1974 F-350 on 2040-cars

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It's Official: Ford Names Mark Fields Its Next CEO

Alan Mulally, the man who transformed Ford Motor Co. from a dysfunctional money-loser to a thriving company, will retire July 1 and be replaced by Mark Fields, the current chief operating officer. During his eight-year tenure at Ford, Mulally gambled all of the company's assets on a credit line that kept Ford out of bankruptcy, then used a simple "One Ford" plan to change the company's culture. He was hired away from aircraft maker Boeing Co. in 2006 by Bill Ford, who at the time was running the company. Fields, 53, has been in charge of Ford's daily operations since December of 2012 and was widely expected to one day ascend to the top job. The change in leadership is taking place about six months ahead of schedule, but Ford said that was based on Mulally's recommendation that the new leaders were ready. "Alan and I feel strongly that Mark and the entire leadership team are absolutely ready to lead Ford forward, and now is the time to begin the transition," Bill Ford said in a statement Thursday morning. Bill Ford, the company's executive chairman, is the great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford. Mulally, 68, was trained as an aeronautical engineer. He spent 36 years at Boeing - and was president of the company's commercial airplane division - when Bill Ford lured him to the struggling automaker eight years ago. Mulally overcame skepticism about being an outsider in the insular ranks of Detroit car guys by quickly pinpointing the reasons why Ford was losing billions each year. Mulally put a stop to the infighting that had paralyzed the company and instituted weekly management meetings where executives faced new levels of accountability and were encouraged to work together to solve problems. It took two years for Mulally to turn the company around, but since 2009, Ford has posted pretax profits of $34.5 billion and its shares have more than doubled. Fields was one of the executives passed over when Mulally got the top job in 2006. When he was named COO in 2012, Bill Ford said Fields' decision to stay at Ford and learn from Mulally showed a lot of fortitude and has made Fields a better leader. "There was a lot of speculation about whether he was capable. To his great credit, he stuck to it, he learned from it and showed tremendous fortitude in grinding through an incredibly difficult process," Bill Ford said. This marks the second change in leadership at the top of one of the Detroit automakers this year.

Saleen SA-30 Mustang, Camaro and Challenger help celebrate the big 3-0

After 30 years of tuning performance cars and building racecars, Saleen is celebrating its racing heritage with a limited-production car line called SA-30. Based on the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger, Saleen will only build 10 of each SA-30 model at a base price of $95,000.
For that money, buyers will get upgraded suspension, brakes and engines, and while the power figures have not been released for the SA-30 620 Camaro and SA-30570 Challenger models, the SA-30 302 Mustang will be the top performer with 625 horsepower. Each car will be painted up in a custom pearl white hue with black and yellow accents, and get white wheels shrouding yellow powder-coated brake calipers. Inside, the SA-30 offerings will all get a proper Saleen interior with black leather and white Alcantara on the seats, along with the expected smattering of SA-30 badges.
On all three SA-30 models, customers will have various options available to further customize their cars, including a rear-seat delete option that transforms each car's cabin into a race-inspired interior with a chassis-strengthening rear cross brace. Perhaps the coolest feature of all, though, is the Saleen Frost-Touch Glass that is an option on the SA-30 302 Mustang. Similar to the Mercedes Sky Control roof first introduced on the Mercedes SLK, the Saleen Frost-Touch Glass allows the Mustang's optional glass roof and rear window to be switched from transparent to opaque at the push of a button.

1964 Ford GT40 prototype sells for $7M

Seven-figure Ferraris are not horribly rare. Heck, an eight-figure Ferrari isn't a rare occurrence. Between modern masterpieces like the Enzo and more classic offerings, cracking the million-dollar mark isn't a particularly tall order for the cars from Maranello. For a Ford, though, it's a big deal.
Now, this is not just some rare Mustang. This is a GT40, the car that Henry Ford II commissioned to whip Enzo Ferrari around a track in France. As far as the Le Mans-winning racers go, they don't get much rarer than this one. Sold at the Mecum Auctions in Houston, this is one of the prototypes, meaning it's one of the very first GT40s ever built. That makes its $7 million winning a bid, a record for on-air coverage of the auction, a pretty darn impressive figure.
You can watch the auction below, but first, take a look back at our original story on this rare Blue Oval.