This show used to be put on by the Thunderbird Club and had ran for 17 consecutive years though 2008 (I attended in 07-08) but in 09 they gave up because all their members are too old and dont have the capacity to deal with it anymore. Sanderson had been getting a lot of requests to bring it back, so they finally did. Im a bit bothered that the turnout was better than our two shows (Wild West Mustangs) weve done so far, although I suspect what part of the problem is for us regarding that.  Our Club handled the show day logistics.  Members who helped got in free.  More on that in a separate thread.

Slideshow:

You can skip all the awards pics at the end.  The Club wanted those.  I dont bother with them myself if left up to me.

http://wildwestmustangsaz.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=118&pid=3851&slideshow=3000

Highlights:

Alright RPMers, while awaiting traction on the "RPM Member Poster" I have another idea.  Ive done this for another board Im on, so I might as well do it here, too.  Im going to make a video featuring the RPMers cars.

Heres what I need from you.  PLEASE, follow closely.  The success and quality of the vid is totally reliant on the quality and consistency of the pics submitted.

I need/want 3! pics of your car.  UNtouched, unmolested, original files, plz.  Anything that needs to be "fixed", Ill fix.  They need to have a "clean" background, first and foremost.   Not in parking lots or car shows with other cars around, not out on the curb in front of your house or in your garage but out in a quality setting.  At the park, out on a country road, in a field, etc.

And be mindful of the backgrounds.  Ok, so youre out at the park or in a field.  But, are there park benches in the frame?  Are there power poles, streetlights, high tension transmission lines in the frame? 

Youre in an empty parking lot, are there stray shopping carts visible?  Or is the "cart corral" sticking out?

Are you parked against a wall or at a loading dock?  Is there a bunch of distracting "things" like roll up doors, handrails, fire plugs, etc, distracting from the view?  Creative positioning and framing of the pic will hide those.

NO date/time stamps, plz.

I dont want to sound like a Nazi, but trust me, pics DO look better with quality backgrounds and thus this will make the vid look better and save ME a LOT of time using the "Clone Tool" to erase all the crap in the pic(s).  This includes trash or other debris, parking lines, big cracks or tar lines in the pavement, etc  Having been through this and trying to get everyone to cooperate was like herding cats.  Id like to avoid that this time to speed up the process.

Next, I would like the pics to be recent so they show your car in its current configuration, unless youre "under construction" in which case older pics are fine.

A lot/most of you should already have plenty of pics to choose from, esp given all the Photo Contests weve had.  However, some of those submissions and even some of the winners have been lacking in the "background" catagory, so Id like to "step up the game" for the vid.

Windows up, wheels turned to face the tread away from the cam even if just a little and no "debris" peeking out from inside, such as the sun shade on the package shelf or the "evergreen" air freshener hanging from the mirror.

Watch lighting, shadows, sun behind you please or a cloudy day is good, but then that dulls colors.

Clean is taken for granted, but it doesnt have to be show car clean, esp since a lot of "uncleanliness" wont show up in the pics anyway.

HI res, plz.  W/e the highest res your cam takes send it.  Fine/superfine compression too, please.  Straight from the cam, no retouching or "sharpening", plz.  Ill do that on my end.

Ok, so why 3?  Well I want three angles so your car can be seen in all its glory.  Front 3/4, rear 3/4 from the opposing side and an "almost" side on shot, but not directly side on.  either a little of the front or rear can be seen.

So dont be shy, join in and be part of the first Official "Cars of RPM" vid.  PM your intent to participate and Ill give my email so you can send pics.  Its the summer and we have two months left to get those pics taken, then I can get started.

Below are examples of what I mean by the angles and "clean" backgrounds.

3/4 Front view:





Great position, shadows suck and kill this as a "correct" example:



Almost Side on view:







3/4 Rear view:



Good position, bad for shadows and background because of the pickup, poles and ESP caution cones.





