FORMER FORD AFFILIATES COSWORTH & LOTUS TEAM UP ON TOYOTA ENGINES

(Get the latest Truth With Speedzzter here)

The Lotus Cortina . . . the Ford Cosworth DFV . . . The Ford Cosworth XF: These are legendary accomplishments from Ford Motor Company's storied past.

Once, the brands of Lotus and Cosworth were firmly linked to Ford. The brilliance of Ford's Walter Hayes helped put both Lotus and Cosworth on the map. Ford's affiliation with Lotus and Cosworth "polished the Oval" in innumerable ways during the "Total Performance" era and beyond.

But long ago, Ford and Lotus went their separate ways. After Colin Chapman's death, Lotus even for a time fell under the ownership of GM. Later, Lotus cars began using Toyota power.

Much later Ford divested itself of Cosworth as it abandoned professional open wheel racing.

Walter Hayes probably turned over at 18,000 r.p.m. in his grave at the shortsightedness of Ford's mishandling of the Lotus and Cosworth brands.

Now, Autoblog is reporting that Lotus and Cosworth are teaming up to develop Toyota engines for Lotus road cars.

That makes the decision to cut Cosworth loose look even more ridiculous. A brand that Ford -- more than any other OEM -- built and even once owned is helping another brand once synonymous with Ford build the sporting reputation of Ford's major world competitor. Who in the Glass House thinks that's a good development?

Meanwhile, Ford's reputation in the world of two-seat sports cars and open wheel racing is totally forgotten, except for Formula Ford, Shelby Cobra kit cars, and the fading revival of Ford's 1960s GT.

Sad. Tragic.

It reminds Truth With Speedzzter about how ex-Ford NASCAR stars Junior Johnson and Cale Yarbrough teamed up in the 1970s to win three consecutive NASCAR Winston Cup championships for Chevrolet. That was a direct and foreseeable result of Ford's disasterious November 1970 decision to abandon Johnson, Yarbrough and scores of other Ford racers. It's also reminiscent of a Holman-Moody engine builder, Robert Yates, who became a lead developer of Chevrolet racing engines in the 1970s and early 1980s because Ford quit motorsports.

Will Ford ever learn?

MORE EVIDENCE THAT FORD IS KILLING PERFORMANCE (AGAIN)

[Get the latest "Truth With Speedzzter" here]

Call this one a rumor. But if it's true, it's bad.

“The new Focus RS is pretty special, and not just because of its incredible performance, but because it’s likely to be the last car of this type you will see from Ford.”

He explained the economic downturn meant there was “absolutely no business case” for any new RS models at the moment and that this situation would probably never change.

This sad development, if true, reminds "Truth With Speedzzter" of FoMoCo's disasterous overreaction and myopic retrenchment from high performance and racing in 1970:

After nearly a decade of "Total Performance" success (mostly at the professional level), Henry Ford II became concerned by the safety-emissions regulatory storm brewing in Washington D.C. and his responsibility to Ford's shareholders. After some turbulent hearings by a Congressional committee, Henry reacted by slashing the racing program. When Henry fired Bunkie Knudsen (who had left GM after being bypassed for promotion), Ford lost its biggest racing fan. Lee Iacocca was then all too ready to purge "Knudsen" loyalists, many of which shared Knudsen's passion for motorsports and to strictly execute Henry's hasty retreat on factory racing and high performance.

Thus, in November 1970, Ford killed its racing and "Muscle Parts" programs. Ford's largest domestic competitor at the tracks -- Chrysler-- also severely cut back its sponsorships and then killed the Hemi. An era was over.

Ford seems poised to repeat all of the same mistakes again.

Let's all hope another wimpy "Mustang II" or FWD PROBE-Stang isn't on FoMoCo's tree-hugging docket (although that would be better than killing off the storied Pony Car tradition entirely).

Speaking of wimpy and green, FoMoCo is busting a gut to sell "THE ALL-NEW 41-MPG 2010 FORD FUSION HYBRID"

The 2010 Fusion Hybrid is the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan on the planet. And right now, you can take advantage of a $3,400 tax credit when you make the new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid your own.

Now that'll really make up for a dwindling supply of real high performance vehicles . . . .

Tell'em Barack Obama sent you . . . .

