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Sunday Drive: Rendering the future at Jeep and Ford

Last week brought us quite a wide variety of automotive news nuggets, and judging by the response of our own readership, the Jeep Wrangler pickup truck led the way. It's not expected to hit the sales floor until April of 2019, which means we've all got an entire year to wait, but that just means we have lots of time to anticipate its arrival. And we do so today with a series of renderings that show what the so-called Scrambler may look like in a few different colors. Another set of renderings depicting a hotly anticipated new vehicle follow just behind. The Baby Bronco – will Ford ante up to the retro-inspired table and call it the Bronco II? – will be one size smaller than the regular-grade Bronco, and we think it'll compete with the Jeep Renegade as a subcompact crossover with some real off-road chops. Moving onto some tuners, both old and new(er), we first present a sweet old Dodge Ram pickup truck tuned by none other than Carroll Shelby himself. The blue and silver striped truck looks so period perfect that it stands out as a star even alongside a quartet of vintage Shelby Mustangs with which it will share space at the Bonhams auction in Greenwich, Conn., this June. And finally we turn our attention to the Hennessey Veliciraptor, an absolute behemoth of a truck. Based on the most excellent Ford Raptor, the Velociraptor ups the crazy quotient with six wheels and 600 hundred horsepower. As always, stay tuned to Autoblog this week for all the latest automotive news. Jeep Wrangler pickup renderings: Latest imaginings of the Scrambler Ford Baby Bronco comes alive in these exclusive renderings Bonhams to auction Carroll Shelby's prototypes and personal cars Hennessey VelociRaptor 6X6 First Drive Review: The incredible hulk

Next Chrysler minivan spied inside and out

Chrysler isn't supposed to unveil the next-generation Town & Country until the 2016 Detroit Auto Show, but FCA is hard at work getting the minivan ready for launch. Our spies recently caught prototypes on the road and took copious photos of the interior and exterior, giving us an early idea what to expect from the future family-hauler. These shots make it pretty clear that FCA's engineers aren't done working on the next T&C yet, and all of the camouflage on the outside makes any styling changes very difficult to spot. However, the company is testing the future version with a current one, and the new design appears to have harder angles. One intriguing picture clearly shows the Dodge logo on the back of the minivan. The Dodge Grand Caravan is supposed to be killed off for 2016, though. We've also heard the next-generation minivan will get a plug-in hybrid variant, which was reportedly confirmed last week. The interior is slightly less concealed than the outside, but development is still ongoing in there, too. It's easy to spot the familiar infotainment screen from other FCA products, and there's just a peek at the T&C's instrument cluster, including the design for the tachometer. A rotary dial gearshift also appears to be in the center console, similar to the Chrysler 200. Even at this early stage, it appears that FCA is trying to take the next T&C a little more upmarket compared to the current iteration. The move fits well with earlier rumors of the price increasing for the future model. Related Video:

Lee Iacocca’s 10,000-square-foot Bel Air mansion hits the market

We’ve seen the auctioning off of much of the estate of the late, famed auto executive and former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca, who died last year at age 94, including his 1992 Dodge Viper and wood-sided 1986 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country Convertible. Now comes his former Southern California mansion, which has hit the market for a cool $26.9 million. The Tuscan-style mansion in the tony Bel Air section of Los Angeles is where Iacocca lived following his retirement from Chrysler and the automotive industry in 1992. According to the website TopTenRealEstateDeals.com, itÂ’s a 10,682 square-foot, five-bedroom, eight-bath palace on 1 acre near the Bel Air Country Club. It comes with four ensuite guest rooms, a separate staff apartment, formal living and dining rooms, a wood-paneled library and five (!) fireplaces. High ceilings, chandeliers and expensive wood trim and moulding work abound. ItÂ’s also tailor-made for entertaining, with big open-plan rooms opening to landscaped terraces, a chefÂ’s kitchen, a swimming pool, spa and tennis courts. And in fact, Iacocca was said to have entertained the likes of Bob and Delores Hope, Frank and Barbara Sinatra, Priscilla Presley and Betty White. Oddly, considering Iacocca was one of the first celebrity auto execs, thereÂ’s no information about the estateÂ’s garage; Autoblog has inquired about that with the listing agents and will update this if we hear back. In the overhead view in the gallery above, the driveway leads to the large wing on the left side of the house, so the garage is potentially pretty big, but it's hard to say what else might share space under that roof. Aside from his work developing the iconic Ford Mustang in the 1960s, Iacocca is perhaps best known to generations of Americans for his role rescuing Chrysler from collapse. He did so by securing a $1.2 billion federal loan from Congress, restructuring the company by cutting wages and closing plants introducing popular fuel-efficient cars like the K Car and introducing the minivan. After his retirement in 1992, Iacocca invested in casinos and a line of imported olive oil, and he was a member of several corporate boards.   Featured Gallery Lee Iacocca's Bel Air mansion View 11 Photos Celebrities Chrysler