Again, the 3/4 shots should be from opposite sides, but if not, then the side on shot needs to be opposite of those.  The idea is to see the entirety of your car, 360 view.

Thanks Stangers.

Pony Cars Outsold Hybrids in May, But Don't Expect it to Last
 
By Kurt Ernst Published June 07, 2011 High Gear Media



With gas near the $4 per gallon mark, you’d think that sales of pony cars like the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger would be at record lows. After all, their V-8 engines aren’t known for fuel economy, and even their V-6 models fall short of matching the fuel economy of hybrid or compact cars. Are dealers willing to entertain any reasonable offer on pony car inventory?
 
No, says USA Today, who reports that American snapped up more Mustangs, Camaros and Challengers in the month of May than they did hybrids. Muscle cars accounted for 19,476 unit sales in May, while hybrids accounted for just 17,852 unit sales last month.
 
Is the jury in? Are Americans forgoing the benefits of better fuel economy and reduced emissions in favor of horsepower and the ability to turn expensive rear tires into smoke?
 
Not exactly, since what the USA Today article glosses over is the impact of the March disasters in Japan. Toyota’s Prius has historically been the best-selling hybrid in America, and Toyota sold 12,477 Prius models in April. That’s down 4.3 percent from April of 2010, but still on par with Toyota’s total passenger car sales, which were down 6.5 percent for the month.
 
Fast forward to May, when Toyota sold just 6,924 Prius models, as compared to 14,248 in May of 2010. That’s a decrease of 47 percent, attributable directly to supply shortages stemming from the Japan earthquake and tsunami. If we assume May sales would have matched April sales at 4.3 percent lower than previous year, Toyota would have sold 13,635 Prius units in May. Hybrid sales would then have been 31,487 units, positively dwarfing pony car sales.
 
While it's technically accurate to say that pony cars outsold hybrids last month, that certainly isn't an indication of a trend away from fuel-efficient cars. When the Prius is back in the inventory pipeline, expect it to return to normal unit sales, driving hybrid sales numbers higher.
 
That’s the problem with numbers and statistics; unless they’re in context, they can be used to spin the data any way you want.

NOT a Photoshop:

Put the GO on a Hagerty Collector policy today. The 72 Gran Torino went with it, which hadnt had insurance since 02 and never had anything but liability when it did. Now its insured (shockingly, to me) for 7K with no deductible. The GO for guaranteed value of 30K with 250 ded. 1500 spare parts coverage. And I save 299 a year over having the GO on a standard policy with my DD 2000 V6 Mustang. Plus the peace of mind knowing the Torino is now covered in case a fire or other household disaster happens, since I dont drive it and it hasnt been licensed since 02 as well. BUT, now I CAN get it renewed as AZ has a "Collector" exemption to emissions testing.

2 survive crash that rips Mustang to pieces





Sources:
http://www.khou.com/news/local/2-survive-crash-that-rips-Mustang-to-pieces-118233959.html
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/gallery?section=news&id=8011710&photo=1

Automobile tests the BOSS
Automobile Magazine

First Drive: 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 and Laguna Seca

We covered the 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 extensively in the November issue of Automobile Magazine as part of our package of the 10 Greatest Mustangs Ever. And, on the cover of that issue, we asked: "Will the new Boss 302 be number 11?"

Now that we've driven it, the answer is a resounding yes.

Simply put, the Boss 302 is the best of all of the current Mustangs. It's the best expression of a modern muscle car and, frankly, it's the best all-around sports car to wear a Mustang badge. Unburdened with the extra weight and disproportionate thrust of the supercharged GT500, unafflicted with the GT's cushy suspension, and unfettered by the V-6's incorrect soundtrack, the Boss 302 is, to us, exactly what a Mustang should be.

OK, so it still has an old-tech live-axle rear suspension. But that characteristic -- and the resulting skittishness over mid-corner bumps -- is, at least, a part of the Mustang's charming character. And, as we've said in the past, Ford's engineers have done a remarkable job of taming that beast.

