Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Ford Advantage Plan

Ford Advantage Plan lets you buy or lease a high-quality new Ford vehicle with the unparalleled peace of mind of the Ford Payment Protection Program.

 

Ford Advantage Question & Answers

FordAdvantagePlanQA

 

Quality

• Not even Honda or Toyota can beat Ford quality 1
• Ford Motor Company was awarded eight 2009
Consumers Digest Best Buy awards
• No other car company has earned more IIHS Top
Safety Pick and NHTSA five-star crash test ratings 2
• 2010 Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan – the most
fuel-efficient midsize sedans in America 3
• Lincoln is the only luxury brand to run exclusively
on regular fuel
• 2010 Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid
deliver best-in-class 41 city mpg – 8 mpg better
than Toyota Camry Hybrid 4
• Escape Hybrid/Mercury Hybrid – the most
fuel-efficient SUVs on the planet 5
• Available Ford-exclusive SIRIUS Travel Link™
and SYNC® with 911 Assist™ and Vehicle
Health Report

 

Credit

• While others tell you there’s no credit available,
Ford Credit is ready to help finance your Ford,
Lincoln or Mercury vehicle
• 0% APR financing available on most Ford,
Lincoln and Mercury cars, trucks, SUVs and
crossovers 6

 

Protection

• Buy or lease a new vehicle and we’ll cover
your payments for up to 12 months if you lose
your paycheck
• Offered at no additional cost to you
• As a valued Ford customer, you’re automatically
enrolled in the plan when you buy a vehicle
during the program
• More Ford Payment Protection Program
details inside

 

Hurry, the Ford Advantage Plan

ends June 1, 2009.

 

 

 

1 Based on cumulative survey data of 2008 model year Ford and competitive owners at three months of service in three surveys conducted 9/07-5/08.
2 Star ratings are part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safercar.gov program (www.safercar.gov).

3 EPA-estimated 23 city/34 hwy mpg/combined 27 mpg, Fusion S, I-4 automatic, Milan I-4 automatic with Rapid Spec 101A. Midsize class per R. L. Polk & Co. Non-hybrid.

4 EPA-estimated 41 city/36 hwy mpg. Actual mileage will vary. Midsize class per R. L. Polk & Co.

5 Based on unadjusted city fuel economy from EPA (10/08) and VCA (5/08). EPA-estimated 34 city/31 hwy mpg, front-wheel drive. Actual mileage will vary. Excluding vehicles built for Mazda.

6 Not all buyers will qualify for Ford Credit limited-term financing. Take new retail delivery from dealer stock by 6/1/09. Excludes 2010 model year Fusion Hybrid, Milan Hybrid and 08/09/10 model year Mustang Shelby® GT-500™ and 08/09 Shelby® GT-500KR.™ Program subject to change; see dealer for full program details and qualifications.


MUSTANG FACTS: 1974 - 1982

The completely redesigned Mustang II was introduced in 1974.  Compared with the 1973 model, the Mustang II was 19 inches shorter and 490 pounds lighter.  It was available in a notchback, including a luxury Ghia model and a 2+2 fastback.  For the first time, there was no V-8 engine and no Mustang convertible option available.

 

An orange 1973 Mustang Mach I was featured in a prominent role in the action movie Gone in 60 Seconds, which debuted in 1974.

 

In 1975, V-8 power returned to the Mustang.  But the 302-cid V-8 engine produced only 130 horsepower and came only with an automatic transmission.

 

The Cobra II package joined the lineup in 1976, replete with non-functional hood scoop, racing stripes and front and rear spoilers.  Available in white with blue stripes, blue with white stripes, and black with gold stripes, the Cobra II was intended to recall the looks of the famed Shelby Mustangs. 

 

In an attempt to appeal to convertible fans, fastback models became available with T-Top removable glass roof panels.  A new Sports Performance Package added a four-speed manual transmission to the 302-cid V-8.

 

In 1978, the new King Cobra model was the first Mustang to wear a 5.0 badge – the metric equivalent of 302 cubic inches.

 

The new “Fox” platform made its debut in 1979.  The new model was longer and taller than the Mustang II, yet it was 200 pounds lighter.  A sleek, “Euro” design replaced many traditional Mustang styling cues.  Engine choices included a 2.3-liter four-cylinder,
a 2.8-liter V-6, a 3.3-liter inline six-cylinder and a 140-horsepower 5.0-liter V-8.

 

In 1980, the 302-cid V-8 engine was dropped and replaced by an economy-minded 119-horsepower, 255-cid V-8 derivative.

