UPDATE 3/15/17 – Jason has decided to drop the price to $15,500. That seems fair for such an exclusive and potent machine!
FROM 2/26/17 – Now this is an interesting and fun find! The Fox body Mustang can be quite the fun machine in stock form, but after Saleen got their hands on this convertible, it should be an all out rocket. The 302 V8 has been worked over, with a Vortex Supercharger to give it a little extra kick! When it was brand new, this was likely the fastest convertible around, heck it’s probably still fast by modern standards. Jason F found this Mustang back in 2012, drove it a little and then parked it in the garage and that’s where it’s been since. Rather than let it go to waste, they’ve decided it’s time for it to go to a new home. If you’d love to be the next owner of #716, you can find it in Greenville, South Carolina with an asking price of $18,500 $15,500. If interested, please use the contact form below!
As great as Saleen’s body kit and interior are, you didn’t buy one of these for the visuals. You bought it for what is under the hood. Saleen worked the 302 over and strapped a Vortech supercharger to it, bring horsepower up to nearly 300! I know, you can buy a new Mustang and get more power than that and still get better fuel mileage, but you won’t have something nearly as special as this.
Here is that supercharger in all of its forced induction glory! It’s amazing that such a simple bolt-on part could add so much performance to this Mustang.
The interior is a mixture of factory Ford parts and custom Saleen bits. The seats are probably most eye catching upgrade, but they also changed out the steering wheel, shifter, gauge cluster and door panels. As supportive and sporty as the seats are, I would be perfectly happy with a pair of cloth buckets, what I would be excited about is the short shifter and sporty steering wheel. This was actually the last year for this style of steering wheel, in ’90 they left the air bag equipped factory wheel.
This Saleen doesn’t really need anything other than a good home and to be driven! If I were in the market it for a specialty Fox body, I would want the hatchback, but this convertible would be fun with the top down and they only built 165 of these drop tops.
From Amanda (Jason’s Wife) – So we have had this Saleen since 2012.And mechanically it is perfect.We aren’t gear heads so everything is stock. My husband had the rear end changed out. The mileage is around 51,000. The paint is original and it should be restored for max beauty! And also top needs to be replaced…but that is normal wear and tear. The supercharged engine will keep up with anything stock around. Let me know if you have any questions.
As far as story… my husband bought it from one of his customers… he runs a bread route. A restaurant owner sold it to him because he wanted a ’60s Mustang. And we know that prior to restaurant owner, John, it come out of Florida. John bought it from his cousin. I will miss this car immensely, but we don’t have time to enjoy it… and it needs to be on display and shown off! When we have taken her to drive-ins… she is a show stopper!
Nice collectable summer toy, I thought it would of been more hp! My ’96 Jaguar xjr 4 Litre straight six comes stock with an Eaton supercharger and puts out 322h.p. stock. Ford did buy Jaguar shortly after this car was produced and really cleaned up Jaguar.
Ford finalized the deal to buy Jaguar in 1990 and subsequently sold it to Tata Motors in 2008.
am I missing something? price is a bit high…
http://www.nadaguides.com/Classic-Cars/1989/Saleen/Saleen-Mustang/2-Door-Convertible/Values
Supercharged should up the value slightly. Certainly asking for it all
Guides are all well and good, but I still feel that the laws of “Supply and Demand” rule over them. As a limited production vehicle there aren’t many to call on for accurate valuation, so it usually comes down to what price will satisfy the seller; a sometimes unrealistic number, but in this case I believe the ask is fair.
Case in point: two years ago I listed a 1998 Honda Civic EX Coupe on the craigslist for $2500, and indicated the price was non-negotiable. Guide values placed the worth of this car at about $1800, but comparison shopping these locally showed values between $2800-$4000. Most of them at $2800-$3000 were basket cases with plenty of rust and mechanical issues, whereas mine was truly rust-free (miraculously) and beyond mechanically sound (tires were nearly new, exhaust was new from the head to the tailpipe, including the cat, it had under 30k miles on a genuine Honda timing belt, brakes were fresh, front suspension had all new Chinese parts). In all, I’d completely undervalued the car for a quick sale.
