Still, the legacy lives on. The actor’s love of cars and motorcycles was well known. McQueen competed in many motor races including the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Baja 1000. He also owned several semi-unique vehicles including a Jaguar XKSS, a Porsche 356 Speedster and a Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso. Here was a man who loved his cars almost as much as we loved his movies.
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Check out the video after the jump to see dumb and dumber at work.
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Even though this commercial from Delta Lloyd, an insurance company with operations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, has been making the internet rounds for quite some time now, somehow it slipped under our radar. Now, no thanks to a tip from one of our readers, we've probably wasted half of our day watching the clip over and over again... Yes, it's that awesome. Follow the jump to watch the Euro-tuned Boomcar ad along with a few more equally humorous commercials (all featuring the tag-line 'must be Delta Lloyd insured') from the Dutch insurer.
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We don’t know if this is a factory 800-horsepower Super Snake or a privately tuned GT500, but something went very wrong during this dyno test... It might have happened due to insufficient cooling or a faulty component - we just don't know. Whatever the cause, the owner is one unhappy guy. Follow the break and watch the engine going up in flames and a cloud of smoke.
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Although plastics have replaced iron and wood and airbags (1970s) and radio controls (1990s) have been added, the basic design remains the same: a circular ring with spokes connected to a central hub.
Some cars had horns in a ring circling the hub (Mercedes-Benz 300SL), others had oblong steering wheels (Austin Allegro) and a few had only one spoke (Citroen DS). At the end of the day though, they all had some sort of steering wheel... except this car.
At Mercury, engineer Bob Rumm produced this one-off 1965 Mercury Park Lane convertible with so-called "wrist-twist" steering controls. The standard steering wheel has been replaced by two 5-inch, wrist-operated dials, that the promo claims frees up knee room, improves visibility and makes parking easier. Now take a moment to consider why Mr. Rumm is an "ex-"missile engineer at the height of the Cold War.
The promo also cheerfully informs us that the wrist-twist can be used by, "a driver who promises to be about as non-technical as they come," by which they mean a woman. Carscoop is reliably informed they can vote now [...].
I suppose we should be thankful that a lot of these concepts, including the wrist-twist, never left Ford's Dearborn proving grounds.
It's the sort of thing that could only have been made in the 1960s, the decade that gave us the laser, manned spaceflight and Astroturf. Like everything else, cars were becoming more futuristic, and by futuristic we mean daft. And by daft we mean Modern Mechanix of the 1930s daft.
It's also the sort of thing the Ford Motor Company was coming up at the time. Just for fun, type 'Ford Nucleon' into Google, and see what other disastrous innovations motorists of the 1960s were spared.
By Tristan Hankins
Although plastics have replaced iron and wood and airbags (1970s) and radio controls (1990s) have been added, the basic design remains the same: a circular ring with spokes connected to a central hub.
Making its debut at the Los Angeles motor show is the 2011 Ford Mustang that boasts a new entry-level V6 engine with a displacement of 3.7-liters generating an output of 305 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque. The new V6 can be coupled to either a 6-speed manual gearbox or a 6-speed automatic transmissions. If you follow the jump, you can watch and more importantly, hear the sounds of the new 2011 Mustang V6.
We're still waiting for Ford to release an official video on the 2011 Mustang that marks the debut of a new 3.7-liter V6 with 305 ponies which will replace the 2010MY's archaic and underpowered 4.0-liter V6 with 210hp. However, we did find a short audio clip of the Mustang's new V6 that you can hear after the jump. And just for the record, the original clip was only 6 seconds long so we added three in a row.
Air bags of every type and size are continuing to make their way into our cars and from what we gather, it won't be long before we make the chubby Michelin man look under inflated with all those bags surrounding us in our vehicles. The latest development in the field of air bags is the introduction of the world's first automotive application of inflatable seat belts by Ford.The Detroit automaker says that it has combined the attributes of traditional seat belts and air bags to provide a increased level of crash safety protection for the rear seat occupants.
