Dearborn FD Chops the Roof Off a 2020 GT500 Mustang | Practice Makes Perfect

Dearborn FD Chops the Roof Off a 2020 GT500 Mustang | Practice Makes Perfect

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Here are two things that bring a smile to my face; power tools and people freaking out over something they don't understand. Recently, pics of a Dearborn Fire Department training session have been making the rounds online. They show the first responders honing their vehicular occupant extraction skills on a very nicely optioned (I call dibs on the carbon fiber wheels) 2020 Shelby GT500 Mustang. Cue the Ford Fan Freakout on social media.

What many failed to realize is that Ford sends hundreds of test mule vehicles such as this GT500 to the crusher every year. These cars can not be sold to the general public, and Ford has even stopped selling them to race teams in order to build race cars. You can thank someone selling off car that was supposed to be raced to an average Joe for that one. These cars are basically just 4,000 pounds of liability just sitting around taking up space.

So what we're left with is two choices; crush them and call it a day, or loan them out to rescue teams where their destruction can do some good. Ford chose door number two for this GT500. The Dearborn FD got to give this one a budget convertible refit, and chop saw the hood to allow better engine cooling access. So a lot of good came from this. Ford gets rid of a liabily, plus some good press, and the fire fighers get to practice some skills that may one day save the life of someone leaving a car show. It's really a Win-Win Situation.

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I called my Ford rep the other day...

Me: "Hey, how's it going? I was hoping since I have 13 MY20 GT500s sold, I could get at least one CFTP car?"
Ford: "Hey Nick! Thanks for the great job you've done. We appreciate you not price gouging our loyal customers!"
Me: "You're welcome...but what about the CFTP car?"
Ford: "You have no idea how nice it is to hear a dealer be interested in our Ford Performance division and really take it to heart!"
Me: "So, what you're saying is you're deaf?"
Ford: "No, not deaf at all. We appreciate your help in our partnership!"
Me: "Whew, I thought for a second you couldn't hear me. So, after selling 13 GT500s with incredibly low profit margins, I'd like to have at least one CFTP car. Is that possible?"
Ford: "Did you see our latest press release on the Mustang Mach-E? Going to be super cool!"


ME:
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That was a great story, and hats off to Ford for helping out with FD training. But like @7998 said, visually it still hurts to see it destroyed. Even though they can't be sold to the public.
 
So they can't offer the parts on it that would make any 2020 car better at a "gently used" rate? I don't get why some of the GT500-specific parts don't end up being taken off and put to better use. If not reused in some way by Ford, then perhaps make their way to the personal Mustang of a Ford employee who's interested in some of the nicer accoutrements of a GT500 but couldn't necessarily "Pony" up for one on their salary?

Sorry, but I couldn't resist that last part.:p
 
So they can't offer the parts on it that would make any 2020 car better at a "gently used" rate? I don't get why some of the GT500-specific parts don't end up being taken off and put to better use. If not reused in some way by Ford, then perhaps make their way to the personal Mustang of a Ford employee who's interested in some of the nicer accoutrements of a GT500 but couldn't necessarily "Pony" up for one on their salary?

Sorry, but I couldn't resist that last part.:p

Not worth the liability.
 

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