First punter to look at it (for his 17-year-old kid) found it to be everything I’d advertised it as. You could see that he was impressed and his kid was over the moon for it. After a test drive he came back and began with “Well, KBB and Edmunds say that the value of these cars are only about $1500. . .” I literally looked at him, turned around, and began walking away.
Where did he find my ad? Oh yeah, the craigslist. There were close to ten others on there, and mine was the cheapest and one of the nicest. Was I asking over the guide value? Damned straight! Was it worth my ask? You’d better believe it!
Guide values can be misleading and aren’t wholly accurate, especially for vehicles outside of a certain age. Provided that the ask isn’t terribly outside the values specified in any of the guides (like 2X and 3X the posted values) then the worth is based on how bad you want it.
The end of my story? It came down to “How bad do you want it.” I walked away, and the buyer asked what’s up. I explained that he selected my Civic out of the myriad available because mine was the cheapest, and having viewed the s***boxes posted on the craigslist it was pretty clear that mine was the best value at my asking price. I informed him that I had (3) more parties that were interested in seeing the car that afternoon and I wasn’t willing to play games, and thank you for your interest. he agreed to pay my ask, and I told him I wasn’t interested in selling it to him any longer.
His kid nearly cried; I’m not joking.
He ended up buying it off of me for $3000, on the spot. I’d have preferred to not sell to him at all and waste another hour or so showing it to someone else, hoping that maybe he learned something in the process, but I figured that $500 is $500 and that I was better off with time saved and money in my pocket.
You sure showed him. Did you feel strong and righteous?
Not at all. What I didn’t feel was insulted, which I had when the guy tried to pull some amateur-ish lowball game. I’d been clear both in my ad and over the phone that the price wasn’t negotiable, yet he started in on quoting guides he found online, which was my point in telling the story.
Guide prices aren’t Gospel.
The guy was just trying to negotiate. Nothing wrong with that.
thumbs up for sticking to your price.
So wait, you put an ad on CL and someone showed up and offered you a lower price than what you were asking? Shock of all shocks!
That’s was an awfully long story for $500 bucks.
It’s a nice looking car, but I believe it’s going to take a lot more details and pictures to get some potential buyers moving. In particular, I would want to have the details on the changed rear end. Also, exactly what does the seller mean by needing the paint “restored?” And finally, the need for a new convertible top is a bit puzzling for a car that is supposed to be a low mile, garage queen.
FYI, the seats are simply reupholstered stock Mustang seats; the steering wheel is an off-the-shelf Momo piece; the shifter appears to be a Hurst part. All good, but hardly custom to Saleen.
All in all it is a nice find, but the seller could do themselves a big favor by putting a little more effort into the sales process.
The steering wheel assembly is a Momo piece but custom to Saleen because it retained the cruise control buttons on a custom bracket on the wheel (barely visible in the photo). Not something available in the aftermarket.
The top having issues doesn’t concern me at all. Disuse and shrinkage are most likely the culprits.
With that being said, maybe the ask should reflect on the paint and top.
I’m a bit confused, the write up says he bought it in 2005, but his wife says 2012. Maybe he didn’t tell her for 7 years? Hope I didn’t get you in trouble Jason…
No that was a typo on my part. Sorry about that!
The plot thickens …
I would rather have this than a new one. It is the good old push rod 2 valve per cylinder, cast iron block. Something you can pull in the garage on Friday, tune over the weekend and drive on Monday. Not all aluminum, overhead cam, 52 valve per cylinder, rocket that needs $110k tool investment to keep running. I think with paint work, and a top needed it’s overpriced, I’d put this at $15k.
Do the Marchal fogs work? They aren’t cheap to buy.
Funny thing? I ‘inherited’ a Travco with a set of rectangular Marchal fog lights and a matching set of driving lights. The housings are probably 7-8″ wide by 31/2-4″ tall, parabolic glass lenses, large plastic covers. Fogs are amber.
Crazy effective, too-
I am located about 20 mins north in Greenville if anyone wants me to go take a look at the car for them. Email me at greg.caputo84@gmail.com
I have contacted with questions and willing to go look at car , but no response other than I have recieved your guestions and will respond . Why list a car for sale if you will not put an effort foward to provide info to possible buyer ?
