Back in the Saddle?

With the Car Allowance Rebate System a.k.a ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program officially over and American auto sales needing another stimulus, the industry and consumers are looking forward to the custom tuned delights promised by the annual SEMA show. While SEMA 2009 promises the usual range of over the top tuner specials and reminders of upcoming products from the major brands, stalwart Mustang tuner/manufacturer Saleen hopes to make a splash with its new S281.

While little information is currently available on the S281, exciting teaser images have been released and they suggest that Saleen intends to stay in the game, despite the economy and uncertain direction after the departure of Steve Saleen in 2007.

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Flipping channels, I stopped on a cop show rerun - a police pursuit of a young couple running lights, hopping curbs and then screeching to a stop in front of an ER. The wife spilled onto the sidewalk…and delivered a baby. Awwww. Ok, they were drug dealers, but it got me thinking about Moms and the cars that drove them to give birth. Since it is Mother’s Day, I decided to poke around for stories of Moms, newborns and the cars they rode in on.

Cadillac
In a Boston suburb in 1962, Mrs. Castignetti went into labor with child number five, and she knew she had to act fast.  A four-time Mom’s labor can be short, so the Castignettis jumped into their 1959 silver Cadillac Sedan Deville and took off. With HP and weight comparable to, say, today’s Nissan Titan, the 1959 Sedan Deville was part of an elite club of GM luxury cars from an era where a spectacular bottle of Bordeaux would be called “the cadillac of wines”.  But it wasn’t just glamorous, it was wild. How Stuff Works wrote, “What can’t be disputed is that the 1959 Cadillacs, defined by those saber-edged fins and projectile taillamps, are among the most evocative objects of the 20th Century. What precisely they evoke is open to interpretation, and that’s part of the magic.” So it should surprise no one that of the 16 newborns at the hospital, the youngest Castignetti really stood out. Through the maternity window, amidst a sea of only pink blankets, Albert Castignetti slept right in the middle, wrapped in blue. An early standout, Albert Castignetti eventually became Vice President and General Manager of the Nissan Division, maker of, among other vehicles, the Titan.

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By Kurt Gensheimer

Blings:

• Dramatic interior quality improvements
• More attractive, stylish and aggressive exterior improvements
• Hoot-hollerin’ V8

Dings:

• Intrusive arm rest
• Annoying IP illumination reflection in windshield
• Rear seats fit for a double leg amputee

Ruling: The first Mustang which might actually attract people who’ve never liked Mustangs.

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Let’s face it—for every great car we produce on this planet, they’re bound to be a couple of real duds. Unfortunately, failure is just a fact of life. These vehicles probably looked really good on the drawing board, but in reality they were design disasters that are best forgotten.

1.) 1975 AMC Pacer: One of the lowest points in the history of car making, the AMC Pacer was a disaster of great proportions on many levels—from the 95hp inline 6-cylinder engine all the way to the terrible fuel economy—18mpg. So, not only did it not turn heads (except in shock), this vehicle rode like a covered wagon with one bad wheel. The design reminds me of something you’d see in a 1950’s “B” sci-fi film. Consequently, the Pacer has become the poster child of 1970’s bad automotive design. If there are any of these cars left out there, they should be destroyed, for the good of the race and the culture. When other civilizations look back on us 1,000 years from now, the Pacer will undoubtedly be cited as the beginning of the end.

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In the 1968 movie classic Bullitt, Steve McQueen took to the streets of San Francisco in a revved up 1968 Highland Green Mustang GT 390 Fastback as he chases two hit-men in a “Tuxedo Black” 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 440 Magnum.

Getting air off the hills of SF
What follows is the greatest car chase ever filmed. Bullitt has nine minutes of tire-squealing thrills through the streets (and air) of San Francisco. What made the car chase scene groundbreaking, Bullitt was the first movie to show close-up shots of the driver which added more realism to the scene. The director called for speeds of 75–80 mph, but the cars reached speeds of over 110 mph on surface streets. The chase scene took three week to film, during which the Charger lost six hubcaps and has different ones missing in different shots. Even now, Bullitt is the measuring-stick by which all movie chase scenes are stacked up to.

Video of the Mustang Bullitt after the jump
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This is Ford’s 40th anniversary edition of the ’68 Mustang made famous in the Steve McQueen movie “Bullitt”. The crew at CarReview.com took the Bullitt out for a spin and had fun all day long roasting the tires.

By Twain Mein

What Happens in a Mustang…stays in a Mustang

This is Ford’s 40^th anniversary edition of the ’68 Mustang made famous in the Steve McQueen movie “Bullit”. I’ve been a Mustang fan since 1982 when Ford brought back horsepower and burnouts (at “just” 157 hp) and have loved the styling of the 64-70 models ever since I can remember. Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of driving the ’03 Cobra and ’06 Shelby GT-H. Needless to say, I was looking forward to the Bullitt!

And, wow, this did not disappoint. The Shelby has 325 hp while the Bullitt has “only” 315 (the ’03 Cobra has 390). Read the rest of this entry �

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (March 5, 2008) – The inaugural Ford Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup racing series held its first official event this past weekend with 19 entrants taking delivery of their new Mustang FR500S race cars in a special program at Miller Motorsports Park.

Participants also had the opportunity to attend the Ford Racing High Performance Driving School, meet series officials, receive technical information from Ford Racing engineers and shake down their new race cars for the first time during the open track sessions on both Saturday and Sunday.

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