Stories

Bess

Roush 05-0477 - The Car That Saved American Muscle

I grew up in Alabama, in the days of fast muscle cars. Our hometown heroes,  Bobby and Donny Allison, were our inspiration.  Mom loved fast cars, so I learned to drive V8 Chevys, Dodges, and Fords. 


Chevelles, Camaros, and Challengers were my dream cars. Like every kid my age,  I wanted a Mustang.


The 1970s came with emission controls; America lost its balls.  Horsepower came from Italy, Germany, and Great Britain.  Reliability came from Japan.


The Camaro and Challenger disappeared.  The Mustang II was so bad that even Farrah Fawcett in a swimsuit couldn't sell it.


In 2005, Ford decided enough was enough and built a retro-styled Mustang, taking cues from the late 1960s cars, and giving it a small-block V-8 with 300 hp and as much torque.  It was beautiful, fast, surprisingly agile, and light.  The 2005 Mustang was a bare-bones car but Ford built it right.

I had to have one.


Kady had a nice Toyota 4-Runner, still in great shape, and I had been driving a Toyota MR-2 for thirteen years, so I began getting Kady on board with the idea. I showed her artistic conceptions, told her all about the cars I had driven in the past, and reminded her that the Mustang was always my dream car.


When Ford released it, it was everything I hoped it would be. I began shopping. Every time I passed a Ford dealership, I would stop. I could never find a V-8; people were snatching them up like candy. Ford forced their dealerships to take a certain number of six-cylinder cars for each GT. I don't remember how many, maybe three or four. There were plenty of those on the lot so I got a good look at the inside of the car.

While in Alabama, on summer leave from VMI, I searched for my GT, with every sly and slippery intention of buying one. I went to three dealerships with no success. At Adamson Ford, downtown, I found two 400+ horsepower Saleens. Saleen had made too many modifications that took away from the retro styling I loved.


Adamson Ford told me to try Town and Country Ford in Bessemer, on the far west side of Birmingham. They had two GTs on the lot, one yellow and the other white. I didn't want either one.


The salesman, Mr. Pope, asked me if I had looked at the Roush Mustangs in the lot.


Roush Mustangs?! What?

He took me to the front lot. There they were, eight Roush Mustangs in every color, with racing stripes and Roush banners. I hadn't read anything about Roush modifying the car, but they made it look more like a 1970 Mustang. They added a front dam, side molding, and a rear fascia with a spoiler. Roush put carbon fiber on the dash and installed Roush pedals, gauges, floor mats, and leather seats. These cars were what Roush was calling their Roush Sport, normally aspirated, with only body improvements. They wouldn't supercharge theirs until 2006.


I was in love.

One car stood out.  It was a Mineral Gray car with no racing stripes. I sat in it, cranked it up, and called Kady and told her to come to Bessemer. She showed up about 30 minutes later with Sylvia and SS. When she saw the car, or maybe it was the look on my face, she told me to buy it if I wanted it.


GREAT WIFE!


I slept on it overnight, a waste of time, and picked the car up the next day.

My first trip was to the Lake House, east on I-20.  I was a nervous wreck; I-20, like always, was under construction.


At the Lake House, everyone loved the car and wanted a ride.  No one would drive it.  I asked Bee, my son's girlfriend, to pose with it and she agreed, beginning a tradition of girls posing with my car for my camera.


Driving back to Lexington, I realized how much people loved Mustangs. A car irritated me by pulling up on my seven and staying there.  When they finally passed, a pretty girl was hanging out of the passenger window taking photos of my car.


As I drove into Lexington, a group of kids hanging out in the Kroger parking lot began bowing and chanting, "We're not worthy."


Every wash day, someone stopped to talk to me about my car or to tell me about their Mustang.  They all told me how they still wish they had theirs.

Bess with Bee
Bess with CE

Once the Corps returned to Post, Bess became a favorite topic when talking to Cadets.  They loved her and respected her.  I let a few cadets and a few of my people drive her.  The Commandant let me photograph her inside Barracks.

 

My daughter was the second person to drive Bess.  She took her around the Parade Ground at VMI - you could still do that in 2005. She took a couple of laps, hitting 55 in a 15 zone.


CE can drive; CE doesn't care.




Bess with Erin and Laeun
Bess with KS
Bess with Ashley Ryan

I made a few improvements, which I kept Roush.


To begin, I carefully removed the Town and Country sticker revealing her name, "Bess," while removing Bessemer.

I installed a Roush Stage Two suspension, lowering Bess's front end an inch and rear end a half-inch. Her handling was much stiffer and more sure.


A Roush Cold Air Intake helped her breathe and added about 15 horsepower.  I didn't Supercharge her, preferring the rumble of a naturally aspirated V8 to the whine of a supercharged engine.


A Roush Short Throw Shifter, though very "notchy," made shifts faster and more fun.


An Alpine Radio gave her hands-free communications.


She had Juju to keep her safe from bad stuff.  This Talisman included:

The last photo of a beautiful girl. Taken with my Canon A-1 in T-Max 400, the day before I sold her.

I sold Bess on Wednesday, 9 March 2022.  It left me far sadder than I imagined.   It was time.

She was a young man's car. Her clutch hurt my old knee, her ride shook my old bones, and she was too low for Kady to enter and exit comfortably. She began to have more and more maintenance problems. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a car that I only drove a few times a month.

She was a great car and I miss her.  We'll never get to do that Beach Trip together That hurts the most.  I hope someone who wants to fix her up buys her.