The Folden: New Zealanders Create Half Holden HQ, Half Ford Mustang Mechanical Frankenstein

Is it a Holden? Is it a Ford? Well, according to the folks from the New Zealand music radio station, 'The Rock', neither. They say it's a Folden and it was born from the unholy -or so to speak- union of a Holden HQ and a 1969 Ford Mustang.

The culprits are The Rock's Drive show announcers, Robert Taylor and Jono Pryor, who claim that they created the Folden because they were "fed up with the ongoing battle between their listeners over who is mightier - Ford or Holden."

Their goal was to fuse the rear 3/4s of a 1970's Holden HQ sedan with the front-end of a 1969 Ford Mustang with power being provided by 302 cubic inch V8 Ford engine.

After 3 months and more than 800 man hours involving a couple of dozen of businesses, and not to mention a total cost ranging somewhere between NZD$85,000 to $95,000 (about US$62,000 to $69,500), the project was finally completed.

Other treats include one-off Chip Foose 20-inch alloy wheels, a gun metal gray paint job with orange racing stripes, a custom interior fully rebuilt, high-end audio system, and last but certainly not least, a cool badge that puts the Mustang horse and Holden lion together.

And what now? New Zealanders have the chance to bid for the Folden as the car is being auctioned on "Trademe" with proceeds to be donated to the NZ Mental Health Foundation for Out Of The Blue, an organization set up to help combat depression in men.

At the time the article was written, the highest bid on the website was NZ$62,700 or close to US$45,800 at today's exchange rates. The auction will end on May 6, 2010.

Links / Source: The Rock & Trademe

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Rollin on DUBs: Ford Introduces DUB Edition of 2011 Mustang

In order to connect with "a whole new generation of buyers", Ford has teamed up with DUB magazine and Roush to release a special "DUB" edition Mustang.

Based on the 305-horse 3.7 liter V6 model, the DUB package supplies the V6 Stang (coupe, convertible, or glass-roof coupe) with 20-inch TIS rims wrapped in Pirellis, a Roush appearance package, special striping, and the DUB logo embroidered on the headrests.

In an attempt to help the DUB stand out, the appearance package uses Roush's front fascia and splitter, a windshield banner, and rear quarter-window louvers.

In regards to performance: it gets slightly sportier thanks to lowering springs (also from Roush) and a 3.31 axle ratio.

Myles Kovacs, president / co-founder of DUB magazine, said, "Working with Ford and Roush is an honor and has been a dream come true for DUB. The Mustang is such an iconic muscle car and has always been a customizer's favorite. The DUB Edition Mustang stays true to its roots, but I think we've successfully brought a ton of hustle to the muscle."

Available colors for the DUB Mustang are Black, Ingot Silver, Grabber Blue, and Race Red; the interior color is limited to black.

So, how do we feel about yet another special edition Mustang? Pointless or cool?

By Phil Alex

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Rollin on DUBs: Ford Introduces DUB Edition of 2011 Mustang

In order to connect with "a whole new generation of buyers", Ford has teamed up with DUB magazine and Roush to release a special "DUB" edition Mustang.

Based on the 305-horse 3.7 liter V6 model, the DUB package supplies the V6 Stang (coupe, convertible, or glass-roof coupe) with 20-inch TIS rims wrapped in Pirellis, a Roush appearance package, special striping, and the DUB logo embroidered on the headrests.

In an attempt to help the DUB stand out, the appearance package uses Roush's front fascia and splitter, a windshield banner, and rear quarter-window louvers.

In regards to performance: it gets slightly sportier thanks to lowering springs (also from Roush) and a 3.31 axle ratio.

Myles Kovacs, president / co-founder of DUB magazine, said, "Working with Ford and Roush is an honor and has been a dream come true for DUB. The Mustang is such an iconic muscle car and has always been a customizer's favorite. The DUB Edition Mustang stays true to its roots, but I think we've successfully brought a ton of hustle to the muscle."

Available colors for the DUB Mustang are Black, Ingot Silver, Grabber Blue, and Race Red; the interior color is limited to black.

So, how do we feel about yet another special edition Mustang? Pointless or cool?

By Phil Alex

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Oops... GM Re-Rates the 2011 Camaro's V6, Says it Actually Produces 312HP

Turns out General Motors' engineers didn't actually twiddle around with the 2011 Chevy Camaro's base 3.6-liter V6 engine, as initially thought.

Instead, the company claims that engineers were conservative with their ratings the first time and that after the presentation of the 305HP 2011 Mustang V6 the re-certification process found that the direct-injection V6 produces an extra 8HP and 5lb-ft of torque for a total of 312HP and 278 lb-ft of torque.

"The 304 horsepower in the 2010 Camaro was actually a conservative rating on our end," said Tom Sutter, GM V-6 chief engineer. "But we knew already that this award-winning engine produced at least the amount of power we stated, but now we've gone the extra step in certifying the engine for this application and have verified an additional 8 horsepower."