Ken, I apologize I have not gotten right back to you. I work an extremely physical time consuming business–hence the reason I am selling this amazing car, no time to enjoy it–plus I have a 16 yr old that is very active. I have responded now and will do my best to get your info to you.
This is car owner: as far as I know I have texted anyone who has inquired about the Mustang. If I have some how neglected your inquiry, I apologize, it was not intentional. Please fill out new form and I will get back as soon as possible. Wednesday and Sundays are my only slower days to focus on this. Please understand. As Josh will testify….I’ve been trying to list for several months! Also…as stated in ad– I’m not a mechanic or knowledgeable about cars beyond driving them and knowing a good buy. The exact thing done to rear end is it now has 3:73 gears in the rear-end now thats all. The original gear shirt is available. Other then that everything in the car is as we purchased. If Saleen didn’t change it, I’m not aware of any other changes. Thank you for all the interest in this Mustang. I guarantee she is worth every penny!
Jason and Amanda have dropped their asking price to $15,500. It’s hard to value these because they are so rare, but it seems fair for such a special car.
I have to commend Barn Finds and their “stellar staff” as of late in the Exclusive articles and prompt follow-up’s to those ads for updates ! Nice work Barn Finds Staff ! ! It won’t be long until the “Big Three” will be Hemmings, OCW, and Barn Finds ! Keep up the flow ! Like me, I can only imagine that there are many who look forward to the numerous daily postings that the BF staff works hard to post. I must admit, I’m disappointed when I don’t see a new post in…well, 4 hours in a day.
Kudos BF !
👍
I thought Saleen left the engines alone so he didn’t have to recertify them with the EPA. Is this a factory(saleen) supercharger? I thought all were regularly aspirated except the ssc
Saleen did not “factory” supercharge cars until 1992-93, and very few. Seats should be Flofits but are reupholstered factory Ford seats and door panels inserts. Although look to be done nice, not correct to car. Momo wheel is a Saleen piece, Hurst shifter is not.
Im still buying these for 5 and 6 grand
So who put the huffer on it?
$15, 500 is too high for this car. I own a couple of Saleens and have sold some as well. I know these cars. I sold the one attached in June of last year for $15K (Saleen 89-0587). New Top. New Paint and decals, new clutch, new Racecraft suspension. You get the idea. The only thing that kept the car from being “restored” was that it had the original interior. It had 65K original miles on it, yadda, yadda. These cars are low production and collectible, but I feel $15,500 is too high. With everything you have to do to get this car in condition to even enjoy (the qtr windows are stuck closed which requires replacing the guides…..$100 in parts and a pain in the buttocks for labor), this is probably a $10-11K car. Considering there were no SC convertibles in 1989 and the rear gears aren’t original to the car, that takes the collectibility down a bit too. Sorry to be the voice of reality, but that is just where this car would be at this point in this condition.
I didn’t even look at all of the interior stuff that doesn’t appear to be correct on the car. I just skimmed the AD and the price. That drops my valuation even more……
Just wanted to update this thread with info from Saleen…this is custom leather interior by Saleen–confirmed on the certificate of authenticity. I loved the interior anyway…I’m now ecstatic to know it’s original to this car’s Saleen build.
Nice car Rob, and yes the quarter window repairs are the worst!!!
I would buy them all day long at 5-6 grand too Dan, but that’s not reality.
The Vortech and gears are a bonus, but not for purists.
True it’s not everyday but having owned 7 of them I know a deal when I see it. Oh the last one I bought was 4 grand.
Who said you couldn’t get a 65 GT FOR $1500 bucks?
Well, in my opinion, everyone else missed out. Amanda and Jason were great hosts and this little find is heading to its permanent home in GA. Don’t worry, nobody will get the chance to miss out on it again…it won’t be sold in my lifetime. Thanks to the OP for writing this article. It showed up on a friend’s Google feed, he forwarded me the link via text, and the rest is history.
Congrats! What a sweetheart!
Hope he/she learns to drive it, only 1 out of 5 Americans can drive a stick shift I just read.
Thanks Dan. He’s excited because since he thinks this is “my” new car, that means the “black car” (my ’14 RS3) is now his. Hahahaha. We’re a car family…have quite a few of them. He’s a funny boy and was a great sport on a long day of driving to add to our collection.