Not that taxpayer subsidzed hybrid motoring in a Mexican Ford will be cheap. It will cost around $1,000 more than in a hybrid Camry ("$27,270 for a hybrid gas-electric version" versus $26,150 for the Tokyo version of Mr. Electric's snoozemobile).

But then Ford would like to sell SOMETHING . . . ANYTHING . . . .

Ford Motor Co's (NYSE:F - News) chief analyst, George Pipas, estimates that U.S. auto industry sales dropped in February to a range of about 9 million units. Retail sales, or vehicles sold at showrooms, likely declined about 40 percent in February.

This is reflecting in poor dealership profits, according to the Automotive News:

U.S. auto dealer profits slid to a nearly two-decade low in 2008 and could fall even more this year. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, the average dealership made a net pretax profit last year of just 1.0 percent of sales, down from 1.5 percent in 2007.

Apparently even gouging baby boomers on GT500s can't take up the slack . . . .


NOW EVERYBODY . . . .

Gray skies are gonna clear up,
Put on a happy face;
Brush off the clouds and cheer up,
Put on a happy face.
Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy,
It's not your style;
You'll look so good that you'll be glad
Ya' decide to smile

That's apparently what the folks at MazdaSpeed have done. On steroids.THE NEW MAZDASPEED 3. . . a front end "happy face" only a clown could love?

Perhaps it's just "Truth With Speedzzter," but does the juxtiposition of the new front-end blackout panel, eye-shaped headlamps and nameplate on the new Mazdaspeed 3 look like some sort of clown on "meth" (that other, bad kind of "speed")?

Not good.

And the new Mazdaspeed 3 apparently is shipping with the same engine that gets slaughtered by GM's direct-injected turbo EcoTec. So perhaps the clown face is for display in the mirrors of the various tuner cars that outrun the 'Speed 3.

Or maybe it's a grimace.

Where are brilliant "muscle car" designers like the late Larry Shinoda when you need them? At least Shinoda knew how to apply contrasting "blackout" panels to a musclecar without creating a circus wagon effect.

FOMOCO: GETTING COZY WITH THE U.A.W.?

[Get the latest “Truth With Speedzzter” here]

Walter Reuther and Richard Frankensteen must be turning at a “slow idle” r.p.m. in their graves by now.

Over seven decades after the infamous “Battle of the Overpass” between Reuther’s fledgling United Auto Workers organizers and Ford Motor Company’s “Sociological Department” outside the hulking River Rouge colossus, Ford is poised to make the U.A.W. its top shareholder.

BusinessWeek even speculates that the U.A.W. could demand a seat on FoMoCo’s board.

Although the U.A.W. has repeatedly failed in its efforts to unionize the Japanese “invader” auto assembly plants and create a level playing field for the Detroit-based “Beg 3,” the emerging Ford-U.A.W. deal to fund up to 50% of FoMoCo’s Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA) liabilities with stock evidences absolute triumph by what’s left of the union.

Ford's stock is trading at all-time lows and closed on Feb. 23 at $1.73 per share. Its market value on Monday was just barely above $4 billion. (GM's was a distressing $1.1 billion.) By today's share price, Ford, if it availed itself of the maximum terms of the deal, would pay more to the UAW in stock than all of the company's shares are worth today.

Certainly, if and when shares of “F” recover some value, the U.A.W. VEBA is poised for a windfall. And if disaster strikes Motown, undoubtedly the U.A.W. will be first in line at the Obama bailout window.

Speedzzter predicts the U.A.W. will eventually attempt to off-load a substantial portion of the VEBA liabilities onto the Feds.

For Ford, not having to blow cash that ought to be used to sustain future operations on funding platinum benefit packages extorted when times were better is dodging a huge “Bullitt (tm).”

At least it promises to keep FoMoCo in the game a little longer.

And that’s at least a little good news in these tough times for Ford’s loyal “Total Performance” owners and fans.

Even better than Roush-Fenway's Matt Kenseth winning two in a row in his NASCAR "funnycar-of-tomorrow!"

Now if Ford would just get busy with those EcoBoost (tm) V8s . . . and a supercharger-ready V8 Mustang for blue collar "Stang Bangers" . . . .

Who knows if the U.A.W. would support either of these plans.

