Frank Szymkowski’s passion for the Ford Mustang began with a sort of “secret love” for the Fox body 5.0s that had their performance peak in the mid-80s. “I had a friend who bought one every year and he got ‘em to really run well,” says Szymowski. “Always had a love for those cars.”
His love for muscle cars was already strong, though. At the time his infatuation began with the blue oval, he had already lined his driveway with plenty of muscle, from ’69 Judges to a ’65 Z16 Chevelle. After installing $35-40K worth of mods in his ’87 Grand National, he won nearly every show he entered. Unfortunately, the turbo Buick hardly ever left the garage. “It was not fun driving it anymore,” says Szymkowski. “I always said that I would own a Mustang some day.”
A couple decades later, he took his father-in-law to a dealership about 50 miles away from their home to purchase a brand-new black and red 2008 Mustang GT. Szymowski was lucky enough to drive it home and was instantly hooked— “big time! I had to have an S197.”
Because of his space limitations, Szymkowski had to first sell his Grand National before he could chase his dream Stang. “In this economy it was not easy,” he says. “While I had the Grand National on eBay and all the forums I started my search for the Mustang of our dreams.”
Szymkowski and his wife soon travelled to the dealership to test-drive a convertible and quickly decided that their purchase would be topless. “No question.”
He looked for an uncommon color combination within a 200 mile radius and found one at a Mini dealership 130 miles away in New Jersey. “A local guy had traded it in for a new Mini,” says Szymkowski. “It was perfect!”
The year-old Mustang came in a wild, one-year-only color combination: Redfire. Add to that the chamois with a spoiler delete. Oh, and the 18” polished wheels complimented the 5-speed rather nicely, he thought. “I put a deposit on it,” he says. “It was an amazing 130 mile trip back home with the top down. My wife and 14-year old son loved it."
While he loved his old Grand National, he agrees that the transition was necessary. "[The Grand National] gave many years of pleasure to my family and myself, it just became too nice to drive," says Szymkowski. "[Purchasing the Mustang] was the best move we could have made. We now love to cruise the car once again.”
Be sure to hit Frank up on the forums—his username is
topbliss. For more photos of his 2007 Redfire Mustang GT Premium Convertible, check out the
StangPlanet Featured Rides Gallery.
..very nice color
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