Roush Budget Saleen questions

[mrvids]

Just bought a former Budget rental car in the way of a 97 Saleen convertible, it's mostly there. Need to know if it should have the 26B number on the front mumper and anywhere else on the car. Patty @ Saleen tells me the car is Moonlight blue, from the factory paperwork it says it is called Royal Blue. Are these repainted by Saleen, or do they call the same color different names? The sheet from Ford also says it has a cassette player, and seperately listed is a single audio disc player. Currently there is an aftermarket CD player in the dashboard. Any guidence you can lend is appreciated.

Mike

 

[2000xp8]

According to the saleen book, budgets were retired at 1.5 years, or 26,000 miles which ever came first, then refurbed by saleen and wholesaled.

Also the book says they did NOT have console plaque while in service, but after they are sold to the public the owner can contact saleen with proof of ownership and purchase a console plaque.
The engine plaque should already be there along with 26B on the bumper.

There's a guy here with a Budget saleen, he'll see this post and drop some knowledge likely.

 

[quickstang_1994]

I have number #39B and I ordered the plaque is was $100 and a 4 month wait so good luck.

 

[mrvids]

Quickstang, if you ever take picture of the radio area of your car feel free to e-mail one to me, I'm curious as to what it's supposed to look like. Mine has an aftermarket radio and it looks out of place in the car.

 

[sal07b]

I have a 1996 Budget Saleen. It is number 07B. In answer to your question, the bumper number should have a B designation on it to match the under-the-hood plaque. Here is a picture:

These cars are notorious for not having the bumper numbers. The reason is that they have had the front bumpers re-painted numerous times b/c of being hit on parking blocks. Additionally, the magnesium wheels are often in bad shape due to curbing and lack of care when the rental mechanics swapped tires. As you can imagine, most of them have experienced numerous tire changes.

The post above is also correct about the dash plaque. They were not originally installed in the car (high theft item), but were supposed to be delivered to the owners following the auction. You might want to call Saleen to verify that the plaque was delivered. If it was not, they will send it to you. Unfortunately, mine was but it wasn't on the car so I still have to get around to ordering it for the above stated $100.

There were 30 cars produced in 1996 and 88 produced in 1997. The Saleen book talks about others, but that is contradictory to what Liz Saleen told me when I called about it. Most were automatic, however there were a few stick cars (more rare). They were all ordered with the standard Saleen "package", plus light bar and Magnesium wheels.

Here is a picture of what the stock stereo looks like in the car. Unfortunately, swapping back will probably be a really big deal for you. My car didn't have a CD player and I wanted one. When I looked into getting an aftermarket one I found that I was going to have to run all new wires and speakers. The Mach 460 head unit is actually a passive system. There are 4 amps in the car that power the speakers, which means you can't put a powered head unit in the car (powered signal to power amps = bad kimshee ) I ended up going to the junk yard and pulling the wire harness from a car that had a CD player, then purchasing a stock CD player. You can check out my site to see how to do the swap at ml.truckmoxie.com/sal07b

Needless to say, I've pretty much re-done everything on the car. I think it is worth it though b/c it is a limited production inside an already serialized production car. The closest things to these cars are the Shelby GT 350H's. Go and see how much they pull today ($$) compared to the regular GT 350's (not to mention it will be interesting to see what the "new" GT 350H's go for once they hit the auction block) and there were thousands of those (not less than 200). But I'm not biased of course ...

 

[mrvids]

Thanks Sal for the info. I actually like your color better than mine, (paint-us envy) but even more rare is your stick shift transmission. Mine also has 4:10 gears so I'll be changing the speedo gear this winter. Do you remember if the gear is changed at the end that goes into the transmission, or the end that connects into the dashboard end of the cable? Or how many teeth on the speedo gear to correct the speedometer?
It must have been very cool to rent your car back in '96 & '97. Thanks again.
Mike

 

[sal07b]

Thanks Sal for the info. I actually like your color better than mine, (paint-us envy) but even more rare is your stick shift transmission. Mine also has 4:10 gears so I'll be changing the speedo gear this winter. Do you remember if the gear is changed at the end that goes into the transmission, or the end that connects into the dashboard end of the cable? Or how many teeth on the speedo gear to correct the speedometer?
It must have been very cool to rent your car back in '96 & '97. Thanks again.
Mike

I actually didn't change the gear for the speedo. I had a speedcal installed on the car. Geez, I had to go through my receipts to see what it was called. That was depressing. I can't ever afford to sell this car...lol The car actually put down more then my signature block the last time I had it in. It puts down 303rwhp and 330 ftlb tq. Not to bad for an ol' rental. I may put a s/c or NOS on the car if I get bored with it. The only time I feel bad is when I get on the boards and see these s/c guys putting down 450+ rwhp!!