(BroBible.com)
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
An All Time Epic Sale Promotion Fail
The strange and unlikely story of 100 identical Ford Mustang convertibles
A Christmas gift guide gone wrong, and a whole fleet of misfit toys.
You're now wondering, as we were, why a dealer would need or want 100 matching manual-transmission GT convertibles. The answer has to do with the 2015 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. You may be familiar with the limited-edition cars sold through the annual holiday catalog – stuff like Hennessey Vipers, Astons with special paint, and this past year's glittery Infiniti Q60. They're generally regular-production cars modified with unique paint and other touches, offered in limited quantities and often coinciding with a model's introduction. For 2015, it was something a little different: a Neiman Marcus Limited-Edition custom Mustang with a supercharged, 700-horsepower 5.0-liter V8 and an elaborate body kit. A total of 100 were to be offered. Neiman's limited-edition Christmas cars tend to sell out in a matter of hours or even minutes. Not this one.
There were some problems. The original Neiman Marcus listing described the car as having all-wheel drive. Being a Mustang, of course, it did not. We immediately questioned the description and soon found that this was, in fact, a rear-drive Mustang like all the others before it. (The corrected catalog entry is still available on the Neiman Marcus site.) That may have turned some people off, especially if they were reading the printed version of the catalog and called to order a mythical all-wheel-drive pony car. The price may have also had something to do with the relative lack of takers: $95,000 for a custom-painted Mustang with a roll hoop, a hard tonneau, wheels, tires, exhaust, and lowering springs, plus a two-day Ford Racing School course. That's a roughly $40,000 premium over the base car.
It's not clear exactly who was responsible for the conversions or how Russ Milne Ford was originally involved. Neiman's catalog entry mentions SMC Productions LLC as the seller, and the body kits were sourced from Classic Design Concepts in Troy, Michigan. Most of the parts, aside from the tonneau and roll hoop, match those included in CDC's Outlaw kit for 2015+ Mustangs. Until recently, SMC Productions had a one-page website that basically mirrored the description from the Neiman Marcus catalog, but the domain registration has since expired. We emailed the address on that page looking for answers but did not hear back.
(AutoBlog.com)
A Christmas gift guide gone wrong, and a whole fleet of misfit toys.
You're now wondering, as we were, why a dealer would need or want 100 matching manual-transmission GT convertibles. The answer has to do with the 2015 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. You may be familiar with the limited-edition cars sold through the annual holiday catalog – stuff like Hennessey Vipers, Astons with special paint, and this past year's glittery Infiniti Q60. They're generally regular-production cars modified with unique paint and other touches, offered in limited quantities and often coinciding with a model's introduction. For 2015, it was something a little different: a Neiman Marcus Limited-Edition custom Mustang with a supercharged, 700-horsepower 5.0-liter V8 and an elaborate body kit. A total of 100 were to be offered. Neiman's limited-edition Christmas cars tend to sell out in a matter of hours or even minutes. Not this one.
There were some problems. The original Neiman Marcus listing described the car as having all-wheel drive. Being a Mustang, of course, it did not. We immediately questioned the description and soon found that this was, in fact, a rear-drive Mustang like all the others before it. (The corrected catalog entry is still available on the Neiman Marcus site.) That may have turned some people off, especially if they were reading the printed version of the catalog and called to order a mythical all-wheel-drive pony car. The price may have also had something to do with the relative lack of takers: $95,000 for a custom-painted Mustang with a roll hoop, a hard tonneau, wheels, tires, exhaust, and lowering springs, plus a two-day Ford Racing School course. That's a roughly $40,000 premium over the base car.
It's not clear exactly who was responsible for the conversions or how Russ Milne Ford was originally involved. Neiman's catalog entry mentions SMC Productions LLC as the seller, and the body kits were sourced from Classic Design Concepts in Troy, Michigan. Most of the parts, aside from the tonneau and roll hoop, match those included in CDC's Outlaw kit for 2015+ Mustangs. Until recently, SMC Productions had a one-page website that basically mirrored the description from the Neiman Marcus catalog, but the domain registration has since expired. We emailed the address on that page looking for answers but did not hear back.
(AutoBlog.com)
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