The Megaphone incident

Every now and again while driving the Shelby GT. I get more than just the standard “hey nice car nod” or the really common “I will trade you straight across offer” or the most typical “I wanna see what your car will do against mine”. So for anything OUTSIDE of those I just listed, my good friend Ben and I have named these: Mustang Moments!

The latest Mustang Moment involves a powered megaphone… Oh yeah, it gets better. –So we had some nice weather a couple weekends ago and I thought hey, great time to get out and drive the Shelby. State Street was cleared of snow and mostly dry so I went that route. It also happened to be early evening. You know, just before the late night stuff goes on so I thought I might be safe from all the Younger kids in the Import cars (though they are fun to race against) and other even less interesting folks. I am cruising along and right beside me I notice a large SUV packed with people looking to be about 18 to 25 years old. They take notice of the Shelby GT and proceed to look the car over… No big deal. Right? –Wrong.

What happens next is what makes this post important to my blog. The driver is holding what appears to be a CB radio in his hand. Images of Smokey and the Bandit rush to my head and I think… Who uses CB’s these days? Well turns out it’s no CB. The passenger seated directly behind him has just lifted a HUGE megaphone from the window of the car and is no pointing it out the window for all to hear what the driver has to say. The evening hum of State Street traffic was interrupted by a series of loud squaks and then the following announcement. “Attention driver, of the Shelby Mustang! –That is the sweetest looking car on the road. You win the award for the coolest car tonight. Can you burn the tires for us?”

Half in shock, partly in confusion, and also because I didn’t care to have anymore public service announcements- I dropped the car down from 4th gear at 2,800 rpm and slid the Hurst shifter into 3rd gear, pushed down the gas pedal to wind up the engine and let out the clutch at a little over 4,000 rpms! The Shelby GT responded smartly with a bark of the tires, and the growl of the dual exhaust as I launched ahead of them. I kept pushing till I reached a safe distance ahead of them. By that time I had a few moments to reflect on the situation… A MEGAPHONE! Are you kidding me? Who in the hell goes around town with a megaphone in cars yelling at other drivers. Then it occurred to me that when I was in High School I went on State Street with friends armed with fire extinguishers. So I guess I had my answer. I thought, man I must be getting old to look back and forget that I did stupid stuff like that… But I also just raced my Shelby pushing it 25 miles over the posted limit. –Guess I am not too old

The Shelbys

For now the Think Tank Garage consists of 2 cars, specifically Shelby cars. Allen's is the 1965 Shelby Cobra (Silver wih black LaMans stripes). Zach's Car is the 2007 Shelby GT Mustang (Black with silver LaMans stripes). Our decison for these cars to be a match set were quite accidental though we have enjoyed the fact that many times over the summer we found that specific shows such as the Shelby American Automotive Club (SAAC) event allowed us to stick together and enjoy each others company outside of the office routine.

This photo of the cars was taken at the Miller Motorsports Park located about 30 minutes west of Salt Lake City. It's a world class road course track that was newly developed a few years ago by Larry H. Miller and is home to a performance driver instruction program that allows new drivers to drive at high speeds in modifided 2006 Ford Mustangs. Allen and I spent a few days of the summer out there at the track participating in SAAC event as well as a Mustang club event. On both occasions, we managed to get our cars onto the track for some Parade Laps. A Parade Lap is pretty much what it sounds like. Everyone who was participating would line up single file in cars and we would go out on the track behind a pace car with a top speed set at no more than 60 MPH. It might not sound like much and 60 really is not that fast really. However, once you get into some of the technical turns on the road course, it's enough to give you a thrill.

In the next post I will go over my car -the 2007 Shelby GT Mustang in detail as I share with you how the whole Think Tank Garage got started. There are some fun stories surrounding these 2 cars and the times that we have had with them this past summer.

What is the Think Tank Garage?

Think Tank Creative Consortium is a design studio that my friend Allen and I started back in 2000! It began as a freelance design effort that over time had grown into a full blown business. Today we are a healthy graphic design company that works hard to service clients around the United States & Canada. So what is a Think Tank Garage?...

Well it's our passion for sports cars and our desire to own, drive and share our experiences with clients, friends and family! This is our hobby. Inspired by Jay Leno (only without as many cars) we plan to get you up close and personal with the high performance cars we enjoy. Over then winter months as our shelbys sit in storage, I will bring you up to speed on our 2007 season of tire smokin' fun. Sit down and stap in- you are about to go for a ride!