 

In 1981, performance headed to the back burner, as the turbo four-cylinder was dropped from the Mustang engine lineup and new emissions controls dropped the 255-cid V-8’s power to 115 horsepower.

 

In 1982, the Mustang GT returned after a 12-year absence.  The 5.0-liter V-8, which delivered 157 horsepower was also back, and optional T-Tops returned


Friday, March 20, 2009

Secret Sale - 3 Days Only!

Friday, March 27th...9am-6pm

Monday, March 30th...9am-9pm

Tuesday, March 31sy...9am-6pm

 

Please Review the Following Information Carefully:

 

Roy O'Brien Ford has a very special offer for you. You are invited to our Secret Sale. If you are currently financing or leasing a vehicle, you are eligible to take advantage of an exceptional deal by putting the highest possible trade-in allowance on your current vehicle and upgrading to a new 2009 Ford vehicle - only at Roy O'Brien Ford.

 

We need to acquire several pre-owned vehicles on or before the end of the month in order to fulfill special used vehicle requests.

 

With generous trade-in values, we feel confident that you can make this exchange with little or no out of pocket expense and with a monthly payment that fits your budget.

 

Please bring this letter for admittance to this event and present it to authorized representatives at Roy O'Brien Ford.

 

Please stop by or call us at 586-776-7600 to schedule a convenient appointment and allow us the opportunity to make you an offer. A visual inspection of your vehicle is required to assess its value.

 

Your Trade-In will Never be Worth More Than it is "Right Now"

 



Click the image to print your letter of admittance.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Mustang Facts – Generation One: 1964 to 1974

The original Ford Mustang debuted on April 17, 1964 at a price of $2,368 – a bargain even at that time.

 

Dealers were inundated with requests for the vehicle. In Garland, Texas, 15 customers bid on the same Mustang, and the winner insisted on sleeping in the car overnight to guarantee that it wouldn’t get sold from under him before his check cleared the next day.

 

Ford expected annual sales of about 100,000 units, but 22,000 Mustang orders were taken on the first day, and sales reached an astounding 417,000 in the car’s first 12 months on the market.

Not much more than a month after its introduction, Ford’s new Mustang was on the racetrack as the pace car for the 1964 Indianapolis 500 race.

 

The early Mustangs have figured prominently in hundreds of notable films to date, beginning in 1964 with the James Bond movie Goldfinger, in which Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 chased a white Mustang convertible.

 

Mustang-crazed parents bought 93,000 pedal-powered children’s Mustangs during the 1964 Christmas season.

 

In 1965, the Shelby GT350 was introduced, with a 306 horsepower V-8 engine, giving the Mustang performance credibility.

 

Mustang sales passed the one million mark in March of 1966. The 1966 Mustang was the first – and perhaps the only – car to park on the 86th floor observation deck of New York’s Empire State Building. Ford engineers disassembled a 1966 Mustang convertible and took it up in four sections using the building’s passenger elevators.

 

Mustang-mania hit full force. The 289-cid V-8 “Hi-Po” engine became available. Carroll Shelby adapted the Shelby GT350 for Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) competition, and the GT350 went on to win three straight SCCA national championships.

 

The 1967 Mustang was considered by many to be the high water mark for Mustang design in the 1960s. The 2+2 model went from a semi-notchback to a sweeping full fastback roofline. Separate triple tail lamps, a longer nose and a bigger grille made for a more aggressive stance.

 

In 1968, the 428 Cobra Jet engine was introduced as part of an option package aimed at enthusiasts, and it helped make the Shelby GT500 become King of the Road – KR.

 

A “steed for every need” philosophy yielded 11 different powertrain combinations in 1969. New models added to the lineup included hot rods like the 290 horsepower Boss 302, the 375 horsepower Boss 429 and the Mach 1, giving the Mustang its muscle car heritage. The Grande luxury model also was introduced.

 

In 1970, a ram air “Shaker” hood scoop could be ordered on any Mustang equipped with a 351-cid or larger V-8.

 

The 1971 Mustangs were the biggest Mustangs ever – nearly a foot longer and some 600 pounds heavier than the originals. The Boss 351, with its 351 “Cleveland” V-8 and Cobra Jet heads, debuted. The Mach 1 was available with a variety of powertrains, topped by the 370 horsepower 429 Super Cobra Jet.