Moreover, will the new "employee-owners" of Ford be willing to make the tough calls necessary to compete in the global auto marketplace? Or is entrenched labor inefficiency the new "Job One" in Dearborn.

Time will tell. Time will tell.

Don't hit the rev limiter, Reuther . . . .

SPEEDZZTER’S NOTE: Freiburger’s Junkyard, minus the legendary David Freiburger (who returned to the executive helm at Hot Rod Magazine a few weeks ago), is now .“bangshiftcom” It will be interesting to see how long the site stays viable without the brand name. At least they didn’t call it “Speedzzter.com”

IS NEW FORD GLOBAL PERFORMANCE CHIEF JOST CAPITO A SIGN?

[Get the latest "Truth With Speedzzter" here]

The Associated Press is reporting that Ford Motor Company has named Jost Capito to the new position of director of global performance vehicles and motorsport business development.

Capito used to be in charge of Ford's European performance vehicle operations.

At least it's better than when Henry Ford II purged nearly of the U.S. racing and "muscle parts" operations after some stormy Congressional testimony in 1970.

Instead it reminds of when Michael Kranefuss was brought over from Ford's German operations during the economic/energy crisis of the early 1980s to jumpstart Ford's Special Vehicle Operations (SVO).

Capito's appointment, however, may not bode well for continued development of V8 engines. Europeans tend not to be as in love with V8 sound and fury. For example, Michael Kranefuss mostly ignored FoMoCo's proud "Total Performance" traditions and bet SVO's budding street car capital on a pricey turbo four-cylinder Mustang --the oft-forgotten 1984-86 Mustang SVO -- instead of V8s.

He bet wrong.

However, Kranefuss later became so Americanized that he co-owned a NASCAR team in his post-FoMoCo retirement days.

Capito's rise could mean that the WRC-styled Focus RS is on a fast track to America.

What will it mean for Mustang? Capito is most certainly familiar with America's pony car, and its recent European racing successes in the FIA GT3 championship.

But does he UNDERSTAND the heart and soul of Mustang and SVT?

It will be interesting to see how Capito works with Brian Wolfe, Carroll Shelby, Jack Roush and other luminaries of FoMoCo's American performance operations

THE 2008 SHELBY ANNUAL: UNDAMPENED BY DETROIT’S CHAOS

[Get the latest “Truth With Speedzzter” Here]

Automotive model year 2009 started a couple of months ago. There are only fifty days left until New Year’s Day. Only forty-five shopping days until Christmas . . . .

So Source Interlink Media and Shelby FINALLY get around to releasing their 2008 Shelby Annual.

Like most things Shelby, it’s not cheap. ($6.99 in the U.S.A., $7.99 in Canada).

But is it a good value?

Speedzzter things so. In fact, the bang-for-the-buck is about one thousand times better than a Shelby GT Mustang (see "Best of Speedzzter" sidebar).

Edited by long-time Mustang magazine scribe Donald Farr and produced by Source Interlink’s “Performance Group” (which includes such storied titles as “Hot Rod,” “Car Craft,” “Muscle Mustang and Fast Fords,” and “5.0 Mustang and Super Fords”), the 2008 Shelby Annual provides an entertaining blend of sales pitch, insider vignettes, "Shelbyized" history, and a few optimistic “Carrollisms.”

The gist of the book is to tie in the current Shelby line-up with their historic namesakes. Certainly, Shelby’s current Las Vegas lines take center stage. GT500KR, V6 Terlingua Mustang, and Shelby’s continuation Cobra roadsters are prominently featured. A fun dose of Shelby’s racing history – both before and during Ford’s legendary “Total Performance” campaign of the 1960s is included.

To those familiar with Shelby history, the dusty vignettes on Shelby’s driving career, the original Terlinqua Racing Team, and Shelby’s rescue of the Ford’s Le Mans effort are nothing new. But these stories are collected in a handy form and beautifully illustrated with large, well-reproduced period photography.

Such nostalgia may seem a “Galaxie” away from the current Detroit meltdown and General Motors Death Watch, but they’re just the thing to relive or imagine a happier, more muscular time. A time when Ford believed it could conquer any hill anywhere in the World that wasn’t already marked “Property of GM” (the 1958 Edsel debacle had shattered FoMoCo notions that it could fully match and overtake GM). A time when a hard-driving chicken farmer from east Texas believed that American V8-powered sports cars could defeat the traditional European powers on the World stage.