"Ford's rear inflatable seat belt technology will enhance safety for rear-seat passengers of all ages, especially for young children who are more vulnerable in crashes," said Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environmental and Safety Engineering.
If knock on wood you happen to be involved in a frontal or side crash, the seat belt's air-bags deploy in 40 milliseconds. According to Ford, the inflatable belt's increased diameter helps hold the occupant in a more appropriate seating position thus reducing the chances of injury.
The air-bag equipped seat belts will make their debut in 2010 on the next-generation Ford Explorer and will gradually find their way on other Ford models sold all over the world.
In addition to the official photos of the all-new C-MAX, the first member of the next-generation Focus family, Ford has also released some static footage of the five-seater compact minivan allowing us to better observe the vehicle's exterior from a variety of angles. There aren't many details on the 2010 C-MAX other than the line-up will include Ford's new 1.6-liter EcoBoost petrol unit that uses turbocharging and direct injection, but our sources claim that aside from the five-seater model there will also be a seven-seater version with sliding rear doors that you can check out in these spy pictures. Video after the jump.
It is Ford's time to share a video of one of its cars lapping one of the world's most difficult circuits, the Nurburgring Nordschleife. The vehicle is none other than Ford's fastest-ever European production model, the new Focus RS. Driven by Horst von Saurma-Jeltsch, Chief editor of the German magazine Sport-Auto and well known Nurburgring racer, the Focus RS completed the 13 mile-long course in 8 minutes and 26 seconds, almost half a minute faster than the 225HP Focus ST (8:51 minutes by Sport-Auto in 2005).The European market Focus RS packs a 300 horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five coupled to a six-speed manual gearbox that drives the front wheels. The hot hatch accelerates from zero to 100km/h (62mph) in 5.9 sec and on to a top speed of 263 km/h (163mph). Along with the standard video, Ford and Sport-Auto also released a so-called, 'alternative-cut' version of the film.
While the law prohibits blind people such as Roger Keeney from Athens, GA from getting behind the wheel on public roads, no one said that they can't drive a car on special course. Ford gave this opportunity to Keeney and his friends at the Arizona Center for the Blind by organizing a special event at the Ford Proving Grounds in Phoenix. The car of choice was the revised 2010 Mustang. If anything else, it's pretty rewarding to see all those smiles. Watch all four vids after the jump.
The U.S. Air Force has spent taxpayer money collaborated with Galpin Auto Sports, which is widely known through its involvement in MTV's Pimp My Ride show, to create customized versions of the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Challenger pony cars. Why, do we hear you ask? Well, the Air Force needed something a bit more spectacular than your typical TV ads to draw the attention of new recruits. The result is the air-force-inspired white Ford Mustang 'X-1' and black Dodge Challenger 'VAPOR' that will travel across the country this year. 
The 'X-1' Mustang features a 'jet cockpit that includes a single-driver ejection seat placed centrally, short shifter, flight stick, and a high-tech instrumentation panel. On the outside, the heavily modded 'Stang gets a wide bodykit, dark alloy wheels and a pair of Lambo-style scissor doors. Power is provided by a custom 4.6 liter V8 engine with 500HP, courtesy of Ford Racing.
The more radical looking Dodge Challenger 'Vapor' continues the air-force theme with a 'Stealth' bodykit, carbon fiber exterior trim, a custom stealth exhaust mode that gives the driver the option to run the vehicle in complete silence, one-off carbon-fiber wheels, radar-absorbing paint, proximity sensors, and a 360-degree camera with a quarter-mile range.
Like its Ford counterpart, the Vapor's interior comes with aircraft style controls plus a passenger side steering wheel, GPS tracking, night and thermal vision via a film on the front windshield, and what Galpin calls, as the "most technologically-advanced computer system with remote control UAV-type access from anywhere in the world utilizing the internet."
Source: U.S. Air Force
Dodge Challenger Vapor
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Ford Mustang X-1
