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Our dealer, Shamrock Ford in Dublin CA, had this Triple Black one sitting on its showroom floor on Saturday, January 5, 2002, when we stopped in to see one of the new T-Birds. Up to then, we had never even seen one in person. We had only seen photos of the new T-Bird prior to that time. They had this Triple Black T-Bird on the showroom floor for 3 days because the original buyer backed out of the deal.
I know now that I should have never stopped by and let my wife see a Black T-Bird. As a lifelong Raiders fan, she wanted a Triple Black T-Bird. That was all she wrote, even though we had not yet driven the car. We made an offer for what I thought was a reasonable an out-the-door price. But the dealer's people turned it down. This is when the premium was $4000 over MSRP.
However, we were on the way to Oakland to see the Raiders-Jets final season game of the 2001-2002 season. So we took off for the game.
On Monday, January 7, the dealer's sales manager called us in Fresno saying that they would accept our out-the-door price offer. But, by then we had decided to wait on such a large purchase. The Sales Manager asked us to stop in again the next Saturday when would again be going to Oakland for the Raiders-Jets playoff game. So we stopped in the next weekend and drove the Bird around the dealer's parking lot. But by then, we were waffling. It was a large purchase price. We went on to the game and back home. After a lot of discussion between my wife and I on Sunday, we decided to call the dealer back on Monday, January 14, 2002, and go ahead with the deal. We made a deposit over the phone, and the deal was done.
Our salesman drove down to Fresno in another dealer vehicle on Tuesday morning, January 15, (a 2 hour drive) to pick up my wife and take her back up to Dublin, so she could drive the new Bird back to Fresno. She really enjoyed the trip back to Fresno, via I-5. Other drivers were trying to get alongside the Bird, giving her thumbs up and waving. She said that she was really nervous driving her Bird, but she really enjoyed it.
We have really enjoyed having the Bird. It is wonderful to drive, especially top down in the evenings. It is the best purchase we ever made.
TBN, and all the people on it, are the greatest. We have learned so much about the new T-Birds from everyone. :tbn:
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