2004 Ford Thunderbird on 2040-cars

Auto blog

This woman owns the first Ford Mustang sold in the US

As Ford celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Mustang with the unveiling of the all-new sixth-gen design, one Chicago women can lay claim to a piece of Mustang history. According to CBS Chicago, Gail Wise was the first person in the US to buy a Mustang in 1964, and she did so two days before the car was even unveiled to the public.
Wise, then a 22-year-old teacher, went into the Chicago Ford dealership wanting to buy a convertible, and a salesperson ushered her over to car covered by a tarp. That car was a baby blue Mustang convertible, which she still owns today - along with the documentation. After sitting for almost 30 years and undergoing a full restoration, the car now looks to be in original condition. The report says that this $3,400 purchase could be worth anywhere between $100,000 and $250,000. While this worked out well for Mrs. Wise, we wouldn't recommend anyone going into a dark, back room of a dealership hoping to get a jump on the purchase of a 2015 Mustang.
Scroll down to watch the video report.

1964 Ford GT40 prototype to be auctioned in April

The Ford GT40 owns a firm spot on the list of the greatest American racecars ever made, being the first car from the United States to take an overall win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And now Mecum will auction what it claims is second-oldest GT40 still in existence at its Houston sale on April 12.
The story of the GT40 is fascinating. Henry Ford II attempted to buy Ferrari in the early '60s, but Enzo refused. Ford decided if he couldn't have them, then he would beat the Prancing Horse on the track. Ford went to Carroll Shelby and asked him to spearhead the program. The early cars combined a steel monocoque chassis with Ford's 4.2-liter V8 engine pumping out around 350 horsepower. The first prototype made its public debuted on April 1, 1964, at the New York Auto Show.
Shelby kept building prototypes, including GT/104, which is for sale here. This version featured a lighter steel chassis and was raced at Le Mans in 1964. However, a fire forced it to retire. It was then repainted and had a 4.7-liter (289-cubic-inch) engine fitted. The chassis had its best finish at the 1965 Daytona Continental 2,000 Kilometers where it finished third with Bob Bondurant and Ritchie Ginther behind the wheel. Later that season, it was shipped back to Ford where it was restored and displayed at auto shows until 1971 when the automaker sold it. Since then, it has had many private owners.

Ford announces four recalls, 1.4M vehicles affected

Ford is taking a bit of the spotlight away from General Motors, announcing a major group of recall campaigns, covering a total of 1.4 million vehicles built between 2006 and 2013.
Let's start with the big one, which covers the Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner and, according to The Detroit News, Ford-built Mazda Tribute CUVs. 915,216 vehicles are covered, all of which were built in model years 2008 to 2011. 736,000 vehicles are in the US, while Canada then Mexico make up the vast majority of the remainder. The problem is due to an issue with the torque sensor in the steering column, which could lead to sudden power steering failure. Manual steering would still be available, though.
"Dealers will perform one of three service fixes, depending upon what diagnostic codes are shown when the vehicle is taken to the dealer," Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker wrote to Autoblog in an email. "They will either update software for the power steering control module and the instrument cluster module; replace the torque sensor; or replace the steering column, which includes upgraded power steering control module software."