John Richichi has what some would say is a problem. We've come to know him fairly well, and like us, he has an idea of the perfect Mustang. Also like us, that idea keeps going from Mustang to Mustang almost on a daily basis. Even with the "perfect" Mustang in his garage, if he's on the Corral (www.corral.net) or eBay (www.ebay.com) Web sites for the casual surf, a more-than-perfect Mustang is liable to turn up. John's wife, Ann-E, is probably really upset with Al Gore for "inventing" the Internet, because once John gets a certain Mustang in his head, she knows an adventure will ensue.
He had what we would call close to perfection with his former '84 GT. We liked it so much, we featured it in the April '02 issue ("Mirror, Mirror," p. 154). With the power on board the '84, it kept tearing up stuff, and it had reached the point where there wasn't much left to do on the car. John wanted something more docile, but he also wanted another square-light to match the '84 because he liked their noses and the fact that they're hardly seen anymore. John wanted something he could hop in and drive, but also something he could show.
Once again, John checked on eBay. He found what he was looking for from a user in North Carolina, the Jalapeo Red '85 GT you see here. With only 26,000 miles on it, the car was nearly perfect in John's eyes. It featured original paint-with the exception of a few touch-ups-and the original engine. Even better, the engine received some choice mods to increase the car's performance without hurting its daily driver personality.
Once in John's garage, the red GT shared space with the '84, but not for long. An expensive household project meant one of the cars had to go, so the '84 was sold. Once back on his feet, John was able to get the '85 a suitable garage mate in a supercharged Fox coupe, but that car was sold to complete another household project. Next up was a Fox GT, but that car just didn't do it for John so it was also sold.
In 2006, John began to miss his '84 GT, so he set about tracking it down. The good news was, he was able to find the car's owners. The bad news was that the car lived in Puerto Rico. It didn't matter-John wanted it back, so he inquired about buying the car and bringing it home.The asking price of the car didn't match John's budget. He also heard the car's condition wasn't as good as when he owned it, and that it had been raced during its Caribbean stint. Not only did John have to worry about affording the car in the first place, he also worried about the expense of getting it back to New Jersey. When he really thought about it, purchasing the '84 didn't make a lot of sense. He set about finding an acceptable replacement closer to home.
This time, John wanted a serious Mustang. He wanted one with all the hard work out of the way. He wanted a street ripper, complete with supercharged power, but with the looks to go with it. Another eBay search turned up the gray '85 GT seen alongside the red GT. The gray GT was basically new: it was rebuilt from the ground up featuring new paint, 500-plus supercharged horsepower, and the Weld big 'n' littles John desired. "The fact that it's an '85 made it even more attractive to me," he says.
The gray car was more race-oriented than what John was used to with manual brakes and steering and a spool out back, but he liked the overall package, and those other things could either be changed or easily dealt with. What sold him on the car was the fact that respected NMRA racer and tuner Mike Post did a lot of the work on it. John called him to get more info, and once Mike gave the car his full blessing, John wrote the check and waited patiently for the delivery truck to arrive. The car was everything and more once he received it. He could now vouch for what Mike said. "The car is mean," John says. Should we say the car was mean? Just before we shot his '85s, John was on eBay again and found a teal-over-black '93 Cobra. He couldn't justify having three Mustangs, so the gray '85 became dispensable.