Mustang 1965 – 2010

The owner of this new Mustang Convertible is not only stuck on the side of Flatbush Avenue in middle of the Snowpocalypse, he refuses to put the top up. His excuse? “Every day is a good day in New York.”

If you’re going to be a moron, at least have a rationale behind it we suppose. Also, double props to the reporter for the “fine Corinthian leather” shoutout. (Hat tip to Josh!) [NBC4]

[Onion] DETROIT — Ford officials issued a massive recall of the entire 2010 Mustang line Tuesday, apologizing for a quality-control oversight that led to the company manufacturing a badass muscle car that was way too awesome for the American public.

“We deeply regret this lapse in judgment and accept full responsibility for the mistake,” Ford CEO Alan R. Mulally said standing beside a gorgeous, cherry-red vehicle recalled for being “way too smoking.” “After numerous road tests, we’ve found the car to be a mean, mean ride that Americans are simply not cool enough to handle, and it would be irresponsible of us to allow anyone to get behind the wheel of this killer car. It’s truly frightening how sweet the Mustang is.” According to Mulally, Ford has canceled production on the 2011 Mustang, and will instead release a line of fuel-efficient vehicles in an effort to appeal to boring old Americans.

Reprinted with permission of THE ONION.
Copyright © 2010, by ONION, INC.
www.theonion.com

[via The Onion]

The sickle-shaped control arm is a wonderful thing: It provides an easy and relatively cheap way to locate and control the bottom of a MacPherson strut. Which car is this one mounted to? (Hint: It’s not a Lotus.)

Answer: The 2010 Ford Mustang. Why is this one on its side? Because Ford wants you to see the business end of the horse. (No jokes, people. This is a serious matter.)

It may seem like sacrilege to ask this but, does the Shelby name mean anything anymore? The 2011 GT350 seems like a ‘Stang with a supercharger and a chubby body kit. Considering the upgrade’s $34K asking price, color us unexcited.

We’d normally lay down rose petals ahead of Carroll Shelby’s storied boots any day of the week, but this latest “special” edition 500 HP Mustang isn’t exactly lighting our pants on fire, especially considering the price. At $33,995 for the upgrade, the GT350 45th’s anniversary car is a helluva lot of cheese to ask for a body kit, wheels, a supercharger, Baer brakes, a Borla exhaust and Ford Racing suspension bits. The stock Mustang ain’t no joke in it’s own right so charging double the price for some extra doo-dads is an awfully tall order.

The web search engine with the extraneous exclamation point’s put together an early list of the ten most searched-for cars of 2009. Unexpectedly to some, online auto searches seem less about sales and more about what makes car fan-boys excited.

We’ve run the cars up against their sales numbers and as you’ll see there’s a lot of muscle on the list. There’s also only two that even break the 100,000 sales mark. In both cases, they’re Honda models and in both cases they sell over 200,000 units a year.

We think this means that if you’re an automaker and you want your car model to break into the top ten, you need something with a plastic interior and a 500 HP option — or you need to sell an appliance that’s so non-exciting people need to search for it to remember what it is.

Alas, only one of those choices seems to provide heavy sales numbers. Without further ado, here’s the full list. Click next over yonder to begin.

POSITION: 10
NAME: 2009 Mazda3
2009 SALES*: 88,485

*Through November, 2009.

POSITION: 9
NAME: 2009 Jeep Wrangler
2009 SALES*: 75,246

*Through November, 2009.

POSITION: 8
NAME: 2010 Dodge Challenger
2009 SALES*: 23,316

*Through November, 2009.

POSITION: 7
NAME: 2010 Dodge Charger
2009 SALES*: 54,378

*Through November, 2009.

POSITION: 6
NAME: 2009 Honda Accord
2009 SALES*: 261,818

*Through November, 2009.

POSITION: 5
NAME: 2009 Smart ForTwo
2009 SALES*: 12,709

*Through November, 2009.

POSITION: 4
NAME: 2009 Mini Cooper
2009 SALES*: 50,511**

*Through November, 2009.
**Combined for both MINI Cooper and MINI Clubman. MINI does not break out sales data for individual models.

POSITION: 3
NAME: 2009/2010 Ford Mustang
2009 SALES*: 60,096

*Through November, 2009.

POSITION: 2
NAME: 2009 Honda Civic
2009 SALES*: 237,403

*Through November, 2009.

POSITION: 1
NAME: 2010 Chevrolet Camaro
2009 SALES*: 54,100

*From March 16, 2009 through November, 2009.

In the Ezra Dyer-penned musclegasm on the Chevy Camaro in this Sunday’s NYT Automobiles section, Dyer claims that, for seemingly unknown reasons, automotive writers think the Camaro’s inferior to the Mustang. The one reason we know that he ignores, below.

Now I love the new Chevy Camaro as much as any other red-blooded American male, but unlike Ezra Dyer, I’m not willing to ignore a problem with the new Camaro greater than even its hefty weight. It’s a problem greater than the money Chevy saved by using low-quality interior materials. It’s a problem more massive than the loss of the torque-o-meter from the four-pack of gauge clusters on the transmission tunnel. More importantly, it’s a problem that the Mustang solves.

