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Dave
My '02 was ordered by dealer 1-10-02, manufactured on 2-22-02 - Shipped to dealer in Augusta, ME 3-4-02 and I bought it from dealer in NH who had it brought to his dealership on 8-3-02 when I paid for it. Then I had them go through it for all recalls (you remember them) and then had them registered it on 8-5-02 for delivery.
Currently have 14,500 miles on it
Texasbird is an '02 Premium with the full red interior trim package. She was ordered on 2/12/02 by Grand Prairie Ford as a dealer stock vehicle, but my suspicions are that they had other intentions. She was built on 6/17 and delivered to the dealership on 7/1/02. Their General Sales Manager was the first owner, but she was kept her titled through the dealership until she reached almost 10k miles. She was then either sold after that, or titled by the original owner upon his departure from the dealership. I found her at Park Place Motorcars, on Lemmon Ave. in Dallas in August of 2006, with 56k miles.
Since we've had her, she has been in early retirement, getting driven just over 2k miles annually. She was amajor hit at my high school class's 30th reunion in late Sept of that year. Her first long trip under my ownership was to Austin in Dec. 06. She's made several trips to the Dallas area for fun, car shows and dinners with TBN members. She's been in one car show, when the Great Race vehicles stopped in our area for a scheduled pit stop. She's also been in two Homecoming Parades, and was also very popular at Linda's 35th reunion in Shreveport. Her most recent TBN gathering was the 48 in 08 Luncheon in Gainesville.
Her favorite trips are around Lake Texoma, but since she hates getting sand in her carpet, she usually just cruises around the lake to take in the scenery. A great outing is to start from home, travelling west on US 82 to Whitesboro. At US 377 we usually turn north, to cross the Willis Bridge into Oklahoma. At Kingston we turn back east, in order to cross the Roosevelt Bridge, and travel to Durant. These two bridges are longer spans that cross portions of the lake, rather than just crossing the narrow channels of the Red River. At Durant, we turn south on our return trip across Red River, and back into Texas. Scenic stops, dinner and a little gambling at Choctaw Casino usually makes the trip last the greater part of a sunny day.
She is about to get her hard top installed for the winter, but is hoping for one last fall outing before that happens. We'll see if the weather cooperates.
There once was a T-Bird born on 5/02 (vin 18783); originally ordered by the VP of Operations of Mullinax Ford of Central Florida. The car was well cared for and cherished for several years. When we purchased it in 9/08 it only has 2900 original miles. As luck would have it a good friend of ours lived 1/2 hour away from the Florida owner and was insturmental in getting the Bird to us in RI. After a quick inspection by our friend, George, it was placed on a transporter and shipped to us. We've had many other toys, motorcycles, Mustang, but we think the Bird will be around for a long time. We look forward to meeting all the T-heads at Thunderama. It will be our bird's TBN debut and we are looking forward to it. That's our story and we're sticking to it.
So seven is on it's way,And 14 is coming soon. LOL
My 2002 Torch Red, called "Lola", turned 7 last August 6th... I guess I have one of the first couple of thousand or so built. Her stats are:
Vin# 101757 Sequence Number: 1662
Order Date: 1/10/2001
Date Built: 8/6/2001
At Dealer: 9/24/2001
Sold Date: 11/9/2001
We brought her into our family in June of '07, after drooling over the new Retro Birds for years...I could only afford one after I retired from the Air Force in 2006. We bought her in Wetumpka, AL, and, according to some research, she was passed from dealer to dealer (Florida to Dothan AL, to GA, and then back to AL) until we saw her. She has around 63K miles on her (about 15K of those I put on her).
My '02 blue T-Bird (VIN#120648) was born sometime in June '02 (don't know which day though ), and then delivered to Venne Ford in Repentigny, QC Canada, where it remained unsold for the remainder of the year. Knowing that it was very unlikely they'd sell it during the winter time, the dealer stored it and brought it out again on their lot in the following spring ('03). It sat there until I bought it on May 29th '03. It had been driven very little with a "dealer" plate attached to it by the wife of the dealer's owner and had approximately 3,700 kms on it but had never been registered. That makes me the car's first owner. It originally came with a blue hard top, which I sold to get a white one instead. It also had the grey-painted 21 spoke wheels which were also replaced with the correct '02-'03 style 7 wide spoke chromed wheels, and last, the front bumper-mounted supplemental lights and matching wiring harness were added (because they did not come out of the factory with them on cars sold in Canada).
The car is almost 7 years old now and has 43,000 kms on it, has always been pampered, drives like new, and still has it's original brakes, tires and battery...
Claude.
1971 Chevelle SS 454 1987 Buick Grand National 2008 Ford F-350 Crew Cab Dually Pickup 2006 Ford Five Hundred SEL
Great thread Dave! It's going to be fun to read all the Seven's stories. I'll chime in with mine next July when my Bird turns that milestone (can't believe it's been this long already!)
All the dealers in the San Jose area in 2001 wanted $10,000 over MSP when I tried to buy one in town. Finally located one in Jacksonville, MS on eBay and ended up purchasing it there on 10/31/01 and having it shipped back here.
Vin # 101812
Order date 3/15/01
Build date 9/10/01
At deaer 10/4/01
Sold 10/4/01
Last edited by Red T-Bird; Nov 30, 2008, 09:27 PM.
My Blackbird (VIN 107164) has a birthday coming up on 12-05-01. Started out in Florida as a commercial and had gone through four owners and four states by the time I bought it in Greenville, NC in March 08. Lots of miles and lots of owners, but still looks and runs good. Their lost and my gain. Edward
My story is a lot like Red T-Bird's. I put in a pre-order in Petaluma, CA, and cancelled it when I learned that they were going to charge the $10,000 premium over invoice. So I located a dealer in Versailles, KY, who promised me their first one; drove a rented SUV out there when the car arrived; picked it up; and drove it back to CA on Route 66, making a two-hour DVD of the trip and meeting YeloBird 2002 along the way in Texas.
Vin# 104222
Order Date: 4/9/2001
Sold Date: 11/24/2001
I wanted one after that Motor Trend article in 1999. I ordered mine on Jan 8, 2001. It came in in July and was immediately turned around and sent back to Wixom for that initial recall. I got it on October 18th and drove her over 125 m.p.h. the very next day.
I've loved every minute, every mile and every new friend we've met together.
Unbelivable TBN trips includingALL of the lower 48 States plus 9 Canadian Provinces, 8 European Countries, 3 Caribbean Countries,Countless National Parks and have attended well over 100 TBN Events since 2001 and counting. Best of all ... fabulous friends.
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