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Car companies used to cook up sales with recipe books

The evolution of automotive marketing has undergone a number of strange phases. Few, though, match the strangeness of the 1930s to 1950s, when automotive marketers turned to cookbooks as a means of promoting their vehicles. Yes, cookbooks. We can't make this stuff up, folks.
This bizarre trend led to General Motors distributing cookbooks under the guise of its then-subsidiary Frigidaire. Ford, meanwhile, offered a compilation of recipes from Ford Credit Employees (shown above). The cookbook-craze wasn't limited to domestic manufacturers, though. As The Detroit News discovered, both Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen got in on the trend, although not until the 1970s.
The News has the full story on this strange bit of marketing. Head over and take a look.

Ford reveals EcoBoost-powered Riley prototype for Daytona 24

It's not the first time Ford has participated in the Daytona Prototype class as an engine supplier, but in revealing this new EcoBoost V6-powered Riley Technologies prototype for the new United SportsCar Championship, Ford is making a statement: "We want to show Ford EcoBoost's capabilities as an engine that provides both performance and fuel economy, on and off the track," says Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing.
In addition to supplying the 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6, Ford had its production designer Garen Nicoghosian give the racecar brand-inspired design cues with support from Ford Racing chief aerodynamicist Bernie Marcus.
The car is scheduled to compete at next year's Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 25-26, but before that, Michael Shank Racing is working with Ford at another goal. Driving his Ford Thunderbird, NASCAR champion Bill Elliott set the track's top speed record at 210.364 miles per hour during a qualifying run for the Daytona 500 - way back in 1987 -- and Ford thinks it's about time for that record to fall. What better time the introduction of this new Ford-powered Daytona Prototype? Michael Shank Racing plans to use the twin-turbo V6-powered racer to beat Elliott's record, and it expects to begin prepping for the top-speed run on October 9. Scroll down for the full press release below on Ford's latest race effort.

Swedish car mag says Ford Mondeo is dangerously, illegally overweight [w/video]

Sweden's Teknikens Varld has a reputation for being very persnickety when it comes to auto safety testing, and its latest catch is the Mondeo Titanium Estate 2.0 TDCi 150 bhp S6 MPS (basically a station wagon variant of the Fusion). In addition to the model's mile-long name, it has another problem according to the Swedes, because its weight on the scales does not equal the official numbers for the vehicle. Teknikens Varld claims the wagon is dangerously overweight because it weighs in 4,145 pounds, while Ford officially lists its weight at 3,530 pounds. That 615-pound disparity means that if a family loads it to what they think is the model's gross vehicle weight, it will actually be too heavy, and therefore illegal to drive in Sweden. According to the magazine, when it tried doing this, the rear wheels scraped against the wells, and the estate failed the mag's legendary moose test. However, at 220 pounds over the limit, it passed the test. When reached for comment by Autoblog, Jay Ward, Senior Manager at Ford of Europe Product Communications, explained the reason for the deviation between the official numbers and the magazine's test: "We are aware of this, but this is not an issue that relates specifically to the safety of the Mondeo, but is in fact related to the way in which the cars are tested by the authorities. We provided an Ambiente model for the testing but the car that featured in the magazine test was a Titanium model which has a different weight. We are in discussion with the Swedish Transport Agency to change the framework so the real weight of the Titanium model is reported instead of the Ambiente model which will resolve the issue." Teknikens Varld is well-known for calling out automakers for perceived transgressions. Most recently it leveled criticisms against the all-wheel drive system in the Honda CR-V, and both the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Porsche Macan failed its moose test. Scroll down for the magazine's video of weighing the Mondeo Estate and the model's test results. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The new Ford Mondeo is dangerously overweight The new Ford Mondeo is a great car, which Teknikens Varld's test shows, but there is one problem – the weight. Mondeo weighs 279 kg more than Ford claims. With big load (ie family plus luggage) the car therefore becomes illegal to drive.