The 2008 Shelby Annual recaps some of the “Shelby” event milestones of 2008. Shelby’s 85th birthday bash, the first Team Shelby Nationals, and the Terlinqua Reunion all receive some coverage.

The 2008 Shelby Annual also details the transformation of an “ordinary” GT500 into a GT500KR. One quick glance at the inefficiency of the process and it’s easy to see why the GT500KR commands such a massive premium for what amounts to some dress-up parts, a suspension recalibration and a paltry boost of forty horsepower. However, Shelby snobs will surely be quick to point out that all of the Las Vegas machinations transform the KR into a “real Shelby.”

Even the stepchild FWD Shelby Dodges get four pages in the 2008 Annual. Mostly based on archival photos, the story on the Shelby GLHS includes a tiny present-day snapshot of Carroll “hisself” leaning against Dodge Omni Shelby GLHS No. 1 (which he reportedly still owns).

Carroll recalls his time in the FWD wilderness in his introductory editorial, entitled “Drive and Have Fun” Although Carroll opens with a history-tinged defense of the V8, he segues into recalling how “we” overcame the automotive dark ages of the 1970s with the “great fun” Dodge GLH.

Carroll then says:

“I’d love to do that again. Can you imagine turning the Ford Focus into a real pocket rocket by pumping up the horsepower and sharpening the handling? That would make a great compliment to a Shelby
Mustang.”

Savvy readers know that this has already happened elsewhere (i.e. Focus RS, Focus ST170/SVT Focus).

Undoubtedly Carroll Shelby knows this too.

Only Ford’s short-sighted marketing plans, overprotectiveness of the Mustang franchise, and faithlessness in its ability to compete in the sport compact niche have kept these World-class “pocket rockets” out of the American marketplace.

The message between the lines is that the Shelby name will probably be used to “build value” for the breathtaking price that domesticating the next generation WRC-bred Ford Focus RS will command. And considering that Shelby has already inked a deal with Ford that extends through his 91st year, it is possible that Shelby Automobiles will further “Shelbyize” Shelby Foci at the Las Vegas plant.

Carroll’s allusions to future “pocket rockets” come close to portending a “soft landing” strategy for the end of the Second Supercar Era. Certainly, the 2008 Shelby Annual provides no hint of how Shelby Automobiles or Ford will continue to produce 600-700+ horsepower V8 supercars as Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards tighten and the power-thirsty, greeniac OBAMAcrats tighten the noose around all carbon-emitting mechanical things.

Shelby says they’re looking at alternative fuels and “experimenting with electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.” No specifics given, though. He concludes:

“So whether we use turbos or superchargers, smarter computers, or lighter materials, we’ll still build cars for real enthusiasts. And we’re going to make them affordable [Stop snickering].”

Carroll claims the mantle of maverick, suggesting that he’s been doing the “unexpected my whole life” and that’s enough of a reason to have faith in the Brave New World of the future car. Of course this defiant, revisionist view ignores Shelby’s “unexpected” abandonment of the high performance automobile marketplace from the late 1960s until Lee Iacocca brought him back to play with soporiferous FWD Dodges in the early Reagan years.

Maybe this time will be different.

Clearly the pairing of Ford and Shelby is about as close to a license to print money as exists in Motown these dismal days. But Shelby’s companies are small and mostly geared toward licensing. The infamous Series 1 debacle provides ample evidence of what happens when Shelby Automobiles reaches out of its bolt-on tuner/kit-car-Cobra depth. It simply cannot do the heavy lifting necessary to cook up turbocharged electric hybrid Mustangs or hydrogen-powered electric “skateboards” or whatever it is that “performance cars” will become in the Carbon-taxed future. Ford must shoulder that load for anything wild and wonderful to happen. Whether FoMoCo will is murky at best.

Still, the 2008 Shelby Annual is a good book to forget all of that. It is a good book to celebrate the less-than-affordable Shelby cars of the present. And to reminisce (or learn for the first time) about the fading triumphs of a past generation of World-class high performance motoring.