ford mustang

For the last couple of years, Ford has played a big part of the EAA AirVenture, offering up one-off Mustangs at auction to benefit the association's Young Eagles program. Two years ago the AV8R Mustang brought in half a million dollars, while last year the AV-X10 'Dearborn Doll' earned $250,000 for charity.

Even though sales of its Mustang have been solid and even improving as of late, the powers that be have reportedly decided to eliminate the second shift at the Auto Alliance International (AAI) factory that assembles the Blue Oval's pony as well as the slow-selling Mazda6. The factory in Flat Rock, MI which is jointly owned by Ford and Mazda had originally planned to lay off 900 employees, but Ford has now opted to reassign the workers to other facilities.

All of you who have been anxiously awaiting the debut of the Ford Mustang in what we loosely refer to as modern-day stock car racing, take note: The original Pony Car will see its first action this Friday night at the Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

Ford seems to have found the special ingredients it needed for the Mustang to spank the Chevrolet Camaro in sales. Thanks to a heap of power from a range of efficient new engines, the Blue Oval's pony car managed to top the Bow Tie's bruiser in sales for the first time since the Camaro sauntered back onto the market last year. Last month, Ford managed to move 10,225 Mustangs off of dealer lots and into the hands of the power-crazed public. Chevrolet, on the other hand, saw only 8,931 Camaros drive off into the sunset.

There's no doubt that the 2011 Mustang GT is one of the most potent ponycars to ever come from Ford, but to the Mustang faithful, a big part of its legacy will be how it takes to the aftermarket. The new 5.0-liter V8 seems to be off to a good start, with at least two different modified 2011 Mustangs already achieving ten-second time slips at the dragstrip.