I can tell you that I am not a Ford guy, or a Chevy guy, etc... I am just a car guy. I love most of the true American Muscle cars and classic hot rods.
My first car was a 64.5 me and a buddy pulled out of the junk yard and restored. His dad built hot rods for a living, so as a couple of high school teen boys, that was the greatest.
Well, as I got older, I got into the import scene back in the late 80's - early 90's. At one point I had 7 gen 1 RX-7's. They were a mix of road course and drag. The drag cars were mid to low 11 second cars and the road course cars could take a highway clover on ramp an near 100 MPH. The problem was they were missing that V8 thump. I just didn't like what was on the market back then and I just got out of the sport all together.
After switching to off-road racing for about 6 years, the 2005 Mustang had come out and the C6 Corvette was looking pretty sweet too. I originally went to buy a Vette, but I am 6'2", near 400 lbs, and couldn't get out of the damn thing. LOL
The S197 reminded me of the original Mach 1, which I loved. It was the most powerfull Mustang produced to that time. It was a true American Legend. Just seemed like a no-brainer given my history and what was out there at the time.
If I had the money, and a place to park it, this would be my dream car...