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Ford spills SEMA all over its Expeditions

If you're going to this year's SEMA Show in Las Vegas, it's going to be tough to miss the Ford booth, simply for its size. The Blue Oval is bringing over a dozen customized examples of the 2015 Mustang and a quintet of modded Transits. The latest announced addition is a trio of upgraded 2015 Expeditions showing different takes on the recently refreshed SUV.
Any vehicle tuned by Dub Magazine needs to ride on massive wheels, and the Expedition (pictured above) that it has for SEMA is no exception. The SUV has 26-inch Dropstars wheels wrapped in Pirelli tires, and, making them look even larger, the suspension is also lowered. The rest of the custom has some mild upgrades like mesh grilles in front, tinted windows, an integrated radar detector and new upholstery inside.
Tijn wants to boost the performance of the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 for its take on the Expedition. The company claims to add 40 horsepower to bring total output to a claimed 405 by upgrading the engine with a charge cooler from Vortech Engineering, a custom side exhaust and a custom tune. To match the extra grunt, the SUV also gets bigger brakes, an Air Lift suspension and 24-inch, copper-colored wheels with custom fender flares.

Hurricane Sandy cost automakers 15,000 vehicles, may have ruined up to 200k

Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic storm in US history, and its total economic impact is just now coming into view. According to Automotive News, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda are set to scrap around 15,000 new vehicles ruined by the storm. Nissan alone accounts for about 40 percent of those, with 6,000 Nissan and Infiniti models deeded "un-saleable" due to damage. The company saw 56 dealerships shuttered due to the storm, but 51 of those have since reopened.
Toyota, meanwhile, had some 4,000 vehicles at its Newark port facility, and of those, 3,000 may be scrapped. An additional 825 were dealer inventory when they were ruined. Honda and Acura dealers are reportedly sending 3,440 vehicles to the salvage yard. By comparison, Chrysler weathered the storm fairly well with 825 units destroyed, while Hyundai suffered only 400 lost units and Kia scrapped around 200.
As you may recall, Fisker also suffered some losses, and Automotive News reports the manufacturer saw 320 Karma models damaged beyond repair. Ford and General Motors have yet to come up with estimates, and no automaker has commented on the full cost of replacing the vehicles.

Rowan Atkinson crashes at Goodwood Revival

To quote Harry Hogge (played by Robert Duvall) in Days of Thunder, "rubbin, son, is racin'." That can mean some unfortunate damage to high-end racing machinery, which may be repaired easily enough in stock car racing, but when it comes to vintage racing, the stakes can be that much higher. And yet incidents do occur, like at this weekend's Goodwood Revival.
Among the many competitors taking part in the retro racing event in England was none other than Rowan Atkinson, the actor perhaps best known for playing Mr. Bean. Driving a classic Ford Falcon Sprint in the Shelby Cup event, Atkinson (pictured above at the 2012 revival) reportedly crashed head-on into another car on track.
According to reports, the two cars up spun out. The driver in between managed to avoid a pile-up, but Atkinson couldn't steer clear and hit the obstructing vehicle. Fortunately Rowan walked away unscathed (and, we imagine, in a humorous manner), but while we don't know how extensive the damage was to the Falcon, it was enough to take it out of the race.