1966 Ford Fairlane 500 (xl Clone) on 2040-cars

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Ford board OK with Mulally stepping down earlier

Ford's board is open to CEO Alan Mulally stepping down before his planned departure in 2014, inside sources are telling Reuters. Ford's plan of succession, aside from who would be his actual successor, has been something approaching common knowledge - the 68-year-old former Boeing exec had plans to stay through 2014. This was recently confirmed by Mulally himself on Bloomberg Television and in Automotive News.
Motivation for the about-face comes from what Reuters calls a "growing confidence" in the current crop of Ford execs, led by Mark Fields. Fields, Ford's current chief operating officer, has been tipped as Mulally's ultimate successor, although he's far from the only person with eyes on Ford's top job. Normally, Ford's board saying they're open to an executive, that's done very well for the company, stepping down early would be nearly unremarkable. It's the timing of this announcement, though, that makes this a big piece of news.
Recently, Mulally has been the subject of rumors that he's interested in taking the CEO position at tech giant Microsoft. The Redmond, Washington-based company's CEO, Steve Ballmer, told the media in August that he'd be retiring in a year's time. The fires were stoked when tech website AllThingsD speculated that Mulally would take the top spot, despite denials from the man himself. Could Ford's current boss become the new top dog at Microsoft? Will Mark Fields replace him? Could recently departed Renault exec Carlos Tavares land at Ford in some capacity? Let us know what you think below in Comments.

Project Ugly Horse alive and kicking at Road & Track

The hallways of the Autoblog campus are much quieter now that Zach Bowman has taken his prose, along with his welders, wrenches and hammers, over to the digital pages of Road & Track, but that doesn't mean our favorite project Mustang is gone forever. Project Ugly Horse is still coming along, and Zach has gifted us another update on his unfoxy Fox Body.
Last we saw of the Ugly Horse, Zach was strengthening up the '89 Mustang's chassis as he prepares to stuff the turbocharged, direct-injected EcoBoost engine of a Ford Focus ST under the hood. First things first, the old mill must go. Head on over to Road & Track to catch the latest chapter of Project Ugly Horse.

Ford F-150 RaptorTrax is Ken Block's ultimate snowmobile

Even when Ken Block isn't starring in the latest Gymkhana video or tearing up Global RallyCross courses, he's finding new ways to redefine "awesome" as it applies to motorsports. For evidence of this, look no further than Block's latest Monster-badged creation, the Ford F-150 RaptorTrax.
Billed as the "world's fastest snowcat," the RaptorTrax started life as a Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, and then a set of Mattracks were put in place where the truck's bead-locked wheels and meaty rubber once resided. The goal was to create a truck that made it easier - and presumably more fun - for Block and his buddies to hit the slopes on their snowboards. Aside from the obvious track upgrades, this truck also received a Whipple supercharger, full roll cage, Recaro seats, an in-bed snowboard rack, a roof basket and a rear-mounted winch - you know, just in case something or someone actually manages to get this truck stuck.
The RaptorTrax will be on display later this week at the Winter X Games in Apsen, CO, but we'll have to wait until next winter for a full Block-worthy video of the truck. A full press release from Hoonigan Racing Division is posted below, and a high-res image can be found by clicking above.