Ford Mustang 1976 News

No city does over-the-top better than the world's gambling capital of Las Vegas, and no more so than when it turns into the world's extreme car focal point for the annual SEMA show. The Specialty Equipment Market Association event is where the major car companies join with custom, modification and tuning brands to show what a car can become when unfettered by legal restrictions, functionality or the laws or logic. Highlights this year included a Chevy SS (exported to the US as the first wave from Holden) prepped by racer Jeff Gordon, hot Hyundais, music-powered Kia Souls and plenty more. There were also some incredible Ford Mustangs, including the evil-looking Bad Penny Mustang and the Hollywood Hot Rods aluminum-bodied Mustang. The strong showing from the Ford pony car gave the Mustang a double-down to win the SEMA show's Hottest Car award for the second year running. The award is judged on which car is the most accessory-friendly -- with the show cars already likely giving inspiration to Australian aftermarket fans for when the car arrives here as the Ford halo vehicle after the Falcon exits in 2016. Ford also won the Hottest Truck award with its F-Series pick-ups, while Jeep picked up the Hottest 4x4-SUV title for the Wrangler. Toyota took the Hottest Sport-Compact for its second year in a row with the Scion FR-S (known as the 86 rear-wheel drive sports hero here) with modded cars including a 560kW racing prototype. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

Ford is seeing yellow for this year's SEMA show. The annual Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas is always a temple for excessive modification, but Ford has kept the cosmetic custom weirdness to a minimum for their Project Yellow Jacket Mustang.However, the real beauty -- and brawn -- lies under the yellow skin. Created by Ford and Vortech Superchargers, the car is powered by a 5.0-litre Coyote V8 engine that was treated to one of Vortech's V-3 Si blowers. The result is 451 kilowatts and 640 Newton metres of torque with 7.5 psi of boost. That's a big improvement over the 313 kilowatts and 528 Newton metres the Coyote makes in a stock 2014 Ford Mustang GT.However, it's not quite enough to outdo the Shelby GT500's 5.8-litre supercharged V-8, which chucks out 494 kilowatts and 855 Newton metres. Ford has to maintain its Mustang hierarchy, after all.The Yellow Jacket sports a carbon fibre cowl-induction hood and 3D Carbon Boy Racer body kit for a bit of added visual muscle, and rolls on iForged Icon wheels (20- x 9-inch front, 20- x 11-inch rear) and Falken Azenis FK453 tires (275/40/20 front, 315/35/20 rear). Other modifications include Baer brakes with six-piston calipers, a tuned suspension, and a Webasto sunroof.www.motorauthority.com 

Up to 300 Ford workers in Geelong may still have work after they are made redundant when the company stops making cars in Australia in 2016, after a small Melbourne company yesterday announced it was planning to recruit them. Power Systems Australia is looking to make gas-fired generators to export to markets in Asia and the Pacific. It currently employs 22 people in the Melbourne suburb of Campbellfield, but is planning to start a new factory in Geelong. The company currently makes electrical and electronic switchboards, and repairs and recalibrates power supply systems, but has also been researching the development and manufacture of power generation and supply systems. Ford announced earlier this year it would cease building cars in Australia, and in a special Ford event in August -- attended by global CEO Alan Mulally -- confirmed that we would see the next Ford Mustang here as a hero car in place of the Falcon.  

The 2015 Ford Mustang is on track for an auto show debut within the next six months and already many of its details are becoming known. Today, we learned that engineers developing the car have targeted a substantial weight saving for the new model. A source familiar with the car’s development told Edmunds that the 2015 Mustang will be only slightly smaller than the model it replaces but weigh around 180kg less. The 2014 Mustang equipped with a V6 tips the scales at just over 1587kg which means the new 2015 Mustang may be as light as just a bit more than 1400kg. The source said engineers were trying to improve the fuel economy of the car, though no doubt lobbing off around 180kg from the current Mustang will also yield significant gains in virtually every dynamic statistic. Combined with a new independent rear suspension, the lighter weight should see the Mustang turn in new levels of performance at the track. The 2015 Mustang is expected to be about 38cm shorter than the current car and 15cm narrower. Getting the weight down will be done by using lighter materials such as aluminium instead of conventional steel. Improved chassis design will also mean less reinforcement will be needed. www.motorauthority.com  

Watch the full Ford Mustang RC chase video

Have you ever wished your transmission were smarter? We're not talking about a dual-clutch or a paddle-shift automatic, but a manual. No? Well, maybe you should have. Ford has developed a smart shift knob for manual transmissions (in this case, a 2013 Shelby Mustang GT500), that can help drivers learn how to shift properly. It's not available for purchase, as it's a Ford engineer's project using the company's OpenXC research platform--but the project is open-source, and the design files and firmware are available for download. So you can make one for yourself. So how does it work? It takes a haptic vibration motor from an Xbox 360 controller and a Bluetooth link to the car's data output and packages them all into a fairly compact shift knob. Then the system senses the car's rpm and speed, and vibrates to tell the driver it's time to shift. Engineer Zachary Nelson also says it could be modified to vibrate to indicate other information, including the optimal shift points for gas mileage. While the knob itself might not have all that much use for us--or for most people in the real world--the idea that a car maker is developing and prototyping products, then releasing those designs into the wild for further development by the automotive community, is downright amazing. www.motorauthority.com    

James Bond ‘Goldfinger’ Aston Martin was epic, and the $4.62 million that Steve Champagne (yep, a real name) gave American customiser George Barris for the real Batmobile was serious money, then you'd be wrong.Ford as part of an ongoing product placement arrangement with Warner Bros who financed the movie. Ford also offered two big Galaxie 500s for the baddies to drive in the chase scenes but they were rejected and the producers bought two new Dodge Chargers. And so the main players in this iconic car chase were gathered for the fray.David Burrell is the editor of retroautos.com.au