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Martini Mustang is a 'what if moment' gone right

Feast your eyes on a masterpiece. This is Steve Strope's Ford Mustang in the classic fastback bodystyle, and as you'll notice, it sports the signature colors of Martini Racing, a livery that's as legendary as any Gulf Racing-styled car. But the red, white and blues of the Martini stripe down this Mustang's middle tell only a very small part of the story, in the latest video from Petrolicious.
What would you guess is under the hood? A 289-cubic-inch V8? Maybe a 302, or some absurd Ford crate engine? Maybe Strope went all Tokyo Drift - he's actually responsible for the "Hammer" Plymouth Satellite driven by Vin Diesel at the end of the movie - and found an RB26DETT to drop into the pony car? You'd be wrong on all counts.
This mad, mad man somehow finagled a Ford-Lotus engine from a 1966 Indianapolis 500 car into the Mustang's engine bay. Yes, a Mustang with an engine designed for a 160-mile-per-hour, open-wheel racecar. That's like someone in 40 years dropping McLaren's 2.4-liter V8 from the MP4-28 into a Scion FR-S. It'd just make a monster.

Man has surgery to remove T-Bird turn signal that's been in his arm for 51 years

In 1963, real estate agent Arthur Lampitt was driving a new Ford Thunderbird near East Peoria, Illinois on his way to an appointment when he collided head-on with a truck. A massive accident that was so bad that it was originally reported as a fatal crash, Lampitt suffered a broken hip and that became the focus of doctors' efforts. In fact, no one noticed the fact that the turn-signal stalk had been broken off the steering column and had lodged itself in Lampitt's arm. Fast-forward to around ten years ago, when Lampitt set off a courthouse metal detector because of a "slender object, about the size of a pencil" in his arm. Despite that unnerving discovery, the doctor who examined Lampitt said that since it didn't hurt, he needn't worry about it. This year, however, it did start hurting and the affected arm started to bulge. Lampitt decided to have the issue seen to, and suspected it might have something to do with his 1963 accident. When he looked through photos of the wreck taken by a friend, he noticed the turn-signal stalk of the Thunderbird missing and figured that was the culprit. After a 45-minute outpatient surgery, the surgeon verified it: a slim, slightly bent and corroded, seven-inch metal cylinder with a trumpeted end. The surgeon said a protective pocket had formed around it, which is why it could remain in Lampitt's arm so long, but it was still unusual - "We see all kinds of foreign objects like nails or pellets, but usually not this large." Lampitt, who is expected to make a full recovery, says he might make a keychain out of it, once he's done just holding it. News Source: St. Louis Post-DispatchImage Credit: Jesse Bogan, St. Louis Post-DispatchTip: Jon Auto News Ford Coupe accident wreck ford thunderbird turn signal

Mercury rises around sexy Cougar pack

With a slightly larger body and a more luxurious interior, the Mercury Cougar doesn't carry quite as much cachet among pony car enthusiasts as the venerable Ford Mustang. But don't try to make that argument around Cougar super-fan Mike Brown. Since starting his Cougar collecting in 1988, Brown has become an absolute expert on the model, and he claims to have owned 400 of the Mercury pony cars in that time. Ten of them are in his collection today, not to mention a heap of spare parts in the garage. Check out some of the rarer members of Brown's fleet and allow him to tell you about them in this interesting interview from Electric Federal.