 

In 1973, the impact of gasoline shortages, rising insurance premiums and emissions controls brought the muscle car era to a close. The 1973 model was the last original Falcon-platform Mustang, and the convertible model was discontinued.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

March Service Specials


 

 

 

 

Print


What Makes a Mustang a Mustang...

So what makes a Mustang a Mustang?

 

Performance?

Style?

Reputation?

All of the above?

 

2010 Ford Mustang

 

Find out the answer to "What Makes a Mustang a Mustang?"

Friday, March 06, 2009

2010 Ford Taurus Brochure

Get your 2010 Ford Taurus Brochure Here.

2010 Ford Taurus - Packaging Guide

 

This is the Packaging Guide that Ford provided us. See the latest 2010 Taurus Dealer Ordering Guide for availability and feature restrictions.

For up-to-date Ordering Guide info visit our showroom.

2010 Ford Mustang Brochure

Get your 2010 Ford Mustang Brochure Here.

2010 Ford Mustang - Packaging Guide

 

This is the Packaging Guide that Ford provided us. See the latest 2010 Mustang Dealer Ordering Guide for availability and feature restrictions.

For up-to-date Ordering Guide info visit our showroom.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Students build a winning hot rod for dealer

Customs come out to play at Cobo for Autorama

 

Students push Hope, a 1951 Ford Sedan Custom housed at Roseville Junior High during construction at the high school. The car, which will appear at Autorama this weekend, was headed for touch-up paint work.
Photos by PATRICIA BECK/Detroit Free Press

Students push Hope, a 1951 Ford Sedan Custom housed at Roseville Junior High during construction at the high school. The car, which will appear at Autorama this weekend, was headed for touch-up paint work.



BY PAUL GULLY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

 

When Mark O'Brien, president of Roy O'Brien Ford of St. Clair Shores, forked over $6,000 last year for a 1951 Ford Coupe Sedan he intended to serve as his teenage son's first car, he figured it would take another $10,000 to get it into driveable condition.

 

But thanks to the Hot Rod High auto tech students at Roseville High School, seven months and nearly $150,000 later, O'Brien instead got himself an award-winning hot rod making the rounds on the custom car show circuit.

 

This weekend, the car, which the Roseville students dubbed Hope, will be featured in the 57th annual Detroit Autorama at Cobo Center.

 

"I never thought the car would end up like this," O'Brien said. "Our nice dark blue grandma car bought to be a daily driver was turned into a $150,000 trailer queen. These kids did an amazing job."

 

When the students in the vocational program first saw the car in May 2008, many were less than thrilled.

 

It was, as some of the teens recalled, an "ugly, ugly blue." And it was covered in a good deal of rust. Then there was the black gunk that coated the bottom of the vehicle.

 

"We spent a while scraping off that junk. It was awful," said Douglas Welch, a junior in the auto technology class. "It would get all over your clothes and in your mouth. You'd smell like it for the rest of the day."

 

Originally the class -- led by the father-son teaching team of Paul Tregembo Jr. and Paul Tregembo Sr. -- was merely supposed to install a new engine in the '51 and make a few minor adjustments.

 

It was nothing that the program's 155 students weren't used to doing.

But then they got ambitious.

 

Students first asked O'Brien whether they could modify the '51's head and taillights.

 

After a little guidance from their teachers (who are known simply as Junior and Senior by their students) the students asked to chop the top.

Things took off from there.

 

Seven months later, the clunker that many students avoided back in May was again keeping them at bay. This time, the kids found themselves keeping their distance from the '51 for fear of scratching its custom pearl white paint job.

 

"The rule was, if you were working on the '51, you had to take off anything that could scratch it -- jackets, because of their zippers and buttons, belt buckles, jewelry. A lot of the underclassmen were kind of afraid to go near it," said Eric Jozwiak, a junior in the program.

 

"The last thing we wanted was for that car to get nicked up. We put so much time and effort into it. It's hard to believe we accomplished everything we did," added Jozwiak, who worked on the car's frame and brake lines.

And the team did it with a fairly aggressive timetable.

 

The students -- many of whom volunteered over summer and winter break -- accomplished in less than a year what can take professionals two to three.

They chopped the car's top (lowering it 4 inches), redid its front end, customized and rebuilt its frame, rebuilt the engine and installed an air ride suspension.

 

"There were a lot of people who doubted these kids could get it done, but they proved everyone wrong," O'Brien said.

 

And at Chicago's World of Wheels hot rod show in January, Hot Rod High was rewarded for its work.

