Ford

Well I'm not sure if calling them the enemy is exactly fair, the police are there to protect us, after all. But as any car enthusiast knows, encounters with the law are inevitable and rarely fun. Regardless, Ford will be offering a new police car to officers around the country and sending the standard work-horse, the Crown Victoria, to the bone yard. Ford announced today its 2012 Ford Interceptor will be available to officers in late 2011, and will be chock full of all types of new goodies and gadgets to fight bad guys.

I never thought I would say this, but the Taurus looks simply intimidating. The outgoing Crown Victoria was intimidating because you knew the trouble it brought, and if it was behind you it was because you had done wrong and were about to be told so by a man with a gun. Not this one. The headlight housings are blacked out, and in place of fog lights are LED running lights, that have a strobe function. There are also blue and red LEDS surrounding the new, projector headlights. The push-bar has integrated red and blue strobes, as do the side mirrors. If you tell this cop you didn't see him behind you, he should have legal permission to arrest you for being too stupid to operate a car.

One of the most exciting stories from SEMA '09 was Carroll Shelby giving the official go-ahead to Classic Recreations to build a continuation of the 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, called the 1967 Mustang Fastback Shelby G.T.500CR "Performance." Classic Recreations was the only shop ever given such a  priviledge. At SEMA all they had were drawings and specs of the proposed car, and even those had me salivating (check out our story here). This was a huge undertaking, because the GT500 is one of the most coveted and loved muscle cars of all time.

After Nicolas Cage drove one ( "Eleanor," a modified GT500 that never liked being stolen) in the 2000 blockbuster re-make "Gone in 60 Seconds" the population of those that fawn over the GT500 only grew. What was once loved only by hot rod fans and guys in their 50s was now loved by everyone.

Last week sub5zero.com was invited to Spring Mountain Motor Sports Ranch for a track day. When we arrived, the parking lot was filled with an amazing plethora of exotics, many of them with extensive modifications. The incredible collection of metal that had come to drive the road course had me grinning like the Cheshire Cat, and did more to wake me up than the 3 cups of McDonald's coffee I had drank earlier. But when I saw this Mustang at the end of the row, I knew something was up. No way someone brought regular Mustang GT out here.

It seemed a bit out of place at a private racing club, especially with it's rattle-can paint job and yellow mirrors. After investigating, I found out it wasn't just a 2010 GT with a $5 paint-job. Not even close. This is a 2011 Ford Mustang GT test mule. The drivers were Ford engineers, who had been given the horrifying task of putting over 100,000 track miles on the new 412hp,  5.0 Liter V-8. 

It was only a matter of time before the 2011 Ford Mustang GT got overhauled by the folks at Shelby American. Fresh off the official debut at the 2010 NAIAS last week, the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona served as a perfect venue to showcase the new Shelby GT350 Mustang at an opening night gala honoring the 45th anniversary of the original 1965 model.

The 2011 Shelby GT350 sports a Ford Racing supercharger and suspension system, Baer brakes front and back, a center exit Borla exhaust system and Cragar wheels with sticky Goodyear tires. The small block 5.0-liter V8 engine has been tuned to produce close to 500 horsepower, which is put down to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission.

2009 was a tough year for the auto industry to say the least. Not only did we witness massive government bailouts, epic bankruptcies and a precipitous plummet in sales, but over 1,500 dealerships shuttered their doors. When I was back in my hometown of Cleveland, OH over the holidays, I notice at least 6 large dealerships throughout the city that had closed up shop, with all of the remaining ones seemingly relegated to the ubiquitous "Auto Mile" of car lots mostly owned by large conglomerates. A sad state indeed.

Current estimates peg the total number of new cars purchased last year at just around 10.5 million, which is about 7 million shy of the high reached in 2000 and 2 million below sales in China (yes, we're no longer numero uno). The Cars Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program, aka Cash for Clunkers, dolled out $2.8 billion in $3,500 - $4,500 rebates and supposedly resulted in 700,000 new car sales.  According to several leading analysts, this was just enough to keep the industry on life support while everyone scrambled to figure out how to infuse more cash into daily operations. Even though many hailed the program as a success, it had its detractors as well, and for good reason. Edmunds concluded that really only an additional 125,000 cars were sold that wouldn't have sold otherwise, resulting in a taxpayer burden of $24,000 per vehicle.

2009 is coming to end, which means it's time to start planning for 2010. Most people's resolutions include working out more, eating less, recycling and maybe saving a few kittens from a burning building. Here at Sub5zero we're planning to have the best automotive year yet. 2009 was an incredible year for cars, but things are only going to get better. For our first Top Ten list, we picked the best performance vehicles for 2010 in the $40,000 to $50,000 price range. Follow the jump to find out what we're looking forward to this year. Who knows, you might even find some help for your next vehicle.

After a couple weeks of embargo breakage, we finally have a nice complement of official pictures and a preliminary press-release on the new 2011 Ford Mustang GT. The big news, obviously, is the 5.0-liter V8 engine making a strong comeback. Putting out 412 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque, the new powertrain manages to eke out a small margin of fuel economy improvements over the outgoing model with a 25 mpg rating for the highway. City driving stays the same at 17 mpg. No performance stats have been released but we'd expect 0-60 mph times in the mid-4s, as the 2011 Mustang V6 is good for 4.9 second sprints. The Mustang GT gets 3 new color options including Yellow Blaze Tri-Coat, Race Red and Ingot Silver.

Performance upgrades include 14-inch vented front discs pulled from the parts bin of the GT500 Mustang along with special 19-inch alloy wheels and summer performance tires. More information is sure to emerge closer to the world debut at the 2010 NAIAS Show in January. We'll be there to post live shots of the 2011 Ford Mustang 5.0-liter V8 from the event.

There has been a quiet momentum building up to the release of the new 2011 Ford Mustang GT. An "embargo release" (age old publishing practice of trickling out official secrets) last week gave us word on the engine specs, which are impressive. An all new 5.0-liter V8 putting out 412 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque will be the powerplant. And now we have some initial images of the new pony car.