Sunset Ford Dealer Blog

Last week, Motor Trend magazine announced the winner of its annual “Pony Expressed” competition in the April issue. And it’s no surprise that one of your favorite Ford vehicles took home the prize.

That’s right. The 2008 Ford Shelby Mustang won the comparison test when pitted against other brands like the Saleen and Roush on performance and value.

Amy Boylan, president of Shelby Motors, said the company has learned a lot during the time it has been manufacturing quality cars:  “Every lesson we learned while earning our stripes over the past 46 years is built into these pony cars.”

Motor Trend officials conduct their competition by assembling their own models of the Shelby, Roush and Saleen brands. They create a base of each vehicle with optional upgrades and tire/brake packages. Then they take them out on the streets and design competition courses.

The Shelby was the clear winner this time. In the Figure 8 competition, the Shelby Mustang had the best acceleration and highest speed while maintaining control. The fade-free brakes, crisp turns and gripping ability made it stand out from the Roush and the Saleen. The Shelby’s appearance also impressed the test officials.

According to Matt Stone, executive editor at Motor Trend, the Shelby GT had the “most cohesive package, delivering the best combination of components, style and bang for buck.”

Check out a Shelby Mustang GT today and see why it’s an award-winning vehicle.

Did you know that Ford is auctioning off the two KITT vehicles used in NBC’s made-for-TV movie that will hopefully turn into a pilot episode for a new series?

For me, that’s like a dream come true. I grew up watching David Hasselhoff fight the bad guys in the original Knight Rider TV show. And then my heart grew all aflutter when I heard about the TV movie in February. And I was even more excited when I heard that NBC might bring back the entire series based on the popularity of the movie.

And now I can go to the 6th Annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event on March 29 and put a bid in for one of the sleek, black Ford vehicles used in the movie. But it’s also for a good cause. The proceeds will benefit the Salute to Education, a program that offers tuition assistance to students who couldn’t otherwise afford college.

If you can’t make it to West Palm Beach, you can watch the auction of the KITT 3000 on the SPEED Network. The entire auction, occurring at the Americraft Expo Center at the South Florida Fairgrounds, is getting live coverage all across the country. You might even catch a glimpse of your favorite celebrity, says Steve Davis, president of the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company.

Don’t miss this one-time event! How many cars are as famous and recognizable as KITT? Not many, I say.

The 2008 Ford Mustang is virtually unrecognizable from the Mustang of yesteryear. I remember my uncle’s Mustang as a masculine vehicle that people would take notice of every time he peeled away from a stop light. I remember accompanying him on drives in the evenings and looking through the sunroof at the stars in the clear sky. At the time, I wanted nothing more than a Mustang when I grew up.

Thirty years later, I still have that dream. And watching the Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 on NBC’s TV movie Knight Rider didn’t do anything to extinguish that dream. It only made it grow brighter.

Even though the newer Mustangs are different than the classics, I would be satisfied with either version. I like the loud engine and power of the older Mustangs. But I like the sleeker style and eco-friendliness of the newer ones.

The closest I came to owning one of these magnificent Ford vehicles is when we rented one to go the beach last year. I’ll never forget it. It was a cherry red Mustang with a white racing stripe on the side. The inside had beige leather. My wife sat beside me, and my best friend rode comfortably in the back seat. I loved the simplicity of the controls. There wasn’t anything confusing like with some of the new-fangled systems.

But the best part about driving the Mustang to the beach was the attention we got. When we rode into the parking lot, the attendant saw our vehicle and immediately charged a higher price than he did for the guy ahead of me. He saw the Mustang as a status symbol, but I talked him down on the price.

It was almost impossible for me to turn the keys back in to the rental agency the next day. And now I want one even more.  For a look at the new Ford Mustang, stop by one of our Ford dealerships, at our Ford dealership in St. Louis MO or our Ford dealers - Waterloo.

Is anybody else as excited as I am at the announcement that Knight Rider might be returning to the airwaves as a series?

Probably not.

But last week, NBC aired a made-for-TV Knight Rider movie as a test to see if the popularity was still there for the talking car. Apparently, it is. The network aired it again less than a week later and attracted an impressive number of viewers. I was one of the millions. Were you?

David Hasselhoff is still cool and hip, but he’s getting a little too old to do the moves that Michael Knight needs to do. But the driver isn’t the only new element of the 2008 Knight Rider.   There’s also a new car named KITT, a Shelby Mustang selected from a variety of other Ford vehicles to be the co-star of the new movie. Hopefully, NBC will keep the model for the TV series, because it made a huge splash on the screen.

Here are some statistics to give you an idea of how popular Knight Rider was during its first airing last week:

• It got a 5.0 rating and a 12 share in adults from the ages of 18-49. That means that of all the people in that demographic watching TV at the time, 12 percent of them were watching Knight Rider.
• It got the highest rating for this demographic of all other TV movies in nearly three years.
• The movie garnered the network’s biggest overall viewership for this time slot (except for sports) since the 2006 Emmy Awards.
• More than 12 million viewers tuned in to see the return.

Look for an official announcement in April that NBC will add the TV series to its fall lineup. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.