1994 Ford Aerostar Handicap Van on 2040-cars

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eBay Find of the Day: 1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe is showroom fresh

There's an ultra-rare Ford Thunderbird for sale on eBay, although it's not quite the T-Bird you're probably thinking. This is a 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, complete with a five-speed manual transmission and just a shade over 13,000 miles on the clock. The condition is said to be mint, and judging by the interior and exterior pictures, we're inclined to believe the seller. The paint is glossy and the interior looks showroom new, while the underbody is stunningly clean for a 36-year-old car.
Underhood sits a 2.3-liter, intercooled and turbocharged four-cylinder (also found in the Mustang SVO) that was producing 190 horsepower when it left the factory. Inside, the five-speed manual transmission adds to the car's rarity. The vehicle's sole owner has been as immaculate with the paperwork as he has with the rest of the car - it's all there, including brochures and other product material.
The eBay auction ends tomorrow at midnight (9:00 PM if you're on America's west coast). Bidding has reached $10,200, and there's still plenty of time to get in on this future classic. The vehicle is located in Millstone Township, NJ.

Automotive Grade Linux will be the backbone of your connected car

Creating a backend for a secure, reliable, and expandable infotainment system is costly and time consuming. The Linux Foundation, a non-profit organization, has set out to promote and advance the Linux operating system in commercial products. Automotive Grade Linux, or AGL, is a group within the Foundation that seeks to apply a Linux backend to a number of automotive applications in a variety of vehicles from various suppliers and manufacturers. AGL's goal is to create a common, unifying framework that allows developers and manufacturers to easily implement applications across platforms. Currently, the focus is on infotainment systems, but AGL has plans for instrument clusters, heads-up displays, and eventually active safety software. At CES, a display from Panasonic showed a completely digital and customizable dashboard that allows information and apps to be moved from the gauge cluster to the infotainment screen and back, all through the use of gesture and touch controls. Although the organization has been around for five years, it's really only been in the past three that the group has been working hand in hand with automakers and suppliers. The first two OEMs to participate, Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover, have since been joined by Mazda, Suzuki, Ford, and, as of this week, Daimler. The latter is important as until now most of AGL's partner's have been based in Japan or the US. Other partners include suppliers Denso, Renesas, Continental, Qualcomm, and Intel. AGL want's to supply roughly 80 percent of the backend, allowing partners to then finish and refine the Linux system for each individual application. Think of how the Android operating system is refined and customized for individual smartphones from Samsung, LG, and Motorola. While the final product looks different, developers can have an application that will work across all AGL systems. Because it is open source, anyone can use and develop for AGL. You can even go onto the group's website and download a copy right now. There is also a software development kit available that helps facilitate app creation on the platform. Vehicle development cycles take roughly five years, so there currently are no cars that run an AGL backbone available for consumers. AGL Executive Director Dan Cauchy says products should be hitting the market later this year, with even more coming in 2018. Right now, the industry is relatively fragmented when it comes to infotainment and related systems.

Ford’s Onboard Scales and Smart Hitch win the 2022 Autoblog Technology of the Year award

The 2022 Autoblog Technology of the Year award goes to Ford for the Onboard Scales and Smart Hitch hauling and towing features found in the F-150 lineup. This new technology, as tested in the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning, is a boon to pickup truck owners. Not only will it make observing your truck’s maximum loads easier and more intuitive, but it will also ensure youÂ’re hauling and towing in the safest-possible manner. We began the process with a long list of features to test and whittle down. Technologies like MercedesÂ’ new electric turbocharger, GMÂ’s Super Cruise with added towing capability and many more went through the consideration process, but we finally whittled the field down to just three finalists. They are: the GMC Hummer EV with its flashy CrabWalk four-wheel-steer technology, the Genesis GV60 with its facial recognition/fingerprint start technology, and of course FordÂ’s trucking gear. As is the norm for our Technology of the Year award, three main questions are asked, and editors assign point values based on how well the technologies perform in testing. How significant is this tech? How well does it work? And new for this year: Consider the Wow Factor. With the scores tallied, the Ford tech earned 123 points, topping the Hummer (117 points) and GV60 (108). This is the second straight win for Ford, which won the 2021 TOY Award with its Pro Power Onboard charging feature.  Ford joins Tesla (2014, 2016) as the only two-time winner of our Tech of the Year Award, which dates to 2013. Kia, Cadillac, Tesla, BMW, Chevy, Chrysler and Audi technologies are among the previous winners. 2022 Technology of the Year testing View 16 Photos While systems that tow and haul may not seem to be the latest or most sophisticated tech, they remain essential and Ford uses things like the infotainment system, taillights and the Ford mobile app to create a forward-looking experience Henry Ford would never have dreamed of when the first Model Ts were outfitted with beds for farm and war duty in 1917. Even 10 years ago, integrating tech in this manner would have seemed futuristic, but Ford pulls it off. “FordÂ’s clever towing and hauling features earned our award this year because they are easy to use, easy to understand and simply make your life as a truck owner better,” Autoblog Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore said. “It was a competitive field this year, with HummerÂ’s CrabWalk and GenesisÂ’s Biometrics features both winning strong support.