Steve Parker Motoring / The Car Nut: FORD HYBRID TRUCK DESIGNER BEATS-OUT APPLE iPOD!

EXCLUSIVE PHOTO ALBUM! 2009 GUMBALL RALLY 3000

See Steve's exclusive Gumball Rally video from NBC-TV's Whipnotic website (copy and paste): http://www.whipnotic.com/videos/viewvideo-558.html Over 120 gas-guzzling super-exotic sports cars, Hummers, Cadillac Escalade SUVs and an occasional interesting older car roared on May 2, 2009, from a California beach-side parking lot directly onto I-10, the Santa Monica Freeway, also known as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway, for the start of this year's Gumball Rally. The world's most politically-incorrect automotive street event, the Gumball Rally 3000, left Santa Monica (CA) Pier on Saturday, May 2, 2009 and headed toward its ultimate destination of Miami, FL eight days later. Participants reportedly paid $44,000 per car/team to enter the event. Though the Gumball stresses the skills of its drivers (and their cars) there are only two race track "special section" stops scheduled for the 3,000-mile long event, which will be run on public roads with all entrants subject to all highway rules and regulations. All photos (c) 2009 by www.SteveParker.com

May 20, 2006

FORD HYBRID TRUCK DESIGNER BEATS-OUT APPLE iPOD!

"DESIGN NEWS" IS "THE" MAGAZINE FOR THOSE IN THE WORLD OF "INDUSTRIAL DESIGN". EVERYTHING FROM SOUP CANS TO LOCOMOTIVES, FROM THE DESIGN OF AVIATION CONTROL TOWERS TO THE STYLING OF PRIVATE JETS, THE WORLD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN RUNS THE GAMUT. SO WHEN THE MAGAZINE ANNOUNCED THEIR TOP "ENGINEER" AWARDS FOR 2005, THERE WAS A BIG SURPRISE!

Ford engineer Tom Watson beat the man behind Apple's iconic iPod and four other finalists to win Design News magazine's "Engineer of the Year" award. Watson, with FoMoCo for 17 years, headed the team that built the first American gas-electric hybrid vehicle and first hybrid sport-utility vehicle, the Ford Escape hybrid.

Watson and his team built a truck which delivers markedly improved fuel economy, providing performance rivaling conventional gasoline-fueled Escapes, and getting the vehicle to market quickly. Escape hybrid hit showrooms only five years after the project began. Ford has licensed some of its hybrid technology from Toyota, but the rivals didn't co-develop the technology.

One wonders why this news isn't being broadcast around the world, trumpeted much more than it is by FoMoCo. Where is the CNN coverage? NBC? CURRENT TV? Anyone home? This is a huge story highlighting a great American company winning a prestigious industry award. The story could help inspire countless young Americans to work towards making their own dreams of style and design and engineering come true. Oh, well...the more things change...

Posted on May 20, 2006 at 02:31 PM in Automotive News | Permalink