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Subaru Legacy pitted against Roadkill project cars

There's an evergreen debate among auto enthusiasts about whether they would prefer to have the latest and greatest car of today or a certified classic from yesteryear. What if you had to further define that, though, and the choice was between a brand new 2015 Subaru Legacy or a turbocharged Datsun 240Z with a hatch that wouldn't close? Roadkill aimed to find out that and more in one of its best videos to date.
According to the hosts, Subaru came to them, handed over some money and challenged Roadkill's project cars against its latest Legacy. The result is every bit as good (or better) than any automotive-themed show you could find on television.
Things start simple with a figure-eight race in a rodeo arena with the Subaru taking on Roadkill's 1968 Ford Ranchero, originally built for ice racing. From there the Legacy races a 1968 Dodge Charger with no windows around and off-road rally stage. Finally, the Subie goes head-to-head against the Rotsun, the aforementioned turbocharged 240Z, through an abandoned neighborhood. Plus, there's a bonus drag race challenging them all.

Ford fights back against patent trolls

Some people are just awful. Some organizations are just as awful. And when those people join those organizations, we get stories like this one, where Ford has spent the past several years combatting so-called patent trolls. According to Automotive News, these malicious organizations have filed over a dozen lawsuits against the company since 2012. They work by purchasing patents, only to later accuse companies of misusing intellectual property, despite the fact that the so-called patent assertion companies never actually, you know, do anything with said intellectual property. AN reports that both Hyundai and Toyota have been victimized by these companies, with the former forced to pay $11.5 million to a company called Clear With Computers. Toyota, meanwhile, settled with Paice LLC, over its hybrid tech. The world's largest automaker agreed to pay $5 million, on top of $98 for every hybrid it sold (if the terms of the deal included each of the roughly 1.5 million hybrids Toyota sold since 2000, the company would have owed $147 million). Including the previous couple of examples, AN reports 107 suits were filed against automakers last year alone. But Ford is taking action to prevent further troubles... kind of. The company has signed on with a firm called RPX, in what sounds strangely like a protection racket. Automakers like Ford pay RPX around $1.5 million each year for access to its catalog of patents, which it spent nearly $1 billion building. "We take the protection and licensing of patented innovations very seriously," Ford told AN via email. "And as many smart businesses are doing, we are taking proactive steps to protect against those seeking patent infringement litigation." What are your thoughts on this? Should this patent business be better managed? Is it reasonable that companies purchase patents only to file suit against the companies that build actual products? Have your say in Comments.

First Ford Mustang prototype shots caught by legendary spy shooter Jim Dunne

You know how people refer to someone as having "been around the block" to mean they're very experienced? Well, when it comes to automotive spy photography, Jim Dunne actually laid down the concrete slabs of the block's sidewalk. The unforgettable Dunne more or less invented the car spy game - a fact he cemented by writing book called Car Spy - and has been delivering spy shots and reporting on the industry for some 45 years now. (He also once employed this writer as his impromptu personal chauffer on a Volkswagen trip in Germany, while he slept, but that's a story for a different time.)
In any event, Dunne must be on a mission to prove that "elder statesman" doesn't also mean "washed up" as it is his shots of the upcoming new 2014 Ford Mustang that we've been handed by our friends at KGP Photography.
Mr. Dunne has likely spent the last few years obtaining powerful telescopic lenses, as the Ford in question has clearly been photographed from some distance. Nevertheless, what you see here is visual evidence that the sixth-generation Mustang has moved beyond the mule stage, and is now testing in proper prototype form. Sources indicate that there are production-spec body panels under that baggy canvass dress; but the slightly less bulky silhouette of the new car can be just made out. While the car's bumpers have been removed to obfuscate things, we can tell by way of the camo's apertures that the car's taillights have moved upwards and towards the lip of the tail. A fender vent appears to be visible, too, just behind the front wheel.