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eBay Find Of The Day: 1988 Saleen Ford Mustang General Tire 21R race car

Saleen may be making headlines these days for working on the Tesla Model S, but its history and bread-and-butter is all about the Ford Mustang. The rear-wheel-drive Dearborn pony cars singlehandedly put the company on the map in the '80s. Founder Steve Saleen was already a talented American racing driver when he started the venture, and like many auto industry businesses before him, Saleen went to the track to prove his vehicles' worth. Now, there's a chance to buy one of those early racers on eBay Motors.
Saleen Mustangs raced in the Sports Car Club of America Escort Endurance Championship - a series of multi-hour races meant to challenge man and machine. Ostensibly a showroom stock class, the cars had larger wheels, tuned suspensions and other upgrades that stretched the concept slightly. Saleen found major success though, taking the championship for its class in 1987 and winning the 24 Hours of Mosport consecutively from 1986 through 1988.
According to the seller, Saleen only built eight of these cars, and this one carries the #21R serial number. They all started life as new Mustangs from Ford dealers but were immediately stripped and prepped to go racing. Beyond obvious mods like a roll cage, they featured eight-inch wide wheels in front, an inch of additional track width, stiffer suspension bushings and much more.

2015 Ford Mustang renders reveal look of the real thing

This is, according to the pony-car obsessed kids over at Mustang6G.com, the closest, most accurate rendering of the new, 2015 Ford Mustang to date. Artis Chazcron used a combination of Ford CAD images and information from assorted spy shots to assemble a fairly handsome car, albeit one that conforms to the tired cliché of being more evolutionary than revolutionary.
Now, it's very important to note that these are still speculative renders, and that they only represent the base car - that could explain the lack of the Mustang's vestigial side scoops, along with other, newer styling cues that Mustang6G seems to think will arrive on production models. Those items include a new, double-bubble roof, although the Mustang aficionados claim that even if it were present, it'd barely be visible from these angles.
The front end is pretty spot on, compared to what we've seen from earlier spy shots, while the tail, with its interesting light design is something new. The louvered taillights look quite different from the current version, obviously, though Mustang has gone the whimsical route with taillights before. Also, note the new rear diffuser uses an integrated reverse light and rear foglight, the latter of which is required for sale in Europe.

Automakers' rush on aluminum may result in shortage

Aluminum is the new buzzword in the automotive industry. The latest Range Rover and Range Rover Sport both take advantage of the lightweight material to shave huge amounts of body fat (only it's called "aluminium" over there). Audi and Jaguar have been using the stuff for years in their A8 and XJ, respectively, and now, aluminum is going mainstream, arriving on the 2015 Ford F-150.
While we're excited to see aluminum make an impact outside the premium market, its widespread adoption apparently won't come without some problems, notably in terms of supply. "There isn't an automotive manufacturer that makes vehicles in North America that we're not talking to," Tom Boney, of Novelis, the largest global supplier of aluminum sheetmetal, told The Detroit News.
According to Boney, Ford's use of aluminum on such a large scale has forced auto manufacturers in "every boardroom" to reconsider their plans following the F-150's unveiling, for one simple reason: there's not exactly enough aluminum to go around, at least in the short term. The auto industry presently only accounts for six percent of the aluminum sheet produced, but as the material is adopted by more and more brands, that figure is expected to swell to 25 percent within the next six years.