 

Hope landed the students several honors, including Best in Class for the Radically Modified Hardtop Division and Outstanding Custom of the Show, among others.

 

It was also named to the show's Top 20 among the approximately 450 cars there.

 

"Taking home all those awards was awesome," said junior Nic Dragna. "It just proved that when we work together, we can accomplish anything. And it gave us hope that we can amount to something, which is kind of where the car's name came from."

 

Since returning home, the students have been refining Hope in an effort to accommodate the more stringent judging process of Autorama.

Seemingly minor details can have a big effect on judges who, because of the high level of many of the cars at the show, are forced to nitpick to distinguish the award winners.

 

The Hot Rod High crew isn't chancing anything. They redid the garnish molding in the back of the car's interior, modified the aluminum splash panels in the engine compartment and had the door panels redone.

 

And the students also made sure to remove the barcode SKU stickers from the '51's brake line that may have cost them a few points in Chicago.

 

After making the rounds at car shows, O'Brien, who put nearly $150,000 into the car (not taking into account labor, which the students provide for no cost), plans to show the pearl-white hot rod in his dealership.

 

Hope, which will be the 86th car Senior has entered on behalf of his students in Autorama since 1973, will be one of three cars Hot Rod High will be showing among nearly 1,000 hot rods featured at the show.

 

Article from Detroit Free Press, March 5, 2009.

 

Senior Mike Weisenbaugh stands under Hope in the Vocational Auto Technology area. The car has a custom exhaust system.

Senior Mike Weisenbaugh stands under Hope in the Vocational Auto Technology area. The car has a custom exhaust system. 

 

Roseville High students Eric Jozwiak (seated) and Kyle Cook work on bleeding a brake line as Cory Minch lends his hand.

Roseville High students Eric Jozwiak (seated) and Kyle Cook work on bleeding a brake line as Cory Minch lends his hand.

 

Roseville student Trammell Anderson polishes a 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT named Tiffany, also to be shown at Autorama.

Roseville student Trammell Anderson polishes a 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT named Tiffany, also to be shown at Autorama.

 

Hope, a 1951 Ford Sedan Custom, has a rebuilt engine and many plated and polished components. About $150,000 went into the car, not taking into account labor, which students provided free.

Hope, a 1951 Ford Sedan Custom, has a rebuilt engine and many plated and polished components. About $150,000 went into the car, not taking into account labor, which students provided free.

 

Roseville High School students, from left, Gerrad Marquardt, Don Griebe and Mike Weisenbaugh polish a 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT named Tiffany. It is among three cars the students will show at Autorama.

Roseville High School students, from left, Gerrad Marquardt, Don Griebe and Mike Weisenbaugh polish a 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT named Tiffany. It is among three cars the students will show at Autorama.

 

Additional Facts Autorama


Where: Cobo Center, Detroit


When: Noon-10 p.m. Friday

9 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday

10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday


Tickets: Adults: $18; 6-12 years old: $5

Children 5 and under: free

Discount tickets available at Murray's/O'Reilly's Discount Auto Stores

Discount general admission: $15

Children 6-12 years old: $4


Highlights: More than 1,000 hot rods, custom cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles; TV and film cars include Mach 5 from "Speed Racer," KITT from the latest "Knight Rider" show and a KITT from the original "Knight Rider" show; customizers Chip Foose, Darryl Starbird and George Barris


More information: 248-373-1700; www.autorama.com


Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Auto Sales and Excise Tax Deduction

President Obama signed “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” into law on February 17, 2009. The law includes a new consumer tax deduction for State and local sales and excise taxes paid to purchase a motor vehicle during 2009.

 

  • Provides consumers a new tax deduction on their 2009 Federal income taxes for “qualified motor vehicle taxes.”
  • Qualified motor vehicle taxes include any State or local sales or excise tax imposed on the purchase of a qualified motor vehicle.
  • Qualified motor vehicles include passenger automobiles or light trucks with a weight rating of not more than 8,500 pounds.
  • Applies to NEW vehicles only.
  • Deduction allowed for non-itemizers.
  • Limitation on Vehicle Price: limited to the tax on up to $49,500 of the purchase price of a qualified motor vehicle.
  • Income Limitation: Phased out for taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income between $125,000 and $135,000 ($250,000 and $260,000 in the case of a joint return).
  • Effective Date: Purchases on or after February 17, 2009, and before January 1, 2010.

Customers with questions related to their particular tax situation should be advised to consult with a financial adviser.

 

Stop by Roy O'Brien Ford to take advantage of this tax deduction!