I will preface by saying I bought the car. It's a 2014 Mustang GT in black, six speed manual, leather seats, Shaker audio, a smidge under 83k km, and that's pretty much it. I love it, and to show thanks to one of the most important men in my life for getting me to this point (my late grandfather), I named him Sandy.

Now here's how I'm a complete moron and spent several hours today trying not to die.

Our story starts on Tuesday, after once again taking too long to pull the trigger on a Bullitt, I didn't get it. Which means I emailed immediately when I saw this post, which was less than 24 hours old. Naturally, when you really want something, not getting it is a bit of a kick in the pants. And as such, I opened up the floodgates to "a Mustang with a V8 and a manual that looks cool".

Enter: the 2014 Mustang GT that popped up in my Kijiji recommended feed, wrongly listed as a Ford GT. I emailed right away, got a response back almost immediately, and set up an appointment for 1 pm today.

However, yesterday rolled around, and @atfsgeoff once again poked and prodded to remind me that the car could be gone before I even look at it, regardless of appointment. So I texted the dealer (Riverside Dodge in Prince Albert) to move my appointment, and set out.

It drove nice, wasn't in perfect, but I liked it. Definitely felt like a good fit for me. The Coyote has noticeably more grunt than the old Modular 4.6, the six-speed is geared excellently, and it just felt good.

Reasonably, I sat down with the finance person, looked her in the eyes and said "I know I haven't got a leg to stand on based on the current market, and any negotiation attempts can basically be ignored." She just nodded along and said "yeah, that's about right".

Somehow, I negotiated $700 off. It's not much, but I'll call it a win. Cash is still king in some places, as long as you're not at Windsor Ford in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Anyway, we left to pick it up today. The weather called for some rain, then 3 cm of snow. Nothing bad, nothing I haven't done before. There was the odd bit of rain in the first hour and a bit, but it was barely noteworthy. Once we hit Melfort and I got the draft from the bank (who also very politely spelled my last name wrong by ignoring half of it [I don't understand how or why hyphens make people stupid)], we continued on our way to Prince Albert.

A funny thing happened, though. So that rain? It made the highways wet. The snow? It sticks to the roadway, and was quite slushy already. The wind? Constantly blowing onto the highway. Visibility was poor, the roadway sucked, and I told my driver that I should probably pay him more. He agreed.

However, a Mustang ahead of us made me go "I guess that's a sign, if he can do it I can do it", and we carried on. That Mustang pulled off pretty shortly later, but hey, metaphors don't last forever.

A hop, skip, and jump through awful weather and dumb paperwork, and the car was mine. All clean, all ready to rock and roll home. I wasn't optimistic. Neither was my ride up, who I treated to lunch and who I still owe basically everything. We parted ways, and the drive home began.

The car is a perfect cruiser. Effortless passing power, good sound system, the exhaust was beautiful, pretty good ride, I can't wait to take this to the... PNW Off-Road meet. Uhhhhh sorry @CarsOfFortLangley , I may need to bum a ride at some point. And for the brief bit the roads were good, it was magic.

And then, of course, Saskatchewan Spring showed up. It was a beautiful sunny day and there was a 40 km/h wind, blowing the snow across the highway and slowly freezing the slush. I found a car in front of me, decided they were my new best friend, and followed them faithfully. We averaged about 50 km/h the whole way back to Melfort. I stopped for a rest and to wait for the plows to come out, and guess what?

They didn't.

So it was a very similar story all the way east. And with the sun setting, the drive south was terrifying. Quite possibly some of the worst roads I've seen, combined with a 420 horsepower RWD muscle car on all-season tires. The scrapes of snow and ice against the undercarriage hurt my soul, but I carried on, thankful for my lengthy driving experience. Had I been five years younger, I would've been in a ditch easily.

In any case, four and a half hours I left Prince Albert, with a one hour pit stop, I made it home. I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have put my friend at risk in this weather. But... we all made it home safe, so lesson learned.

I would also like to thank Pirelli for making the excellent P Zero Nero tire. It has an M+S on it, but no three peaks. I don't know how, but they were a lifesaver.

Now, I guess it's time for plans. Right now, I'm very happy, but I'll be removing the windshield sun visor strip as quickly as possible. After that, mud flaps. And that's my plan for the car this year. Next year? We'll see.

Thanks for reading. I'll try to get some better pictures soonish.

Cool dealer order tax. Seriously, Riverside Dodge knows how to order cars for the lot. 392, T/A, manual, the only thing it needs is a shaker hood and to not be $71k CAD.

My Kawasaki Z400 that I’ll write a review on at the end of the season. Probably.

Autumn is lovely and lying in the grass under a tree is a small pleasure in life. Mental health day is going great.

The box was five and a half feet tall. I recognized the address immediately as @The-Crazy-Kanuck ’s.

It’s like five feet by five feet. You could have a picnic on this. This piece of art is going on the wall in my office. Thank you so much for what I can only describe as the most absurd thing I own.

