1994 Lincoln Town Car Executive Sedan 4-door 4.6l on 2040-cars

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Ford Q3 pretax profits drop to $1.18B

Following positive third quarter financial results recently from General Motors, rival Ford took a tumble in Q3. The automaker posted pre-tax profits of $1.18 billion, compared to about $2.59 billion in Q3 2013, a drop of around 54 percent. Net income also suffered with $835 million made in the quarter, versus $1.272 billion last year, a decline of about 34 percent. The Blue Oval blamed the gloomy figures on three reasons in its release: "lower volume, higher warranty costs and adverse balance sheet exchange effects."
There were problems of one kind or another in practically every region. North America experienced higher warranty costs than expected, partially due to recalls. The sales volume for the quarter was 665,000 units, versus 725,000 in Q3 2013, and pre-tax results amounted to $1.41 billion versus $2.296 billion last year.
South America and Europe both posted worse pre-tax results than last year. On the bright side, European volume was up slightly to 321,000 vehicles, from 303,000 in Q3 2013. The Middle East and Africa also lost $15 million, but that was an improvement compared to the $25 million loss previously experienced in this region.

Lincoln Continental brings back suicide doors with Coach Door Edition

Remember that teaser image from last week indicating the Lincoln Continental would get suicide doors? Well, it's happening, and we got to check out a prototype late last week. As you can see from the photos, the vehicle is essentially a stretched Continental with rear doors that latch forward. Lincoln doesn't call it the suicide door edition, of course. No, the proper name is 80th Anniversary Coach Door Edition. Semantics aside, the car is here to pay homage to the suicide doors of the 1960s Continental and celebrate 80 years since the original Continental was introduced. That's the why; now here is the how. To build this special edition, a Continental begins life as a normal Black Label model, and leaves the factory with normal doors intact. From there, Lincoln ships the car to Cabot Coach Builders in Massachusetts for the stretch and other modifications we'll get into later. Before you start cursing Lincoln for not really screwing together a suicide door Continental, know this: Lincoln engineered all the components, metalwork and everything else that goes with the build. It then gives the car and components to Cabot for the fabrication work. So yes, somebody else is doing the conversion, but you're still getting a Lincoln-engineered vehicle. Make of that what you will. Cabot has done work for Ford before with the MKT and Transit Van, but Lincoln says it's much more involved in this build than it ever was before. To begin, the Continental gets a six-inch stretch. It was a relatively long car before, but boy does this thing look like it's lounging now. That's exactly what you'll be doing once inside those suicide doors. Lincoln claims best-in-class legroom, and yes, to our eye that is surely accurate. Someone well over 6 feet tall could easily stretch all the way out and still have room to spare back there. The only problem we noticed? Headroom. A sloping roofline combined with seats that are well pushed back doesn't leave a whole lot of space up there. It looks like Lincoln noticed this and carved out little spaces in the headliner, but it might not be enough for those who are closer to the sky than most. A flow-through center console occupies space where the middle seat would typically be. This has all sorts of controls for things like audio and climate control. Lincoln said the one we sat in wasn't entirely finished with all the features and electronics that will be included.

Weekly Recap: Racing legend Jim Hall explains Chevy's futuristic Chaparral concept

"I said our cars are built to be winners." – Jim Hall Racing legend Jim Hall never thought he'd be a video game consultant, but when Chevrolet asked for his advice to create a futuristic Chaparral for the Vision Gran Turismo series, he was eager to help. He reviewed early sketches and suggested some changes that made it onto the concept, including the addition of a camera that's mounted onto a mast over the cabin to aid the driver. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was revealed this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show and will be part of a downloadable update for PlayStation 3's Gran Turismo 6 in December. Theoretically, at least, it uses a laser-beam propulsion system and an air-powered generator to produce 900 horsepower in the video game. It's capable of sprinting to 60 miles per hour in 1.5 seconds en route to a top speed of 240 mph. Those gaudy performance specs – even in the virtual world – came at Hall's urging. "I said our cars are built to be winners," Hall told Autoblog on the floor of the Los Angeles show. The 79-year-old drove Lotus racecars in Formula One before launching the successful Chaparral Cars in the 1960s. Like his innovative Can-Am racers, the Vision Gran Turismo project has an eye toward the future. It also introduces the iconic Chaparral name to a new generation of fans, and hopefully, Hall says, gets them excited about engineering and design. "It emulates what we did in the '60s," he said. And what they did back then still resonates. Chaparral Racing and Chevy partnered more than 45 years ago for development work on the composite monocoque chassis, lightweight alloy powertrains, automatic gearboxes and active aerodynamics. "He [Hall] walked right back into this and was able to apply thinkings and learnings," said Clay Dean, General Motors executive director of advanced design. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was created at GM's North Hollywood advanced design studio, and it will be on display at the show through November. Other News and Views Sebastian Vettel joins Ferrari team in 2015 Ferrari confirmed that four-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel will join the Scuderia for the 2015 season, jettisoning Ferrari's current ace, two-time champ Fernando Alonso. Vettel has been F1's most successful driver since Michael Schumacher, though he's struggled to match his previous accomplishments in 2014.