Love at first sight with Kona Blue Mustang
Rick Wishnak was born and raised in Los Angeles. He moved to the Bay Area in 1978 to attend graduate school, landing in Marin County by 1979. He has a master’s degree in Organizational Development/Human Resources Management. Wishnak has been a social worker for his entire career, working with developmentally disabled children, juveniles in the delinquency system, Vietnam-era veterans with PTSD, mentally ill adults and seniors with dementia. He recently retired from the Sonoma Superior Court after managing three divisions there for the last 10 years.
I have always been a car enthusiast for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I caught the bug from friends who were into racing sports cars. I never had the money to get into anything serious myself until I was in my 30s, and I didn’t own my first sports car until 1980.
My first sports car was a Fiat 124 Spyder. The Spyder is not exactly a fast car, but it’s fun to drive. I was living in Inverness in West Marin and driving into San Francisco five days a week. Those roads were perfect for that car, and it made the drive much more interesting and enjoyable.
My next sports car was a Nissan 280ZX. That car was a pleasure to drive, and though it wasn’t a true sports car, it still made weekend back road trips a fun adventure.
After that, marriage and kids prevented me from getting any sports cars with real power.
In 2007, I started working for the Superior Court in Sonoma County. My daily commute was 45 miles each way from San Rafael. When it was time to buy a new car in 2011, I decided that since my kids were grown and I was going to be spending a lot of time on the road, I should get the car that I wanted. The timing was perfect because I could also afford it by this time in my life.
As I began my search, I read quite a bit about the current Ford Mustangs. The Mustang seemed to have just what I wanted, and it came as a convertible.
I was impressed by the reviews, so I decided to test drive one and see for myself. I was surprised by the handling, ride and comfort of the Mustang, but the deal was sealed when I looked into options for outfitting the car.
I told the salesman that I wanted the Kona Blue convertible with Saddle Brown interior, and after searching every online database in California, he found just what I was looking for.
The salesman’s supervisor was happy to bring the car up to the local dealership for me. With that color combo in a convertible he said they would have no trouble selling it to someone else if I got cold feet.
When the car arrived at the dealership I was still a little unsure, but it was love at first sight. My Mustang was beautiful, and I was officially hooked.
Today, thanks to my commute, the car has 145,000 miles on it in just six years.
It hasn’t needed any work done, except for the replacement of a water pump and the usual maintenance. It still has the original brakes and clutch. My Mustang has been a pleasure to drive on the freeway to and from work everyday, but it’s been even more fun to drive on the back roads of the North Bay.
It still gets looks and comments from people all the time. Though it is a six-cylinder, it has adequate power and moves more quickly than I thought it would.
There are sportier cars out there that go faster and get more attention, but I have no regrets. I love my Mustang and plan to it keep it in good running shape for as long as I can.