I can’t escape it.

@davesaddiction Building something in the desert and calling your water system design "drought resistant" sounds like a pipedream with a side of delusions of grandeur.

They were able to get the three inches of mud caked to the bottom off. A little too much ArmorAll in the interior than I’d like but I’m very happy.

A before photo, for reference.

Saturday morning was the real start of the meet. We met up at Pigs 'N Pancake for breakfast, except for @AMGtech and @Dr-Zoidberg, who were late due to their campsite being underwater and had to sit at a different table. @evilellie666 was kind enough to join a group of complete strangers, as was Annie, @TheBarber's partner, and the food was pretty good.

We went further down the coast to Hug Point, where the stragglers caught up to us. After a few photos and TheBarber letting out Molly to stretch her legs, we headed off to the air museum in Tillamook.

This is where we met up with @spacekraken, @decay-still-has-too-many-beaters, and @jminer. We mingled in the parking field for a bit.

@just-a-scratch 's MR2 is tiny and supremely cool.

We made our way into the museum and stumbled into a group discount for the twelve of us, which was pretty rad!

The museum was... varied. A few of the aircraft were pretty cool!

It was very dark and filled with barn owls. I think I got pneumonia from the air.

The diorama part was neat, I suppose.

He really bought it. I couldn't believe it.

We took a long lunch at the dairy factory, where they really went all out with the cheese on their meals. 10/10 would go again.

AMGTech knew of a secret camping spot half an hour into the Tillamook State Forest. He looked at the Mustang and went "you're definitely not going to make it". I trusted his opinion, which then got ignored later on and now I have to order a new front splitter.

Once in camp, there was more shooting the shit, some fire, and just sitting around and talking late into the night.

Dr. Zoidberg said that the meets were the best part of Oppo, and the dearth of them for the last few years sucked. I'm inclined to agree, as are others, as there's already a desert meet in Utah in the fall being planned.

The Mustang, left alone roadside, was fine overnight. There were a few glam shots taken of people leaving, as you've likely seen.

Why are there so many photos of @AestheticsInMotion? Because he asked me to take them. A first!

This is also the man who flexed on the people in flooded campsites Friday night by sending a picture of him in his hotel room with a bottle of champagne.

This is where I parted ways from the group, the start of a three day drive home ahead of me. They were planning off-roading stuff, which I heard went perfectly.

It was a great time and absolutely worth the road trip. If you're scared about Oppo Meets, just know that they're almost exactly like the forum, but in person. From discussions on old cars, breakfast cereals, differences between Canada and the US, all sorts, we were up until 01.30 in the morning just hanging out. I'm so glad I got to meet the PNW crew, and I hope to be able to make another meet in the future!

@Photography

Finally home twelve hours after I left this morning. Nine hours trapped with work duties on a day off, walked the dog quickly, then a forty-five minute drive to the grocery store to stock up before the freezing rain starts tomorrow. I feel like I should pass out in the next twenty minutes and not leave bed until noon tomorrow.

Husky tax.

@e90m3 Did he fart so hard he destroyed the seat or what.

@Dr-Zoidberg "Additional aftermarkets" if you're selling me something, tell me what it is!

@dogisbadob said in EV base prices are BS:

the best part is that public charging stations now cost almost as much as filling up a gas tank

Don't forget that you need an app for every different charger! I don't understand why we can't just tap credit cards, this is something that didn't need innovation.

@davesaddiction For most, you have to really want an EV to buy one. Financially, it still makes sense to keep buying a gas car, even with the cost of gas these days. And then manufacturers sell "long range" versions to put people at ease for range anxiety, but that's adding an extra $5k to anything at least.

Working on the photography for the Civic review. I've got it all day tomorrow and then Friday morning it'll be returned. So far? I'm impressed for the most part, but a few things really hold it back from being a truly great car. Review should be up Monday.

@Plymouth-Superbird-2nd Those Bugatti taillights... you think you could get those bulbs replaced at AutoZone?

@facw We can only hope.

... is when the brand you love is terrible. My grandmother is planning on getting a new vehicle since she's finding her... Sentra? Altima? ... anyway, too difficult to get in and out of post-stroke, and needs to load in her walker. She's a Nissan fan, and won't consider anything else. Which means a Kicks or Qashqai has a chance of ending up in her driveway.

My automotive enthusiasm is clearly not hereditary.

@beefchips There’s a similar nightmare appearing in the Hockey Canada world. Just let us get rid of the shitheads and make something good, would you?

@ibRAD said in How close to the curb do you park? (Poll within):

@CB said in How close to the curb do you park? (Poll within):

@GibbsEmphasis Pfffft yeah like we have curbs.

Alternate poll: how far from the road. It's a delicate balance between being too close to the road and finding out just how soft the 'soft' shoulder is.

I've seen a lot of people park with one tire off the road and get stuck. Though I think that says more about the driver and vehicle than anything.