1st Annual National ASC McLaren Rally/Car Show......

[Sandy]

To answer "What's wrong with '88s" ~

ascMcLaren was set up to handle "around 500" units per model year. This is/was their "comfort zone". We are NOT speaking of the coupes of 1984, 85 & 86 as they took little time to convert, but rather the convertibles of 1984 thru 1990 which as you can see required massive reconfiguration and construction and modifacations. The Capris of the 3 years were okay, at 50 / 257 & 245. By 1985/86 they were in total control of things. The switch over to the Mustang body presented no unusual challenges and the 479 for 1987, while to date the largest quantity, was still within their forcast zone. Selling department did an awesome job of "selling"during the late part of 1987 and Ford dealers were offerred perks to order a 1988. They (dealers) responded with a positive responce waaay greater than expected, resulting in over 1,000 orders. The work force at Autry Avenue plant was overwhelmed. 1,000 cars sat outdoors in the parking lot. 266 identical white coupes and 749 identical black coupes, some with automatic & some with manual transmission. Even the porters were over taxed to find a blue interiored stick among the 266 units with blue interior.
As a result, assembly quality, fit & finish and alignments of some (a rather large "some") was not up to where it coulda shoulda been.
Dealers in 1987 proved to be a PITA because buyers wanted a car yesterday..... and start to finish an ascMcLaren took 90 days. So, in addition to more dealer orders, the powers that were decided to create a "Sales Bank" of UNsold (It has nowhere to go to) inventory, for Ford/Mercury dealers who want one on their showroom floor TOMORROW! This proved to be a huge mistake, as many many cars sat there long after the 1989s were being built. You can see the "real" demand in the sales figures of 1987 & 1989 at 479 and 247 and then standing out like a sore thumb is 1,015 for 1988, meaning that appox. 650 units were built with no home to go to.
Workers quit for being over burdened. Part time workers were actually recruited from unemployment lines. I heard rumors of high school kids being hired after school hours and being given crash course lessons on assembly pieces.
THEREFORE, 1988s by & large to a measurable extent, are not as well glued together as 1987s, 1989s & 1990s.
This is NOT to say that many 1988s are tight well constructed examples. This is to say that the percentage of water leaks, squeeks, body flex and other not-so-good tidbits is a high percentage among 1988s than that of other years.

Remember, ascMcLaren's JOB was to sell the car TO THE CAR DEALER. After that, whatever happened was the dealer's problem.
They (asc) built false hopes in dealer's eyes regarding PROFITS and when the dealer's failed to achieve such lofty profits from the cars, they no longer ordered stock units (see 247 - 1989s)!! When the buyer found out that it would take 90 days from dealership placed order, to car arrival, demand fell fast, dropping 76% for 1989 model run.
Many "In Stock - Unsold" examples were sold at dealers at a major loss (Read: Under Invoice by $1,000) just to stop paying floor plan financing on them.
The highest quality returned for 1989 & 1990, when new & experienced workers were hired and the flow of orders was what they were originaly hired to do and time in assembly was comfortable. 500 units per model year was their max comfort zone. 50 or so cars a month (22 working days) 85 units every 22 days was pushing it, as was the case for 1988.

In the end, 99 unsold 1988 units were shipped off to an auction in Canada where they were sold to dealers (American - who traveled to Canada to buy them "out of the country") at a loss to ascMcLaren, where they sold for $ 16,000 and then re-entered the USA and sold for $21,000 at dealers who got lucky. By selling them out of the country I think they got to skirt franchise laws or something because of dealers that paid $21,000 for each car, woulda probablt gotten ... ah.... "upset".
The program was intended to last thru & including 1993 the end of the body style, but MANY other problems that I will not go into - slammed the door shut in 1990.
I do believe that I have the sole 1991 paint color chart ever printed.

[ASCMCLRN]

I stumbled onto the yellow Mustang club, dont they have a link to a black Mustang club as well? We can have a bumble bee car meet if we goto the same park hehe.

Nick

OMG no sooner then I mention this and with no prior knowledge of such said event it was just a joke on my part, check this out:

Black Mustang Club
http://www.bmcforums.com/cmps_index.php

Jan 19, 2007 - 9:17 PM - by Lisa
For immediate release.

The Black Mustang Club Invites Yellow Mustang drivers to join us in The second annual Bumble Bee Run on February 10th, 2007. the cruise will start in Irvine at the Saleen store in the Irvine Spectrum. We will drive south on the 5 freeway to the 74 Ortega... [Read More]

[Sandy]

There is a "Special Order Paint Color" Mustang Club, too ~ but it's only for 1967 Mustangs, when they had 15 regular colors and I think 45 Special Order X-tra Cost colors.