Weak, to the say the least, but in any case, GM has earned (?) the bragging rights to say that the Camaro's V6 has a higher output the 2011 Mustang's 305HP V6. However, Ford's six-cylinder unit churns out an extra 2 lb-ft of torque and lets not forget that Camaro is 327 pounds heavier than the Mustang.

Other changes for the 2011 model year Camaro include the availability of the Synergy Green exterior color on all trim levels (instead of only on the 1LT model) for a limited run and the introduction of Head-Up Display with speed, tachometer, compass, temperature, OnStar Turn-by-Turn, gear and audio functions.

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Ford Continues the Offensive: 2011 Mustangs Priced Lower than their one, True Competitor, the Camaro

In another move to get potential Camaro buyers to look elsewhere, Ford has announced that the 2011 Mustang's MSRP will be starting out below that of its crosstown rival.

What kind of difference can you expect to find in your wallet? How about $535 on the V6 and before regional gouging? That's got to be worth at least an option or two.

Official prices are $22,995 (about €17,200 at today's rates) for the Mustang and $23,530 for the V6 Camaro. With the base GT starting at $30,495 (around €22,800), it appears that the Mustang will be undercutting the Camaro in V8 territory as well (the GT Premium comes in at $33,695).

All prices listed factor in shipping costs, while notable new features on the Mustangs include six-speed automatics and aluminum blocks across the board, the base model's new 3.7 liter V6, and the 5.0 liter V8-equipped GTs.

Now let's see a response from Dodge in the form of a 300+ horsepower V6 in the Challenger (I'm not holding my breath, though).

- By Phil Alex

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Roush and Barrett-Jackson Team Up to Create Special Mustang

Roush Performance and Barrett-Jackson have joined forces to offer a special edition, high performance version of the Mustang that will be built in a limited run of 50 units, with 25 of those based on the 2010 model year 'Stang and the rest on the 2011 chassis.

The first example of this series, teased above, will be auctioned to the highest bidder on Saturday, April 3 at the Barrett-Jackson event in Palm Beach, Florida.

The limited run series represents the first time that Roush will completely re-paint a Mustang from front fascia to rear bumper with customers being able to order both the base coat and the side stripes in any combination from the 25 available Barrett-Jackson Collector Color Series paints.

Aside from the special paint jobs, the special edition Mustang will come fully loaded with Roush body components, interior enchantments and mechanical upgrades.

Among other things, the 2010 Barrett-Jackson Edition ROUSH 'Stang gets a new upper and lower billet grille along with 20-inch chrome wheels with high-performance Cooper RS3 tires.

Inside, buyers will find leather seats with an embroidered Barrett-Jackson logo, four-piece performance pedals, ROUSH illuminated sill plates, a short throw shifter with black or white ball and a new interior badge with the serial number engraved.

In what concerns the 2010MY Mustang-based models, the addition of a R2300 ROUSHcharger and several forged internal components such as the pistons and crankshaft, help the V8 churn out 540 horsepower and 510 lb.-ft. of torque.

Other performance upgrades for the 2010MY include a sport exhaust system, four-piston front brakes with 14-inch rotors and painted rear calipers with slotted rotors and a suspension package with ROUSH front struts, rear shocks, front and rear springs, front and rear stabilizer bars and jounce bumpers.

Roush said that the suggested retail for the 2010 Barrett-Jackson Edition ROUSH Mustang package is $41,495 plus the Mustang chassis.

Details and pricing on the 2011MY Mustang models will be released at a later date.

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Ford Announces 2011 Mustang GT V8's Fuel Economy Ratings

With its new 3.5 liter V6, the 2011 Mustang became the first 305-horsepower car to return 31 miles per gallon. Now the 5.0 liter, 412-horsepower V8 has been rated, and it returns a best-in-class 26 miles per gallon on the highway and 17 in the city when equipped with the 6-speed manual transmission.

If you opt for the six-speed automatic, the 2011 Mustang GT will return 25 MPG highway and 18 MPG city (equal to 9.4 lt/100km and 13.0 lt/100km, respectively).

Derrick Kuzak, VP of Global Product Development, says, "The 2011 Mustang continues to exceed expectations in every category, and these fuel economy numbers are another chapter in an incredible story...To offer this kind of horsepower and class-leading fuel economy in a comfortable, beautiful, tech-savvy and affordable package – it's really unprecedented."

Ford got ahead thanks to the implementation of two new transmissions (6-speed manual and 6-speed automatic), and the use of Ti-VCT (Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing) which "adjusts the valvetrain in microseconds depending on driver inputs." That, and the new aluminum block couldn't hurt.

Ford just evened-out the playing field. Chevy? Ball's in your court.

- By Phil Alex

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