1992 Performance Red Mustang GT - Jim Wyche '92

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1966 when the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen pulled up to the dormitory driveway. Not only was she beautiful, so was her new car, a Springtime Yellow Mustang with black interior. That was my introductions to my future wife and the wonderful world of Mustangs. They were both keepers. Miss Jayne has renewed my lease 41 times since then and we now have three Mustangs.

The red 1992 Mustang GT came into our lives in May of ’92 when I bought it and literally drove it off the showroom floor at Mountain View Ford in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It replaced a 1979 5.0 hatch that has it’s own interesting story. As I drove away I remember thinking, “I’m going to be 49 years-old when I finish making payments! I wonder if I’ll keep it that long?” Well, it’s been paid for many times over and I still have it. The car is seventeen and I’m now sixty.

For the first four years it served as my work car to make sales calls. At the time I had a picture in my mind of what a streetable GT should be (pretty much what everyone back then thought!). So, within the first 30 days I added a 3.73:1 gear, BBK lowering springs, sub-frame connectors, strut tower brace, K-member brace, underdrive pulleys, and a K & N air filter. It was a blast to drive and I was the fastest Dale Carnegie Training Consultant in town!

The “Red Car”, as it was known in our family, later served typical household duties. It carried groceries, bales of straw for the yard, and served as my son’s college transportation. It was just sitting unused in our driveway in 2002 when the modification bug bit me With good friend Paul Roy doing the heavy lifting, we started in modifying the car. The interior was stripped out, engine and suspension removed. All seams prone to breaking or cracking were welded. A 1989 tilt steering column was fitted and some of the wiring was hidden behind the fender panels.

Over the years the entire car has been modified with the goal of being a general-purpose ride. It’s capable whether cruising with the stereo and A/C working, pounding out mid-sevens in the eighth mile, or carving corners in the Smoky Mountains. The “Red Car” has been a great outlet for the last seventeen years, but it’s time to pass it on to a responsible younger man (or woman) who will love it and care for it like I have. A back injury makes it a challenge for me to drive the five-speed. It will hurt like crazy to see it go. Maybe I’ll get lucky and no one will buy it!