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This woman owns the first Ford Mustang sold in the US

As Ford celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Mustang with the unveiling of the all-new sixth-gen design, one Chicago women can lay claim to a piece of Mustang history. According to CBS Chicago, Gail Wise was the first person in the US to buy a Mustang in 1964, and she did so two days before the car was even unveiled to the public.
Wise, then a 22-year-old teacher, went into the Chicago Ford dealership wanting to buy a convertible, and a salesperson ushered her over to car covered by a tarp. That car was a baby blue Mustang convertible, which she still owns today - along with the documentation. After sitting for almost 30 years and undergoing a full restoration, the car now looks to be in original condition. The report says that this $3,400 purchase could be worth anywhere between $100,000 and $250,000. While this worked out well for Mrs. Wise, we wouldn't recommend anyone going into a dark, back room of a dealership hoping to get a jump on the purchase of a 2015 Mustang.
Scroll down to watch the video report.

Child cobalt miners: Automakers pledge ethical minerals sourcing for EVs

BERLIN - Leading carmakers including Volkswagen and Toyota pledged on Wednesday to uphold ethical and socially responsible standards in their purchases of minerals for an expected boom in electric vehicle production. Demand for minerals such as cobalt, graphite and lithium is forecast to soar in the coming years as governments crack down on vehicle pollution and carmakers step up their investments in electric models. To cover its plans for more than 80 new models by 2025, Volkswagen alone is looking for partners in China, Europe and North America to provide battery cells and related technology worth more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion). Talks with major cobalt producers, including Glencore, at VW's Wolfsburg headquarters last week ended without a deal. More than half of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country racked by political instability and legal opacity, and where child labor is used in mines. On Wednesday, a group of 10 leading passenger-car and truck manufacturers announced an initiative to jointly identify and address ethical, environmental, human and labor rights issues in raw materials sourcing. The partnership dubbed "Drive Sustainability" consists of VW, Toyota Motor Europe, Ford, Daimler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars and truckmakers Scania and Volvo. The alliance "will assess the risks posed by the top raw materials (such as mica, cobalt, rubber and leather) in the automotive sector," said Stefan Crets of the CSR Europe business network. "This will allow Drive Sustainability to identify the most impactful activities to pursue" to address issues within the supply chain.Reporting by Andreas Cremer.Related Video: Image Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Green BMW Ford Honda Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz Automakers Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Green Automakers Green Culture Electric Scania ethics mining

Ford Transit is America's new best-selling van

The Ford Motor Company's sales in December ticked up 1.2 percent in the US, and the automaker was down 0.5 percent for 2014. But the Blue Oval looks like it might have a real winner on its hands when it comes to its new Transit van. The recently introduced line nearly doubled its numbers during the month by delivering 10,030 units for an annual total of 20,488 examples sold. It also gave the fullsize model the title of America's bestselling van for December. Those 10,000 sales put the Transit head and shoulders above all of its competitors in the crowded commercial van market. Second place went to the Chevrolet Express with 5,611 sales in December, and the ancient Ford E-Series was third with 5,256 moved. The rest of the segment was somewhat lower, with the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter at 3,288 units for the month, Ram ProMaster at 3,036, GMC Savana with 1,725 and Nissan NV at 1,554. December also marked the second month in a row for the Transit to beat out the E-Series in sales. However, its predecessor still won overall for the year with 103,263 units moved in 2014, but it enjoyed a full calendar year of sales. According to Ford spokesperson Mike Levine, the smaller Transit Connect had its best sales month ever for December too, and the automaker has been among the sales leaders in the van segment for the last 36 years. "Clearly, sales show we're best at meeting our customers' needs," said Levine to Autoblog, who touted the model's results on Twitter and cited the Transit's numerous configurations as its biggest selling point. Ford's latest van has other plusses, too, say analysts. "The one thing the Transit has going for it is a low base price relative to the competition. Compare the base price of the Sprinter to the Transit and it is hands-down a Transit win," said Dave Sullivan, auto industry analyst at AutoPacific, to Autoblog. Purely by model name, the Transit was also the bestselling van in November, with 4,851 deliveries. However, the Chevy Express had 4,478 sales, plus 716 more from the GMC Savana. Since these two are the same model beneath the skin, as a platform, they arguably took the title for that month. With a new year already here, the Transit has a new challenge to face. "2015 will be the year that the Transit has to leave the nest, because E-Series inventories will be close to zero and Transit will have to carry all the weight," said Sullivan.