One of the most famous vehicles in muscle car history is the Shelby Cobra of the 1960s. The car was designed to do two things: go fast and win races. Shelby achieved this result by wedging a big engine into a small, light car body. The car did very well in competitions, but lackluster sales in the US led Shelby to end production in 1967.
Ford provided engines for the original Shelby Cobras, and in 2004 the company wanted to show off a concept vehicle that reflected upon the motorsports heritage of the Shelby Cobra. Continue reading →
Imagine this setting, if you will, you are an employee in the Ford design department. The year is 1994 and the carryover square shape from just about everything in the 80’s is finally on its way out. Nobody is quite sure where to take things but they all know that square is officially, well, square. “What are we going to do, what are we going to do!!?”. There is chaos, noise, and wild talk..
At this point the conference room door slowly opens as the lead designer walks in, the room quiets to a dead silence, all focus on him. As he approaches the group he slowly reaches into his coat pocket and gently pulls out a small white egg and gently places it down onto the conference table. “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the 1997 Ford everything”. After a 5 second delay the room erupts into applause and cheers.
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Flash forward to 2012, you’ve bought or somehow acquired one of these things, now how in the world are you going to hide the fact that your truck is for the most part a shapeless and odd looking relic of 1990’s design mediocrity?
I present to you the Ford F-150 Wireframe Edition. With features such as a grill on top of your old grill and a chrome trimmed lower front window bug deflector you are sure to stand out from the rest. The features, details, and enhancements are too numerous to list so have a look for yourself.
I’ve never heard of these things before. Honestly, I didn’t even know there was a second generation of the Explorer Sport Trac. Apparently this started out as a stereo package for the Sport Trac and morphed into this “appearance-package” atrocity starting in 2008. Based off what was meant to be an SVT-lead performance truck, that idea was apparently scrapped, but kept the 2005 GT-R concept grille treatment. Something nowadays many other manufacturers can’t seem to avoid stealing as well (I’m looking at you SRT team).
So basically this thing is all show and no go. Being as it’s a quad cab with a pathetic excuse for a bed -and built from the Explorer platform- I shouldn’t be surprised that this is basically what you would call a “lifestyle” vehicle. Which I suppose is a nice way of saying that it’s only meant to look like its sporty and utilitarian, instead of actually being sporty and utilitarian. It’s a mechanical cod piece. I also shouldn’t be surprised that the lady driving this looked like she was off to get the kids from soccer practice, driving in a part of town that is exclusively new, upper-middle class suburbs.
During a year where Ford was making the Five-Hundred, Fusion and Taurus (fleet only) all at the same time, I feel comfortable in saying that this was the most useless, outdated and foolish-looking vehicle in their line-up. I hope it’s rarity ensures that I never have to notice another one and think “Oh, what the fuck?”
One of the most famous vehicles in muscle car history is the Shelby Cobra of the 1960s. The car was designed to do two things: go fast and win races. Shelby achieved this result by wedging a big engine into a small, light car body. The car did very well in competitions, but lackluster sales in the US led Shelby to end production in 1967.
