Ford officially kicks off the countdown for the 2010 Mustang today by launching a new website for the car: http://www.the2010Mustang.com. The website will be Ford’s official home of the November reveal of the new Mustang, a way to keep enthusiasts “waiting on the edge of their seats”.

Mustang enthusiasts are encouraged to participate by submitting their own Mustang story in a contest that starts on August 27th. Tell a good one because you can win a brand new 2010 Mustang for your efforts. Is that cool or what?

A little over a year ago, Steve Saleen left the company that he founded to seek greener pastures. The talk was that he had been forced out by the investor group Hancock Park, who had come to own Saleen Inc. The official announcement said he was simply “retiring”. Regardless of what you believe Steve had come to a point where he was no longer part of the legacy that he himself had built. Steve continues today with his new company SMS Limited. There he is working hard to start anew building the kind of cars that made him famous, perhaps even a Mustang again.

Though Saleen Inc. had struggled off and on for a decade prior to Steve‘s departure, the company has seemingly flailed and fallen flat on its face since then. A number of watered down products have been hastily introduced that are a departure from what most feel Steve would have built, and have been met in the market with little excitement. Some very awkward press conferences have been given by new employees of the company, who seem to be overly defensive and apologetic about the brand. The company closed the Saleen Store in Irvine, shut down the Irvine factory and moved the whole company to Troy, MI. Then came the news that Saleen Inc and ASC Inc were being folded together into one company earlier this year.


(Read more here.)

In clearinghouse style auction with little warning, Saleen Inc/ASC is putting the entire operation up for sale today. Everything in the house is on sale including some 20 brand new unconverted 2008 Mustang GT’s, all remaining Saleen parts that would have been put onto cars. If that was not haunting enough, the entire factory lot of machines, tools, cabinets, office equipment is being sold off as well.

This does not bode well for the company which says it is “restructuring and consolidating”. The auction being handled by Meidma Recovery & Sales is reminiscent to the one that was held for Unique Performance of Texas. That company had been raided by the authorities and sold off to the highest bidders right down to boxes of No. 2 pencils.

In this auction you will find everything you could want to build a new Saleen Mustang. Looking through the auction catalogue you can find brand new Saleen wheels starting at a minimum bid of $10. If you want a new 2008 Mustang GT coupe, there are 20 of them starting at $100 each. A full palette full of Saleen leather seat covers starts at a miserly $5 or you can buy a cat back exhaust system starting at $10.

(Read more here.)

Carroll Shelby and designer/artist Bill Neale are celebrating the rebirth of the famous Terlingua Racing Team with the first annual “Shelby Bullrun Challenge” in West Texas on Sept. 25-28, 2008. The event includes a combination of driving events and parties for celebrities and enthusiasts that will rival the ones that gave rise to the Terlingua legend 40 years ago.

“We created the Shelby Terlingua Racing Team so our small group of rebels could have some real fun,” noted Carroll Shelby, founder of Shelby Automobiles. “Now, I’m inviting a new generation to return with me for a weekend they’ll always remember.”

The Shelby Bullrun Challenge is open to any enthusiast in an original Shelby vehicle (including a Cobra, Series 1, GT350, GT500, Shelby GT, Dodge GL-H, Tiger, etc.), a Ford GT or Mustang. Activities will include a challenging 350 mile rally, an open road 12 mile time trial, a competitive driving course on an airstrip and a 1/2 mile drag race in the Big Bend area. Other activities will include a car show, hole-in-one golf competition, Texas “shootout”, chili cook off and autograph sessions with Mr. Shelby.


(Read more here.)