Ken Block’s Ford Fiesta
Famous stunt driver Ken Block looks to be entering the WRC this season after jumping from Subaru and landing at Ford. Here is a video reveal of the Monster Fiesta.
The Ford Fiesta had left the States decades ago, but still continues on in Europe. It will be returning to the US this summer - better built and cooler than the box of the 80s.
Dear Ford…
(gonna keep this short, since we're. an import blog and all...hehehe)
I for one am glad that you finally decided to ditch the 1990 American Focus for something more inspired. Kudos. That is all.
-Tanker
Up Late…
Well I got in kind of late tonight. Come on now, it's Ramen Thursday, so I have a really good excuse. There were a couple things I've been wanting to post like Carscoop's little blip on Road Star Garage's MX5 converted Toyota 2000GT. I was also thinking about posting something up about that craziness of the Mugen Civic Type R selling out in 10 minutes or how about Honda also putting out a Race-only Civic Type R? Which I'm guessing will be much better equipped than the S2000 CR that has been delayed to Oct 6th. Hmmm, kind of Honda heavy lately...Uhhh, Toyota has halted the TRD Aurion sales in Australia cause the engine might blow up? I dunno, I was skimming news feeds fast, but that's kind of funny. Yesterday was "Talk Like a Pirate Day" and I wanted to tie that in with the GT-ARRRRRRRRRRRRR stuff, but oh well...I kind of blew that one too. Oh well. I seriously should be getting to bed but in honor of this late night post of trying to cram everything I wanted to do in 500 words or less in hopes that makes up for what I didn't do, I figure I'd put this up. My friend sent me this great clip from Conan, which I think is prolly one of my favorite skits from his show..."I call this the ranch." ...classic.
Style Points fo’ sho!
Gullwing doors? No. Suicide doors? No. It's all about the Disappearing Door! This is actually some concept car from Ford back in the 90s that was put up for auction on eBay last month (I know I live under a rock when it comes to these things, but hey at least this time I'm only a month behind...lol). Here's a little back story about the car from the seller:
Lincoln executives were concerned about the heavy and wide doors on the Mark VIII in the early 1990's especially in large cities with tight parking spots. They were toying with the idea of a Mark VIII that had doors that disappeared beneath the car which would require no additional space for the doors to swing open in order to allow the occupant to exit or enter. Back in the day, the major auto makers would sub-contract their concept designs to other engineering firms who specialiazed in auto concepts and executions. In this particular case, this Lincoln Mark VIII was shipped over to Joalto Design Inc. near Detroit. Joalto holds numerous US Patents dealing with this vehicle chassis and body construction (see pictures of patent plaques in interior section below).
Joalto Design Inc. created this amazing, one of a kind concept car and shipped it back to Lincoln for executive approval. Be sure to click on the video below to watch the door miraculously disappear underneath the car - you will be shocked and amazed. Unfortunately, the Ford Motor Company executives did not like the design and ordered the car (and the concept) to be sent to the junkyard and destroyed. The current owner had been tracking this car for nearly 20 years and finally convinced the previous owner to part with it.
Thus is the story of this amazing Lincoln concept car. There is no documentation to substantiate the claims above but it is completely within the realm of possibility and in fact likely that the events occurred as above. Since the executives wanted all evidence destroyed, we are relying on lore in this case.
Shocked and amazed I was. Although it may work wonders when working right, when the thing doesn't who knows what kind of a pain in the ass trying to get in/out of the car could be. I say just leave the doors down everywhere you go, it'll make it that much easier to ghost ride that whip or maybe freak out your friends as you roll down the door and drift that sucker.
Check out the auction while it's still up at eBay HERE
America’s JDM Goodness
Blue Flame is an importer of Ford cars into Japan. Now available, only in Japan, are their Bullitt and BOSS packages for their Mustangs. They have their cosmetic differences and come either stock or you can upgrade with parts from the Saleen and Ford Racing catalogs. Nice. Things always look greener on the other side of the world, even our own cars. LOL. [Source: Autoblog]