On the track, where the suspension doesn't need to cope with mid-corner bumps, the Boss 302 is the very picture of perfect chassis balance. The Boss 302's shocks are adjustable, but we would never mess with the settings the factory dialed in for our drive around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. With only the slightest hint of understeer built in, this Mustang becomes infinitely and easily throttle-adjustable. Applying maintenance throttle through long sweepers invokes smooth four-wheel drifts that require neither big steering corrections nor stability control intervention to modulate. Indeed, in Sport Mode, the ESP will intrude only if your sideways attitude starts increasing more quickly than your steering inputs, and even then, its light-handed interventions never slow you down one bit.

The changes to the 5.0-liter V-8 are exactly what you'd expect from a Boss -- lots and lots of revs. Forged pistons and significant improvements to breathing move the power peak up in the rev range to a shocking 7500 rpm, right as the limiter kicks in. Few cross-plane V-8s rev this high, and few produce the acoustic fury that comes from the 302. With two additional exhaust outlets (one per side, just in front of the rear wheels), the brutal Mustang music takes on an even more staccato wail, and the additional revs help produce a primal scream unlike anything else on the road. The engine's peak torque is down 10 lb-ft, but you'd never notice it while driving -- there's plenty of thrust everywhere in the rev range. Shorter, 3.73:1 gears in the limited slip differential (optional on other Mustangs) help this V-8 make minced meat out of the first few ratios. Putting the power down is no problem, and you'll row through first, second, and third so quickly you won't have time to notice that you're already at 90 mph. Sorry, officer.

The Boss' ride over broken pavement is impressive, and the Mustang's long wheelbase helps eliminate any of the choppiness you'd expect from a firm ride. The upgraded, 14-inch front brakes (taken from the Shelby GT500) were easily overheated at Laguna Seca (a track notorious for killing brakes), but will likely survive less abusive tracks and aggressive back-roads blasts.

The Laguna Seca edition of the Boss 302 ditches the back seats in favor of a visible cross-brace for added chassis stiffness. It also features a slightly larger (26 mm instead of 25 mm) rear anti-roll bar, stiffer rear springs, a Torsen limited-slip differential and R-compound Pirelli Corsa tires mounted on rear wheels that are an inch wider than the standard Boss 302's. Result: an even crisper, better-balanced Boss that's even easier to control at the limit. We love it, but we're not sure the extra $6995 is worth the increased performance and drop in practicality unless this Boss winds up being a track-day toy

Either 302, however, is available with the coolest feature of them all: the TracKey. Once a dealer reflashes this Mustang's computer, starting it up with the red TracKey switches the engine management programming to a more aggressive calibration. There's no more power, as the 444-hp 5.0-liter is maxed out as it is, but two big, immediately noticeable things occur. Firstly, the lag usually programmed into the throttle pedal (both on depression and release) is gone, and the Mustang suddenly feels like its accelerator pedal and throttle butterfly are connected by a cable. Every car should be so lucky. Secondly (and this may the coolest computer-controlled automotive feature ever), at idle, the computer alters cam timing to maximize valve overlap. The result: a lopey idle no different than if you had spent thousands installing ludicrously hot cams.

How Ford's powertrain engineers got the Boss to pass emissions tests with a stuttering, loping idle, we'll never know. But we're stoked that they did, because we could sit and listening to an idling Boss 302 all day long. That alone is worth the price of admission -- and the bonus is that the rest of the Boss 302 is just as awesome.

At $40,995 (including destination), the Boss 302 isn't exactly cheap in absolute terms, and it's nearly twice as expensive as a base Mustang. It's four times the car, though. And it's not only $8500 less dear than the Shelby GT500, it's a better all-around car, too. In those terms, the Boss looks like quite the value. There's all the financial justification you'll need to buy one. The emotional reasoning starts and ends with savoring the sound of that unbelievable idle.

2012 Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca Lapping Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca