Is your beloved in love with the new 2015 Ford Mustang? Do they like chocolate (that's a trick question – everyone likes chocolate)? Are they a bit of a futurist? Then this Hallmark holiday, you need to get them this Ford Mustang, 3D-printed in sweet, delicious chocolate.Ford is teaming with 3D Systems' Sugar Lab in LA to produce the super-accurate pony car confections in both chocolate and sugar candy varieties. The process kicked off with a CAD rendering of the 2015 Mustang, which was then programmed into the 3D printer. After a bit of work from the machine, a four-inch long, two-inch tall Mustang was the result. Why the tieup with 3D Systems, though?"We wanted to create something fun to show that while 3D printing made these edible Mustangs, manufacturing-level 3D printing was used in the development of Ford's all-new sports car," said Paul Susalla, Ford's supervisor of 3D printing.While Ford commissioned the chocolatey Mustangs, buying some for your sweetheart might be tougher. This is a one-off deal for now, although Ford is in talks to license the Mustang candy, should it find a solid reception.Ford has put together a surprisingly interesting video of the 3D printing process, which we've embeddedbelow. There's also an official press release, as well as a full gallery of the process.
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Ford is ending Australian production after 90 years in 2016, and with it may go perhaps the most iconic vehicles in its auto market – the ute. Car-based pickup trucks like the Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino were always more of a curiosity than a true market force here, but in Australia, they have long proven hugely popular.As the legend goes, Ford invented the niche after a farmer's wife had asked Ford Australia's managing director for a more utilitarian car. Her request was simple: "My husband and I can't afford a car and a truck but we need a car to go to church on Sunday and a truck to take the pigs to market on Monday. Can you help?"Ford's design team came up with a two-passenger, enclosed, steel coupe body with glass windows and a steel-paneled, wooden-frame load area in the rear. The sides of the bed were blended into the body to make it look more unified, and to keep costs down, the front end and interior were based on the Ford Model 40 five-window coupe. Power came from a V8 with shifting chores handled by a three-speed manual. Within a year, the new vehicle was ready, and production began in 1934. Lead designer Lewis Bandt christened it the coupe-utility.It proved to be a success in Australia's rural areas, and in 1961, Ford added the ute bodystyle as an option on the Falcon. It has remained an important part of the Australian Falcon to this, and 455,000 of them have been sold since introduction.Unfortunately, the history of the ute might be at an end. With Ford ending Australian production, it looks like the end of Australian-market exclusive vehicles, and in the near future, there might not even be a suitable rear-wheel-drive car-based chassis to build utes on. "Ranger will remain as our leading Ute / pick-up post the end of Falcon Ute production," said Sinead Phipps, Communications Director at Ford Australia, in an email to Autoblog. Scroll down to get the full scoop on ute history in the press release.
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