In the Mustang, I’m able to rest my elbow on the windowsill without causing an ulnar nerve displacement. So if I’d driven the ’stang nine hours from Detroit to New York in August rather than the Camaro, maybe I’d still be able to feel the “a” and “z” keys when I type “Ezra.” See. Right there. Can’t feel the “z” and “a” anymore. Grrr. [NYT]

Ford’s the marquee sponsor of this year’s SEMA show in Vegas and a whole stable full of custom 2010 Ford Mustang is coming along. The full rendered gallery and descriptions of the cars below.

2010 Ford Mustang by 3dCarbon
The 3dCarbon Mustang is different from all other Mustangs because it is the true Boy Racer – an award-winning, full-body styling concept that was originally introduced with the 2005 Mustang body style. 3dCarbon introduces the 2010 Boy Racer – an evolution of styling from the old to the new featuring a bold aerodynamic design. The 3d Boy Racer is sure to turn heads.

2010 Ford Mustang by Galpin Auto Sports
The Mustang GT Convertible is the true American thrill machine, and that thrill doubles with a Ford Racing 550-horsepower supercharger and one-of-a-kind custom wide body. This is the car to have – whether you’re out on the road with the top down or in the city for a night on the town.

2010 Ford Mustang by H&R Special Springs
H&R Special Springs has taken a new 2010 Mustang and built a time machine that is making the future visible now. Working from awesome new styling cues, H&R brings the future closer; from the personalized colorized wheels and subtle LED lighting accents on the exterior to the luxurious white accents inside, custom tuning is the wave.

2010 Ford Mustang by Paul’s High Performance
This 2010 Mustang GT is unmistakably built for the quarter-mile drag strip, with low elapsed times in mind. From the functional hood to the rear wing, its aggressive wheels, tires, exhaust and custom-designed Paul’s High Performance products are all specifically tuned for maximum performance. Following in the Paul’s High Performance tradition, this GT screams “Record breaker!” while showing off Mustang’s impressive new body styling, which is way ahead of the competition.

2010 Ford Mustang by Steeda Autosports
The Steeda Q350 – embodied with the very soul of Mustang performance – provides a dynamic, super responsive and absolutely confident driving experience. With more wins, records and championships in production-based Mustangs than any other specialty manufacturer, the Steeda Q350 is both track tested and street legal. From the racetrack to the open road, the Steeda Q series never fails to amaze, combining the dynamics and agility of a high-performance sports racer with the everyday practicality and comfort of America’s original pony car – all in one integrated package.

2010 Ford Mustang by Street Scene Equipment
Street Scene Equipment once again leads the way with race-like styling for the street, and power, handling and style incorporated into the perfect package. This Mustang from Street Scene Equipment is sure to turn heads wherever it goes.

2010 Ford Mustang by Vaughn Gittin Jr.
World championship drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr. has introduced a new generation of Mustang to the world with the Mustang RTR. The extremely limited-production Mustang RTR-C puts still more muscle behind the already incredible 2010 Ford Mustang GT. Balancing 550 tire-shredding American horsepower with new-generation design influences, Vaughn has incorporated state-of-the-art technology with first-rate carbon fiber body construction to make the Mustang RTR-C one incredible-looking, raw performance machine.

2010 Ford Mustang by Ford Vehicle Personalization
Powered by imagination, this Ford Mustang showcases Ford Custom Accessories. The metallic gold design cues are inspired by such premier fashion designers as Prada, Stella McCartney and Balenciaga. The vehicle features unique Carbon Black Metallic exterior custom paint that is accented by gold 20-inch wheels and gold-tinted headlights and fog lamps. Inside, the gold theme continues with leather seat and door trim inserts, steering wheel cover and shifter boot.

Drift-master Vaughn Gittin Jr. has build an all carbon fiber-body, 550 HP monster called the Mustang RTR-C, debuting at SEMA. Since it turned out so well, he’s decided to sell ten to the public — for $135,000 each.

The car was built by Autosport Dynamics (ASD) in Charlotte, NC and aside from the crazy dry carbon fiber body, it also features goodies like in-car adjustable shocks, and carbon fiber HRE wheels. If you’re interested in some serious weight savings in a Mustang, get your wallet ready cause the ten available for public consumption will cost $135,000. These are just teaser images now, but we’ll try to take a look when it debuts this week at SEMA. [Mustang RTR-C, Speedhunters]

Ford brought a few Need For Speed SHIFT gamers to Willow Springs to see if they could break their virtual lap times for real. Could they? Of course not.

A marketing ploy, sure, but we have a thing for any marketing exercise which carries risk of serious injury and/or death. This should also definitely prove to armchair racers that they’re faster in their minds than they would be behind a real steering wheel (force feedback doesn’t count). Of course it also proves that the 2010 Ford Mustang GTs stability control is now so good that it kept four nincompoops from killing themselves in a powerful RWD car, I mean really, did you see how they were driving in the game?

Today’s the first day the muscle car wars collide with the NASCAR world. The NASCAR Ford Mustang race car will be unveiled at 1PM EST but until then, here’s the first sneak peek at things to come. [Ford via MustangEvolution]