Subject:  2002 Mustange Convertible GT
Date:     11/19/2002

I bought my "dream car" on September 14, 2002.  It shakes so badly it will
rattle the teeth right out of your head.  I purchased this lemon, and it is
bright yellow, from Ralph Gabbard's Mt. Orab Ford, Mt. Orab, Ohio.  I bought
this as a new car at a new car price only to find that even though the salesman
wrote 240 for current mileage the true miles were closer to 400.  This was only
the beginning.  After jumping in and taking off since it was pouring down rain,
I arrived home before realizing that there was severe damage to the drivers side
striker plate, the striker plate that was on it wasn't the correct part and it
had an ugly shim behind it and the paint around it was the wrong color.  Two
weeks later I couldn't even start the car, was forced to call Fords Roadside
Assistance to get it back to the dealership and the truck driver dropped the car
on it's front end.  At this point I told them they could keep the car but they
brought in a Ford Rep named R. Carson who said we'll fix it and give you an
extended warranty.  They did the body work, had the car on their lot for two
weeks, drove it close to 400 miles while it was in their possession and balanced
the wheels to "fix" the vibration problem.  Well needless to say it still was
shaking when I picked it up they made arrangements for me to take it to a tire
shop for them to try which I did to no avail, the tire shop stated that there
wasn't anything at all wrong or unbalanced in the tires, rims or rotors.  So
then the owner of the dealership's son with whom I have been trying to get
something resolved decided to have me bring the car to the lot, upon which they
took the wheels off of a 2003 mustang coupe that is on their lot and put them on
my 2002, they had also used this same 2003 as an organ donor in the past for a
headlight and tail light that were on my car that were holding moisture.  The
2003 has the bad parts and my wheels still today, they will be selling it as a
new car also no doubt, just a small statement about their total lack of
integrity but I digress, needless to say the wheels didn't do the trick so the
dealers son, who we'll call Gerald Gabbard, started letting the air out of my
tires to try to camouflage the problem.  He's so tricky!   They took the car
back into the shop, loosened motor mounts,  shifted engine in it's saddle,
loosened the exhaust repositioned,  removed rear end cover checked ring gear
runout, reindexed the drive shaft, tightened all suspension parts, i.e.. lower
control arms, rear stabilizer, trailing arms, tie rods, rack bolts, shock
dampener, strut mounts, did all this in a couple of days and drove the car
another 100 miles.  The dealer's son put many miles on it himself at his own
admission, supposedly for road testing purposes but he is definitely not even a
mechanic.  The car STILL SHAKES.  Next step, yet another ford rep and a field
service engineer, upon getting this new rep involved it was discovered that R.
Carson who came to the dealership back on Oct 7 had never even put me in for the
extended warranty as promised, and he was supposed to have ordered a new sticker
for the inside of the door where they were forced to remove the original one to
do the repair work to the striker post, he hadn't ordered that either.  The ford
"engineer" hooked a vibe analysis machine to the car, stacked four people in it
which weighted it down and changed the shake to some degree and we took it for a
spin.  Now they are in the process of driving other 2002 mustang convertibles
with their machine attached to determine whether this is a "normal" part of the
car.  It seems to me, and I stated such at the time that if they come to the
conclusion that this is normal then they have engineered a liability right into
the car. Gerald Gabbard had planned for them to do their comparison to a used 99
convertible that he has on his lot,  I didn't agree with that so the engineer
and ford rep said they would go to other lots and find new 02 convertibles to do
their comparisons.  That is where I'm at currently.  On top of all this it has
been like pulling teeth, which isn't even necessary since my mustang shook them
all out,  to get the dealer to document any of the work they have done to the
car, I was finally able to get some Xeroxed copies, they have never gotten my
signature on ANYTHING, as far as work orders and such, not so much as an
initial.  What a nightmare, I am yet to have that new car experience, I'm making
huge insurance and loan payments on a car I can only drive to and from a
dealership, which is an 80 mile trip, only to leave it and let them put more
miles on it than I have.

Regards,
Gary