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We drive the 2016 Ford F-750 Tonka dump truck

The Ford F-750 dump truck stands nearly 10 feet tall and is painted bright yellow. It idles patiently yards away from Ford's test track in Dearborn, MI. "Tonka" is emblazoned on the sides. We pose the obvious question to Ford marketing manager Mark Lowrey: Why do this? "We built this truck to get attention," he replies. And indeed it does. Ford revealed the 2016 F-750 Tonka dump truck in March at an industry show, underscoring that the Blue Oval is back in the business of big trucks after years of teaming with Navistar in a joint venture. The new F-650s and F-750s start rolling off the line at a factory near Cleveland this summer, and the order bank is open now. The trucks come in regular, super, and crew cabs and offer three states of tune for the 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 turbo diesel, plus a gasoline-fed 6.8-liter V10. Naturally, the Tonka has most powerful diesel mill, with 330 horsepower and 725 pound-feet of torque. The Tonka edition is a paint-and-sticker one-off that Ford is using as a promotional tool. You can't buy one, and it will be touring shows and events throughout the year. Lowrey notes that it calls attention to work trucks in a positive way. The general public usually only sees them when the trucks are blocking the road or making too much noise at a construction site. Tonka trucks, on the other hand, conjure up happy childhood memories. "We're going to do something where someone's going to see this truck and smile," he says. It's hard not to grin as we climb into the cabin of this monster truck. It has a 33,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating and can carry five yards worth of dirt. We're not doing anything like that today – just puttering around Ford's handling circuit inside its product enclave. The course is closed, so even though this track is better suited to calibrating Mustangs, F-150s, and well, almost anything but a dump truck, we're totally relaxed. We depress the button to release the parking brake and are off. The truck is surprisingly easy to drive. The vision ahead is excellent – makes sense, we're nearly one story off the ground, after all. The cabin is simple and cleanly laid out. It looks like a Ford truck, regardless of the size. The diesel engine has a lot of grunt. We can feel the torque. The steering is light, and we have to stomp on the air brakes to slow this thing down. We go 'hot' into a tight corner just for fun. It's not really that fast, but it raises the eyebrows of our film crew, which is set up nearby.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R named Road & Track Performance Car of the Year

With a 526-horsepower, 5.2-liter V8 that roars to 8,250 rpm, it's really hard to consider the 2016 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350R an underdog in any fight. However, the Shelby held the lowest as-tested price and was only middle of the pack in terms of power in Road & Track's 2016 Performance Car of the Year challenge. The 'Stang's numbers clearly didn't tell the whole story about the potent coupe because Ford's muscle car grabbed the title in this year's test. A model needs to be new or significantly updated to be eligible for the honor, and R&T found an impressive slate of eight candidates this year. The challengers included the Bentley Continental GT3-R, Cadillac ATS-V Coupe, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper ACR, Mercedes-AMG GT S, and Porsche Cayman GT4. The Ferrari 488 GTB was the most expensive of the bunch with an as-tested price of $347,942, which is five times more than the Shelby. Once the group was together, R&T hustled them over curving roads and on the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park. There was a lot to love about the Shelby, even in this impressive crew. "With a flat-plane crank and Sport Cup 2 tires, the GT350R is a Mustang turned up to 11," editor-in-chief Larry Webster said in the announcement of the results. The GT350R joins some great company. Past winners include the Porsche 911 GT3 last year and the Corvette in 2013. For some fantastic photography and the complete appraisal of these performance machines check out R&T's website for the full story. Related Video: ROAD & TRACK NAMES THE FORD MUSTANG SHELBY GT350R THE 2016 PERFORMANCE CAR OF THE YEAR New York, NY (November 9, 2015) – Road & Track today named the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R the 2016 Performance Car of the Year, beating out seven of the world's best new sports cars. The article appears in the December/January issue, on newsstands November 17, and on RoadandTrack.com. "With a flat-plane crank and Sport Cup 2 tires, the GT350R is a Mustang turned up to 11," said Larry Webster, editor-in-chief of Road & Track. "Not only does the car have soul and harness so much firepower with such ease, but the real achievement here is that it's so approachable. It's a car you can't help but love." The Mustang Shelby GT350R was the winner by a runaway vote.

Ford C-Max Commercial Brings Cadillac 'Poolside' Ad Down To Earth

If we had tried to predict the first video response to the controversial Poolside video for the Cadillac ELR, we would not have thought it would center on compost. But, hey, it's always nice to be reminded that the real world is sometimes better than fiction. Instead of the chic swagger of 'Poolside,' 'Anything Is Possible' is all about getting dirty. The new short in question is called Upside: Anything Is Possible and it promotes two things: Detroit Dirt and the Ford C-Max Energi. As in the ELR ad, Ford's plug-in C-Max only makes an appearance at the tail end of the spot, but instead of the chic swagger of Poolside, Anything Is Possible is all about getting dirty. The ad stars Pashon Murray, co-founder of Detroit Dirt, which takes natural waste from around Detroit, composts it into soil and then spreads that around "forgotten parcels" of Detroit to create urban farms. Detroit Dirt gets its bio-waste from a lot of sources, including the Detroit Zoological Society (all that herbivore manure has to go somewhere), Ford and General Motors, but this particular ad was the idea of Ford's PR agency, Team Detroit. It was a frenetic shoot, filmed with an LA-based director right after a big winter storm blew through Detroit, and Murray couldn't be happier with the result. "This was Ford Motor Company pushing my story, letting me tell the story that I believe in," Murray tells AutoblogGreen. "I get to help push this car and I get to tell my story." She says that the Team Detroit and Ford had to agree on the message, "from my understanding, [YouTube] is where they wanted to start, not where they wanted to finish." The ad is already getting a positive response on Twitter, so we won't be surprised if it shows up in more places soon. "It's not saying Ford is better than GM. It's telling the story of a black woman who's working hard in Detroit." As Detroit Dirt has off-screen support from both GM and Ford, it's unsurprising to hear Murray say that the video "is not a rivalry thing." She notes that the ad agency Team Detroit came to her and offered to tell the Detroit Dirt story using the framework of the GM ad. "It's a parody on this commercial, but it's not saying Ford is better than GM," she said. "It's telling the story of a black woman who's working hard in Detroit." What is that story? It's about urban farming, recovery and recycling. Murray tells us that for the last seven or eight years, she's been dedicated to sustainability.