The date was June 14, 2000. Rob and I waited patiently for
the Limousine that would take us to Bob Beaty Ford in Simi
Valley. That is where our brand new 2000 S281-SC Saleen
Mustang was waiting to be picked up.
Now, if you’re familiar with Saleens, you know how
to pronounce the name. For those of you who don’t
know, the cars are customized by Steve Saleen. It is pronounced
Suh-LEEN, as in Celine Dion; NOT SAY-lean, as in Saline
Solution.
Luckily for Rob, I was as excited about having a really
cool car as he was. If you’re gonna have a mid-life
crisis, do it together. Since we brought BAD ANDY home from
the Ford Dealer, we have upgraded, upgraded, upgraded.
First, I think, we called Michael Bailes of 24Karat to
apply a red carbon fiber dash kit.
Then there was the red RIPP kit (cold air induction) purchased
from and installed by Joe Gosinski of Chicane Sport Tuning
in Torrance. Then Joe casually mentioned, (I think he uses
subliminal messages in his sound system) that he could get
a supercharger intercooler tank that was red anodized.
We ordered knobs, knobs and more knobs. Then there were
caps and more caps and …oops not enough caps. So,
Rob made the balance of what we were missing. Then everything
was sent out to be Red Anodized. As Rob was having so much
fun putting red stuff all over the interior and the engine,
I decided to put my two cents in. I casually mentioned (my
messages are not subliminal) that I wanted a custom hood
liner. I now know how Robert Fulton must have felt with
his steam engine. Nobody seemed to know what I was talking
about. Then, as I was surfing the internet and trying another
combination of words to search for hood liners, up popped
IMM AutoSpecialties. I sent them an email and from that
point on, it was smooth sailing. I designed a logo, emailed
it; they digitized it, embroidered it and applied the fabric
to the hood liner. Voila!! Custom hood liner. Thank you
Chuck McClellan.
I only thought we were done. Not so. Next I went on another
surfing trip to find red leather. I came across a guy on
Ebay selling two deerskin hides, red, and in very good condition.
So, I got em. Then I went searching for an Upholstery shop
and found one not far from us, here in Canyon Country. I
took the headrests over to the shop and asked if they could
recover them in the red deerskin suede. And now I know what
it feels like to be looked at like you’ve got three
heads. But James, Bless his heart, took the headrests, the
suede and some digitized lettering, and worked his magic.
About a week later, Rob decided the console should be covered
too, so I bought some spray adhesive and worked a little
of my own magic.
While I was thinking pretty stuff, Rob was thinking brakes.
So, back to Chicane Sport Tuning and Joe Gosinski. We came
back home from Torrance with drilled rotors and Brembo brake
calipers in, you guessed it, RED. Then, Rob wanted a red
radiator cover. “Poof” Andy has a red radiator
cover.
One day not too long ago, Rob turned to me and said, “Whad’ya
think about flames?”
BAD ANDY now sports some really HOT flames, courtesy of
Mr. Eric Bayliss of Sierra Paint and Body in Canyon Country.
Thank you Eric for your wonderfully artistic ability.
Andy has become a true work of art.
You’ll probably find this hard to believe, but Rob
told me we’re finally done. I’ll not hold my
breath on that one. Something really cool is bound to come
up.
Rob and Kathy Kenzel
BAD ANDY
S281-SC 00-0639
