It seems that at times, things are not within reach, the timing is bad, the money is not there, or we get there too late. When it comes to Saleens, as with Shelbys, many of us just can’t take that final step over the precipice to ownership. “I looked at that car several times at John Bleakley Ford in 1993 and 1994, but I just couldn’t afford it,” said Bill Price. We know that tune quite well. Around here we seem to sing it all too often when presented with a piece of Mustang history such as this convertible. If only we had the money. Because he wanted a one-of car, Bill drooled over the Saleen until it sold in 1994.
It is one of only five ’93 Saleen SCs, one of three convertibles, and the only SC that is yellow. Period. End of sentence. Of course, there are many components that make this ride special, such as the eye-popping Bright Canary Yellow paint, rocking ground effects, and the black with yellow appointments interior. Other components that jump out at you are the Canary Yellow 17-inch rims mounting P225/45-17 tires up front and P245/40-17 tires out back. Yep, visually it is about as subtle as a Sammy Sosa home run.
More subdued because of the eye-searing paint are the Saleen disc brakes with special Saleen Calipers that peek through the holes on the wheels. Backing these up is the Saleen Racecraft suspension with special progressive-rate springs, Saleen struts and shocks, and Saleen urethane bushings. Saleen also added a three-point lower brace and a g-load brace to stiffen the chassis, as well as one in the engine bay to further that along. This leads us to believe that this car handles and, according to Bill, it does.
Of course, Steve and the folks at Saleen didn’t stop there. They piled on the appointments to the engine to the point that we decided to list them rather than wax poetic on them (see the sidebar Saleen Power). With the kind of power the 302 is capable of, you need some stuff to get it to the ground. There is a Saleen-shifted five-speed and 3.55 Auburn rearend to get the juice to the monster meats out back.
Creature comforts are there, too. Leather wraps the Saleen-spec’d Recaro front seats and matching back seat as well. There also is a lightbar and Spyder kit to round out the styling. For ground-pounding sound, Saleen spec’d a Pioneer system and six-disc CD changer for the SC. In front of the driver is the 200-mph speedo gauge package that gives you the idea that it might be useful.
After the car sold new from the dealership, Bill sort of forgot about it. During that time, it traded hands again and finally came to rest at Parkway Ford in Adarville, Georgia, with a scant 2,800 miles on the odometer. Bill’s friend Derrick immediately placed a call and told Bill the car was there. Uh-oh.
The scraping began, and Bill managed to come up with enough cash to buy the SC. Finally, the price was right.