1914 Ford Model T Speedster Open Air 100th Year Anniversary Must See! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Michigan museum offers Model T driving classes

Halfway between Detroit and Chicago, there is a car museum that gives visitors a unique level of interaction with antique cars. The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, MI has a driver's training class to teach people of any age to learn how to drive a Ford Model T.
From the crank starter to the column-mounted throttle control, this driving school teaches people all there is to know about driving and operating a Model T. Each class lasts about two and a half hours and is only open to 18 students. There are ten sessions planned for 2014 - twice a day on May 3, June 22, July 22, August 23 and September 14. The class costs $95 (or $85 for members), and it also includes a tour of the museum's automobile collection.
In addition to this driving school, the museum has plenty of exhibits on the property, and it's open all but three days per year (Easter, Christmas and New Year's Day) with free admission for school field trips and active military. Be sure to check out the Gilmore Car Museum's website or visit them on Facebook for more info.

Total auto recalls already on record pace in 2014

If you've noticed that there have been more recalls than usual this year, you may be on to something. According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US market is on pace to break a record for recalls. In 2013, 22 million cars were recalled. We're only a third of the way through 2014, though, and we've already halved that figure, with 11 million units recalled. That's wild.
Considering the past few months, it shouldn't be a surprise that General Motors is leading the charge, with six million of the 11 million units recalled coming from one of the General's four brands. Between truck recalls, CUV recalls and the ignition switch recall, 2014 hasn't been a great year for GM.
Other recall leaders include Nissan (one million Sentra and Altima sedans), Honda (900,000 Odyssey minivans), Toyota (over one million units in a few recalls), Volkswagen (150,000 Passat sedans), Chrysler (644,000 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs) and most recently, Ford (434,000 units, the bulk of which were early Ford Escape CUVs). So while it's been a bad year for GM so far, its competitors aren't doing too well, either.

Ex-PR chief Vines accuses Ford of bugging cars, phones

Jason Vines, former head of communications at Ford among other automakers, is accusing the Blue Oval of bugging his company phone and his car during the Firestone tire recall for the Explorer in 2001. The allegations have come to light in Vines' upcoming book What Did Jesus Drive? Crisis PR in Cars, Computers and Christianity.
According to The Detroit News, which has an advance copy of the book, Vines (pictured above) claims that after leaving the company, someone with security within Ford advised him that he had been bugged around the time of the recall. The allegations don't stop there, though. Vines further contends that he might not have been the only one to get this treatment, noting that then-general counsel John Rintamaki also believed he was being listened to.
According to The Detroit News, even if it had been a company phone, recording Vines without his knowledge still would have been a felony under Michigan law.