but otherwise, I would use the school for everything else. I'd use their bathrooms, locker rooms for showers, piggy-back off the campus wifi, and get the biggest meal plan available so I have more than enough meals to eat there every day (they also have microwaves in case I need a leftover reheated).

I'm starting to think a mini-fridge wouldn't be the worst thing to add to my van, assuming the power capacity is there. Billy also said I should get Netflix streaming, but I think that could be easily cut from the budget.

That should be everything! We thought about this concept for almost a half hour, and we only came up with two possible issues. The first is that I might get ticketed or possibly towed, but that could be alleviated by being more sneaky and moving from night to night, and the second is fairly inevitable and obvious: it's a four-wheeled, 2 ton chastity belt. I'm thinking about naming it "the abstinence-mobile" or maybe "the lonely wanderer." Not sure. I'm sure I'll think up something...

Teenage Stick Shifts

So I was on Youtube tonight, and I ran across the ever-present "teaching (insert normally bad driver here) to drive a stick" video, which got me thinking...

You always see some guy video taping his girlfriend "learning" how to drive stick. I think when I have kids, if I have a daughter, I'm going to teach her all the ins and outs of driving stick along with performance/stunt maneuvers. Then when some jerk thinks he's going to get a funny video of her driving a stick (because she'll keep up the ruse that she doesn't know), She'll kill it a couple of time and then bust out some awesome J-turns, powerslides, burnouts, and donuts. That would achieve three things: be awesome, make for an epic Youtube viral video, and show the punk kid to have some respect for the females. Have fun buying tires, you prick!

I think I'd teach the same things to my future son too. Only slower, taking many more weeks to show him the awesomeness of driving. In his car. Which would have a wheezy, dead V8.

That's just my thoughts...

Third Gen Torino (or Eight Gen Fairlane)

Hey everybody! Long time, no see. I should really change this to "Car of the Month"...

Today we look at the awesomeness that was the Ford Torino. The Torino was introduced in '68 as a higher trim line of the Fairlane, and had much of the same basic infrastructure as older Fairlanes (unit body construction, RWD, V8 and I6 options, and a fast, fun, but classy look. In 1970, a redesign came not only for the car but also the name. The Torino was the main car while the Fairlane was the subset base trim until it was completely dropped in '71. In '72, champagne fell from the sky, the angels sang, God smiled down from Heaven, and Ford engineers decided to make the Torino a good old body on frame design and threw in a 429 and a top-loader 4-speed with a four-link rear suspension and front and rear sway bars. The ride was smoother than Ron Burgundy's pick-up lines, and the car's looks would stop a blind man in his tracks. If there was a better car on the market in '72, Ford didn't make it, and I don't care.


Clint Eastwood named a movie after a '72 Torino, for Pete's sake!

With the zenith of the Torino being reached in '72, the downward spiral that followed was inevitable. In '73, the first of three major blows to all vehicle designs hit - the 5mph front impact regulation bumpers. This require that all front bumpers should withstand a a 5mph impact without damaging the car. The second blow came in '74 when they decided that the rear bumpers should have a similar guideline. The result was the loss of beautiful, body sculpted bumpers that add to and accent fascia designs. These were replaced by large, rectangular slabs or chrome plated metal mounted on springs with a soft plastic sheet that would crumple and bounce back covering the gaps between the bumpers and the body. Beautiful designs from all American auto companies were replaced with mutated, law-abiding versions. The Torino still had some panache, but it had lost some of its style in the regulation process. Luckily, the TV show Starsky & Hutch helped to add to the relevance of the Torino and immortalize the '74-6 body style in the minds of car, TV, and movie enthusiasts throughout history as the "Big Red Tomato" or the "Zebra 3".

The third blow to the Torino was the gas crisis. Ford had been gradually de-tuning their engines since as early as 1970 to try and make them get better fuel economy, but after the gas crisis of '74, they stopped putting in as many big, pavement pounding V8s and marketed the Torino as more of a personal luxury car. The Torino traded the 429 for the 460 (2-door models only) and lost the 351 Cobra Jet and the 4-speed after '74. In '75, the only remaining engine choices were 2 variations of the 351 2V (with less power than before), the emissions friendly 400 1V, and the 460 2V. No manual transmissions were available after '74. Ultimately, the Torino was cancelled at the end of '76, being replaced by the LTD II with its newer, sleeker, boxy lines.

I realize I don't normally do vehicle histories, but I really like Torino's. Especially because they are like an extension to the Fairlane line, which I also love and I used to own one. Since this took so long, I'll do the short version for how I would build mine, when I get it in the future after I land a job making tons of money.

I used to say, up until about two weeks ago, that I'd buy a '72 formal roof, paint it matte black with sweet rims and a kickin' stance, and redo the chrome in black chrome or powder coated dark grey. Something like this:

But recently I came across a guy who made a simple survivor '74 look drop-dead gorgeous with a simple wash and some nice rims.

So this has got me thinking...
What if I did the same general idea but instead of black, I use a dark, dark, almost black, metallic red with the black chrome (not the powder coating). The American Racing Torque Thrust II's really make this car look awesome. Especially if it's in black chrome. I think I'd get the '74-6 model and install the sleek, classic early '70s interior from the '72 model. Plus the back quarter windows roll down on the '72, and they discontinued that feature in '73 for cost savings. I've also seen one with the '72 front end on the '74 body. an idea that makes me wonder...

The drivetrain would be my usual deal. Stroked V8 (351 Cleavland), manual valve body automatic (I'm not sure which one they put in the late '80s F-250s and bigger, but I'd use that one because it was built to tow, then I'd add a reverse shift pattern), and posi-traction.

Another thought, if I did the black one, I was thinking about doing it with a bare-bones interior and a roll bar giving it a seriously menacing, visceral, and badass feel. The red version would be a bit more classy, so it'd have a full interior complete with sound deadening (for the ladies). This car would be quite nice in either version. It'll be awesome if I ever get it...