[shelbyscarab]

To answer "What's wrong with '88s" ~

ascMcLaren was set up to handle "around 500" units per model year. This is/was their "comfort zone". We are NOT speaking of the coupes of 1984, 85 & 86 as they took little time to convert, but rather the convertibles of 1984 thru 1990 which as you can see required massive reconfiguration and construction and modifacations. The Capris of the 3 years were okay, at 50 / 257 & 245. By 1985/86 they were in total control of things. The switch over to the Mustang body presented no unusual challenges and the 479 for 1987, while to date the largest quantity, was still within their forcast zone. Selling department did an awesome job of "selling"during the late part of 1987 and Ford dealers were offerred perks to order a 1988. They (dealers) responded with a positive responce waaay greater than expected, resulting in over 1,000 orders. The work force at Autry Avenue plant was overwhelmed. 1,000 cars sat outdoors in the parking lot. 266 identical white coupes and 749 identical black coupes, some with automatic & some with manual transmission. Even the porters were over taxed to find a blue interiored stick among the 266 units with blue interior.
As a result, assembly quality, fit & finish and alignments of some (a rather large "some") was not up to where it coulda shoulda been.
Dealers in 1987 proved to be a PITA because buyers wanted a car yesterday..... and start to finish an ascMcLaren took 90 days. So, in addition to more dealer orders, the powers that were decided to create a "Sales Bank" of UNsold (It has nowhere to go to) inventory, for Ford/Mercury dealers who want one on their showroom floor TOMORROW! This proved to be a huge mistake, as many many cars sat there long after the 1989s were being built. You can see the "real" demand in the sales figures of 1987 & 1989 at 479 and 247 and then standing out like a sore thumb is 1,015 for 1988, meaning that appox. 650 units were built with no home to go to.
Workers quit for being over burdened. Part time workers were actually recruited from unemployment lines. I heard rumors of high school kids being hired after school hours and being given crash course lessons on assembly pieces.
THEREFORE, 1988s by & large to a measurable extent, are not as well glued together as 1987s, 1989s & 1990s.
This is NOT to say that many 1988s are tight well constructed examples. This is to say that the percentage of water leaks, squeeks, body flex and other not-so-good tidbits is a high percentage among 1988s than that of other years.

Remember, ascMcLaren's JOB was to sell the car TO THE CAR DEALER. After that, whatever happened was the dealer's problem.
They (asc) built false hopes in dealer's eyes regarding PROFITS and when the dealer's failed to achieve such lofty profits from the cars, they no longer ordered stock units (see 247 - 1989s)!! When the buyer found out that it would take 90 days from dealership placed order, to car arrival, demand fell fast, dropping 76% for 1989 model run.
Many "In Stock - Unsold" examples were sold at dealers at a major loss (Read: Under Invoice by $1,000) just to stop paying floor plan financing on them.
The highest quality returned for 1989 & 1990, when new & experienced workers were hired and the flow of orders was what they were originaly hired to do and time in assembly was comfortable. 500 units per model year was their max comfort zone. 50 or so cars a month (22 working days) 85 units every 22 days was pushing it, as was the case for 1988.

In the end, 99 unsold 1988 units were shipped off to an auction in Canada where they were sold to dealers (American - who traveled to Canada to buy them "out of the country") at a loss to ascMcLaren, where they sold for $ 16,000 and then re-entered the USA and sold for $21,000 at dealers who got lucky. By selling them out of the country I think they got to skirt franchise laws or something because of dealers that paid $21,000 for each car, woulda probablt gotten ... ah.... "upset".
The program was intended to last thru & including 1993 the end of the body style, but MANY other problems that I will not go into - slammed the door shut in 1990.
I do believe that I have the sole 1991 paint color chart ever printed.

Once again Sandy, I learned a couple of things I didn't know before.

My car was purchased from the dealer in June of 1988 (kind of ironic since my dash plaque is #688 - ) after the dealer had put on 1,977 miles till he sold the car

It makes me sick thinking about the situation in '88, the reason is considering what was paid for my car. It wasn't $21,000. What a deal that was! Remembering back, after my car was purchased that dealer didn't get anymore McLarens, nor did I see any at other dealerships for the next 2 years. Considering the #s produced in '89 & '90, it would've been difficult to find one.

[shelbyscarab]

Sandy,

I replaced a good measure of the wear items (weatherstrip, bushings, shocks/struts, etc). I'm still trying to find a nice set of blue sunvisors that will STAY UP!!!! And a driver's side seat belt that will fully retract. I want to buy a new rear spoiler and two header pieces from Henry. Finally, I really want to get into the engine compartment and do a repaint and some major detailing. And finish off all the bolt-on mods I want to do.

Or sell it and the Cobra or Cruiser an buy a twin turbo V8 Lotus Espirit. Or sell everything and buy a hut in Key West.

EXACTLY! I'm glad I'm not the only one with sun visor problems! Anybody have any quick fixes for this?

Seat belts TOO. Mine work pretty good most of the time though.

[shelbyscarab]

Let's get into plan mode here. Key points:

Who is available to make it? Make sure we have enough people to participate.

When will it be? When is most convienant for us all?

Were do we have it? Were are our members located (focus on the concentrated areas). See if there are any existing shows we can enter within that area. If not can we set up our own get together at another location?

How are we going to set it up? Who is going to facilitate it for each location? How are we going to have continuity or communication so we can share learning experiences so we dont make the same mistakes twice, or how to make it even better when one region is waiting to still have their party.

