Just bought a 88 ASC Mclaren

idareu · Post by **idareu** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:52 am

I just picked up a 88 ASC Mclaren today. It is number 1415. It is black with tan. It has 38,000 miles on it. It came with the five star chrome mustang rims on it. I got the original black ASC wheels with the oroginal tires still mounted, however they are really dry rotted. The only thing that is not stock is the flowmasters which give the car a great sound.

Any history on my car Sandy??

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:12 am

Congrats, and WELCOME ! It's a real beauty. In order to sniff it out, I'd need your car's last 6 digits of its VIN.

You car is a very late 1988. Taking your dash plaque of 1415 and subtracting from that the 479 made for 1987, would make yours # 936 of the 1,015 made for model year 1988, meaning that just 79 were made after yours.
001-479 = 1987
480-1,494 = 1988
001-247 = 1989
248-300 = 1990
1,901-1912 = Silver Anniversary 1990

idareu · Post by **idareu** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:54 am

Thanks, the last six of the vin are 266259.

ASCMCLRN · Post by **ASCMCLRN** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:01 am

Hey congrats! Really nice looking car and I am not just saying that cause it looks like mine, hehe. My car is number 1435 and if I remember correctly Sandy can confirm the last 100 cars were wholesaled to Canada.

Nick

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:54 am

idareu wrote:Thanks, the last six of the vin are 266259.

266259 was one of 8 1988s sold by & shipped to "LOVE FORD". I show no state nor address for them.

idareu · Post by **idareu** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:42 pm

Love Ford must not have made it. I did a google search and got nothing.

What is with the last 100 88's going to Canada?? My car has a dash that is in mPH not Kilometers.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:49 pm

LOVE FORD was in Love, Oklahoma. The seem to have given too many good deals, and are out of business.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:55 pm

There were 99 overbuilds and they were eventually shipped out of the country to Canada, where they were sold at dealer auctions for around $16,000 and then brought back into the USA (unknown location) and sold to a dealer for around $17,000.
The reason for all of this was because ascMcLaren found that when a dealer saw an ascMcLaren they wanted one for inventory NOW!
and did not wanna wait ! So, to that end, ascMcLaren built (actually overbuilt) a bunch of cars. In the end, they had all these 1988s left over (poor planning) and now it was December of 1988 and dealers wanted 1989s. Nobdy wanted these overbuilds any longer. So, to clear them out & not cross franchise laws they oacked them all off to Dick McQuestion Ford in Michigan, who arranged to have them all sent to a Canadian Car Auction. Once outta the country they could be sold for CHEAP ! They brought an average price of $16,000 at the auction. Remember, here in the USA a dealer had to pay around $22,000 for one. Domestic dealers heard of the super bargain and headed North, across the boarder. They bought up the cars, and brought them back into the USA, where they proceeded to make a killing. Discounting the cars to $19,500, they picked up $3,000 profit per car. There were 99 such cars. They became spread out all over the USA. 279525 was 1 of these cars.
ascMcLaren never did overbuilds again !!

ASCMCLRN · Post by **ASCMCLRN** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 11:35 pm

Sandy wrote:There were 99 overbuilds and they were eventually shipped out of the country to Canada, where they were sold at dealer auctions for around $16,000 and then brought back into the USA (unknown location) and sold to a dealer for around $17,000.
The reason for all of this was because ascMcLaren found that when a dealer saw an ascMcLaren they wanted one for inventory NOW!
and did not wanna wait ! So, to that end, ascMcLaren built (actually overbuilt) a bunch of cars. In the end, they had all these 1988s left over (poor planning) and now it was December of 1988 and dealers wanted 1989s. Nobdy wanted these overbuilds any longer. So, to clear them out & not cross franchise laws they oacked them all off to Dick McQuestion Ford in Michigan, who arranged to have them all sent to a Canadian Car Auction. Once outta the country they could be sold for CHEAP ! They brought an average price of $16,000 at the auction. Remember, here in the USA a dealer had to pay around $22,000 for one. Domestic dealers heard of the super bargain and headed North, across the boarder. They bought up the cars, and brought them back into the USA, where they proceeded to make a killing. Discounting the cars to $19,500, they picked up $3,000 profit per car. There were 99 such cars. They became spread out all over the USA. 279525 was 1 of these cars.
ascMcLaren never did overbuilds again !!

This should be stickied somewere.

idareu · Post by **idareu** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:18 am

Sandy what was the build date of my car then??

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:35 pm

I have no build dates for any 1988 example.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:55 pm

With regard to DEMAND -VS- the overbuild, you can somwhat "see" the demand in the 1985-1986 Capri version & the 1987 and 1989 Mustang verseions when they were were built one, two or three at a time as per specific dealer order.
1985 = 257
1986 = 245
1987 = 479
1989 = 249
These are real numbers, that being actual orders, whether by a dealer FOR inventory or by a dealer as a sold car. You can see that they average 308 cars a year. There were 1988s still in stock, for sale 3/4s of the year of 1989 ! The "REAL" demand was about 308 or so units a year.

For 1990, orders were only taken for SOLD units, none for inventory. Every 1990 arriving at a dealer was pre-sold. This total equalled 65 units.

This will give you some idea of how overbuilt the 1,015 of 1988 were. Assuming a 308 unit "average" per model year, there were a good 700 sitting on dealer lots taking up space and inventory dollars for a long long time. This, in turn hurt sales of the redesigned 1989, and I personally believe is what ultimately killed the project, that was originally scheduled to live thru 1993, the end of the design.
Yes, there were major disagreements between Peter Muscat & Hans Prechter the former head of ASC and supplier problems and and and .....but, when the $$$$ is great, and equally shared, people make their way to get along even when they don't like each other. The $$$$ fell off and that was that. The overbuild of 1988 was in fact IMHO the nail in the coffin.
When dealers can't sell what they have bought, they do not order more of what didn't sell. Furthermore, asc did not cut the price of the overbuilt cars to dealers, so that they could cut the price to the consumer. Only those willing to go to - or close enough to go to, Canada to buy & then re-enter the USA and go thru all the red tape to get a bargin ($16,500 I believe) could reap the benefits. Other dealers were stuck with ayear old cars (1988) that they owned for $ 21,000. Now at THAT time, a brandy new - not a "Lot Lodger" 1989 cost the dealer across the street (figureatively speaking) the same $21,000.
In the car business, you find that when the manufacturer allows the dealer to lead the manufacturer, it's the manufacturer that losses. When the dealer allows the customer to lead, it's the dealer thast losses.
When the manufacturer gives into the wishes of the dealer body, the mfgr losses, and when the dealer gives into the wishes of the consumer, it's the dealer who losses. The manufacturer MUST lead his customer who is the dealer and the dealer in turn must lead his customer, the retail consumer.

idareu · Post by **idareu** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:53 pm

What was the MSRPs on each year ASC Mclaren??