Cool story. Just got off the phone with my dad, who was an engineer at Ford for 30 years before retiring in 2008. He tells me this random story, just in passing as if it's the most normal thing.
When we moved to our new house in 2002 we got our windows done. One of the window guys was a Mustang enthusiast. Had three, and was restoring an old Saleen Mustang (my dad doesn't remember what year). When the guy learned that my dad is a higher-up at Ford, he asked him if he could find out what was the color code for the particular red that this Saleen was. My dad takes his card and a picture of the car, and says he'll see what he can do. Well, soon after that my dad is doing a project with Saleen Automotive and runs into Steve Saleen himself. He says, "hey, I know someone restoring this car" and shows him the picture. "Can you tell me what the color code is?" This isn't the kind of thing you can just look up online, auto companies keep a tight lid on their paint color codes. Saleen's like, "yeah, I'll have someone send it to you." He does, and my dad sends it to the window guy telling him to not let anyone else know what it is. The paint cost $800-something.
Few years later my dad is working with Steve Saleen again, and Saleen recognizes him. "Hey, you're the guy who wanted the color code for that red, aren't you?"
I asked him if he ever met Jack Roush. He said that he never met him directly but that he had Roush engineering do a lot of projects for him. The Roush vehicle facility is just a couple miles from the house I grew up in in Livonia, MI.
When we moved to our new house in 2002 we got our windows done. One of the window guys was a Mustang enthusiast. Had three, and was restoring an old Saleen Mustang (my dad doesn't remember what year). When the guy learned that my dad is a higher-up at Ford, he asked him if he could find out what was the color code for the particular red that this Saleen was. My dad takes his card and a picture of the car, and says he'll see what he can do. Well, soon after that my dad is doing a project with Saleen Automotive and runs into Steve Saleen himself. He says, "hey, I know someone restoring this car" and shows him the picture. "Can you tell me what the color code is?" This isn't the kind of thing you can just look up online, auto companies keep a tight lid on their paint color codes. Saleen's like, "yeah, I'll have someone send it to you." He does, and my dad sends it to the window guy telling him to not let anyone else know what it is. The paint cost $800-something.
Few years later my dad is working with Steve Saleen again, and Saleen recognizes him. "Hey, you're the guy who wanted the color code for that red, aren't you?"
I asked him if he ever met Jack Roush. He said that he never met him directly but that he had Roush engineering do a lot of projects for him. The Roush vehicle facility is just a couple miles from the house I grew up in in Livonia, MI.