Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it is recalling 470,000 Ford Mustangs from the 2005-2008 model years to recalibrate how forcefully the air bag deploys on the front passenger side of the car. Internal testing showed the air bag could injure a small, unbelted passenger, said Ford spokesman Wesley Sherwood. The recall was posted on the website of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Sherwood said the fix would address “a very rare scenario,” and there were no reports of injuries or accidents tied to the recall.
Nearly 435,000 of the recalled vehicles are in the United States, with most of the remaining vehicles in Mexico and Canada. The Dearborn-based automaker will notify customers by mail in early March. Owners can take their vehicle to a dealer to have the air bag recalibrated to deploy at a lower force. For additional details, owners can call Ford at (866) 436-7332 or visit the company’s Owner Services Website at http://www.ford.com/owner-services.
In less than a month, the legendary Barrett-Jackson auction event will be held in Palm Beach, Florida. From March 27 to March 30, hundreds of car aficionados and investors will gather in the coastal city to see and maybe buy some of the rarest and most beautiful cars in the world. The Barret-Jackson auctions are also famous because of the star cars they offer, such as Bo’s General Lee (see our article) or the Monkeemobile.
This time though, a much more recent star will be up for sale: the Shelby Mustang GT500KR from the new Knight Rider. Or to be precise, two of them, since the lot is comprised off the normal KITT and the Attack Mode KITT. The buyer will make a good action too, since 100% off the proceeds will be donated to Salute to Education (a scholarship program funded by Ford).
While this is all good and charitable, does it have a hidden meaning? Are they selling the cars because the show won’t come back as a regular series? Is it because the show is coming back but not the cars? Is it a publicity stunt?
Well, they made more one of each version of KITT, and the show did very well with 12.7 million viewers. According to the New York Times (via The Knight Rider Online), one of NBC Entertainment co-chairman, Ben Silverman, declared that ” its ratings success makes it a likely addition to NBC’s schedule when it is announced in April”. So either the cars will be replaced (or modified. Can it get the Turbo-Boost, please?), or Ford and NBC are killing two three birds with one stone, promoting the Mustang, promoting the show, and offering scholarships at the same time.
Anyway, we hope they raise a lot of money for the cause, and that the lucky bidder will take his new rides on the road. The kids will love it.
What does a supercharger bolted on to a 5.0-litre V8, running on E85 sound like? For the purposes of this piece of information, it sounds like the Saleen S5S Raptor, a concept car from the house of Saleen that's destined to show its fangs at the New York Auto Show.
Raptor is only a sketch for now, but later this drawing will come to a top velocity just north of 200 mph/ 322km/h on a flat tarmac. Bodywork is courtesy of composite panels, while the chassis runs on aluminium. Both these are in the name of weight-saving, that all-important criterion when it comes to supplying as much speed as possible between tire and tarmac.
We think a bit more intelligence will make its way to the surface before the show, which is still a good month-odd away. Before then, I’m afraid this is all we’ve got.
Last week we had the inaugural match of Star Car Shootout, in which the James Bond's Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me went head-to-head against the Lamborghini Countach from Speed Zone in a battle to decide which big screen star was cooler. We've counted the votes, and with most of the precincts now reporting, Jalopnik projects that the Lotus has won.
This week, we've got another big-shot superstar facing off against a relative underdog. Appropriately for our whole "Which is cooler?" hook, both cars co-starred with the "King of Cool" himself, Steve McQueen. Now, while McQueen certainly surrounded himself with some impressive rides over the years, for this shootout we had to pick just two of them. The others will have to wait their turn. So for this match, we're pitting the Ford Mustang 390 GT from Bullitt against the Porsche 911 S from Le Mans. Yes, you're now probably already visualizing those scenes in your head, but just in case you aren't, we've got the clips after the jump.
Start talking about Steve McQueen's cars, and the first one that'll come to mind for most people is the Dark Highland Green 1968 Ford Mustang from Bullitt. Thing is, McQueen never actually owned the car. Of course, that doesn't disqualify the 'stang for this contest, but it does raise an interesting question. Did McQueen even particularly like the Mustang? His personal garage was filled mostly with European sports cars, not American muscle. Watching the chase scene, you'll notice that neither the Charger nor the Mustang take turns all that well. It's even been said that the shot of the 'stang overcooking one of the corners wasn't planned at all. Though I suppose if I'm going to start critiquing the film too closely, I would also have to start counting green VW Beetles, and I really don't want to do that. Besides, this isn't some class for a film student; we're here for the car. And it must be said the dark Mustang fastback with a 390ci V8 looks and sounds fantastic. It's an automotive icon. But there's a problem with that. Being famous to a degree is cool, but being a tool for a marketing department is not. In recent years, Ford has made not just one "special edition" Bullitt Mustang, but two. Which means that you really don't have to be "in the know" to know about the car. It's like having your favorite rock band from the '60s all of a sudden become hugely popular again. You like the music still, but the all the teenage fans, the Broadway musicals, and the appearances on daytime television just sort of ruin the cool factor.
Unlike the Mustang, McQueen actually owned the '70 Porsche 911 S from Le Mans. He wanted a car to drive around in Europe while he was shooting the film, so he bought the Porsche, and when shooting was finished, he had it sent back to America. Now sure, there's no on-screen hoonage starring the 911, but you can only imagine that McQueen drove the snot out of the thing when he was off-camera. But that's not the point--this car was was cool not because it drove around jumping over hills and chasing baddies. The 911 is cool because it is understated and relaxed; it's what the tormented race car driver drove when, as McQueen's character famously put it in the film, he was "just waiting" between races. It has what the Mustang lacks: inconspicuousness. You really need to be obsessed with cars to appreciate the Porsche. For example, the current owner of the 911 was a Porsche collector who bought the car a few years ago without even knowing that it was in the Le Mans film; he just liked the car. Watch it cruise through France and you can't help but like it too.
We are big fans of Superformance Complete Replicars, makers of the Cobra, Daytona Coupe, and GT40 replicas that have the blessing (and licensing agreement) of Carroll Shelby. When we heard they were opening up a new showroom in Irvine, CA, we had to go check it out ourselves. Superformance Complete Replicars have actually been in the same building for the past few years, so the location is nothing new. However, they recently decided to knock down a few walls so that they could store their beautiful and wickedly fast eye candy in something more presentable to the public. On to the photos - check out the huge gallery of photos below and pick out your dream car.
While Saleen and Roush have always been competitors for the dollars of Mustang lovers everywhere, the two companies have somehow managed to co-exist for decades. But which makes a better Mustang? Former FIA F300 driver Derek Hill of Web Rides TV had the opportunity to pit the Saleen S281 against the Roush 427R to see which legendary pony car tuner would come out on top.
At first, the battle of the two supercharged Mustangs doesn't look like a fair fight. The S281 has 465 hp and 425 lb-ft, some 30 more horsepower and 25 more lb-ft than the 427R. The S281 also weighs 300 lbs. less than the more visceral 427R. As New York Giants fans can attest, however, just because one team looks better on paper, when the game is being played, anything can happen. Hit the jump to view a video of the 427R against the S281 in 0-100-0, slalom, and on-track tests. The video is incredible, and the two vehicles aren't nearly as evenly matched as you might think.