Why? Fratinize with other owners. Perhaps we can have printed up list of participating members with name, number, email address, vehicle owns, background, for networking. Maybe we can have information packets made up on our cars so we can get our story out there of our cars to others.

Costs incurred? What costs might we expect and how to cover it? Such as park fees, car show entrance fees, information handouts, should we have custom key chains made, etc... Perhaps members pay in advance so others dont get stiffed if no shows?

Please add onto or comment.

Ok, these are all great questions/comments that are a great starting point to get the ball rolling. I don't see any other way around it, but first need to gauge interest, and who would go. I think the best way is to contact the people who have registered their cars with Sandy via email or mail. And hereto is our first cost of the effort.

Is it ok to ask for information on these people from Sandy? I would think that someone who took the time to register their car with Sandy would be a "car guy", and not mind being contacted to participate in such an event.

[Sandy]

Before this goes too far along, let me say that 90% of the people who contacted me, I offered up that I would never give away their names / address to anyone. Remember that I began it in 1985, even before I had a car. Many people on it, especiallyin the first 1/2 have moved, passed away, are no longer at that address. I mean, really the frst 35% is now 23 years later....

[shelbyscarab]

Well that answers that question.

[1985 Motorsport Capri]

Your best bet to put your word out is right here on the message board.
& maybe a few other boards.
the hardest thing about throwing an event together is location, location, location.
you can do a national show. youll get a small # of cars. let face it, ASC were never produced in big #'s, add the fact that not too many people are keen on driving across the nation in older cars(or towing them) for a car show that may only have 10 people show up.
so you are better off attaching your show to a much larger show. you will get more people. both asc participants & spectators.
if you go the other route & do a regional or national independent show(ASC only) you still have to come up with a space large enough to accomidate all the cars plus some extra. & you will want that spot to be somewhere out in the open & easily ascessable & high visabilaty.
in other words some where that people who dont know about it may stop & check it out. that gets dificult & expensive unless you know someone with or at a buisness.

I am working with a few other GP4 owners here in the Detroit area on a meet during the Dream cruise. there is no larger car event in the USA than the dream cruise & it makes for a perfect location. This is the Marti Graw (SP?) for car buffs. on a good year, upwards of 2 million spectators & 100 thousand sweet rides pack a 15 mile stretch of road for 1 day.
we attached our group to the mustang alley (at the dream cruise) last year
and everyone had a blast. this year we are trying to set up something even better.
now the dream cruise is absolutly worth driving/trailering for.
a must do at least once in a lifetime.

[Sandy]

I can give you this;

The states that recieved the most number of cars, were:-

Michigan; Pa; New Jersey; Florida; California; Illinois; Ohio and So. Carolina.

For their population, the states that received the fewest were: Texas, Georgia, Washington, New England and Nevada.

So, a bigger turnout could be expected in the first group of states. 90% of the cars STAYED within their original state.

[ASCMCLRN]

Well that is way to much of a burden for Sandy to contact each of the members on his registry list. However at some point in time the registry would have to be verified and updated with the newer status of the cars whether it be a new owner, new address, new number, email address, car demolished, etc... Better off leaving Sandys list alone and use this newsgroup as someone else mentioned and the old one to cause every now and then people do a search and find that site too.

Ideas. We need the input of our members that have participated in other Mustang club events as well as contacting other groups for ideas on how they fascilitated their group functions.

Perhaps we might benefit to tag along with another group of Mustang enthusiasts to have enough people to participate? We should take a look at that.

Lastly call me a nut but maybe in the future we can have a newsletter for ASC McLaren owners that arent computer savvy. Also be nice to make a Calendar up of our cars and do some other things like make key chains up etc... Any ideas?

Nick

[ASCMCLRN]

Oh one more thing dont we have a map of were our members are located? Maybe a glimpse of that would indicate were we should hold the events. Sorry if it was mentioned already its very late no sleep again and I am getting over tired, all I did was glance over responses, sigh...

Nick

[negusm]

Oh one more thing dont we have a map of were our members are located? Maybe a glimpse of that would indicate were we should hold the events. Sorry if it was mentioned already its very late no sleep again and I am getting over tired, all I did was glance over responses, sigh...

Nick

Yes, look at the top here: http://www.ascmclaren.org/phpBB/

[shelbyscarab]

Oh one more thing dont we have a map of were our members are located? Maybe a glimpse of that would indicate were we should hold the events. Sorry if it was mentioned already its very late no sleep again and I am getting over tired, all I did was glance over responses, sigh...

Nick

There is a map @ the top of this page on the right side called Frapper that has about 45 ASCs listed, 1 is in France.

[shelbyscarab]

Ok, lets not let this die.

This whole thing is just going to have to go thru a growing process. The first few years will not yield 50+ cars. Hopefully someday though.

Why don't we for the time being just piggy back off of the Woodward Dream Cruise? Last year there were what? 8-9 cars? This year, try for at least 20.

Until the day that a stand alone event could be held on a sunny 85 degree day in a grassy park with 100+ cars, (ok, that shouldn't be such an unobtainable goal to achieve - its only about 3% of the ASCs that were made!) and champagne falling from the heavens. LOL.