2014 Ford Fiesta dressed as bacon to mark International Bacon Day Aug. 31. Photo / Supplied
2014 Ford Fiesta dressed as bacon to mark International Bacon Day Aug. 31. Photo / Supplied
I think we will all happily admit that this is something we wished a car manufacturer had done ages ago, but Ford are the first to do it with the announcement of the availability (in the US at least) of bacon graphics for the MY14 Fiesta.
At long last US Fiesta buyers can choose from bacon racing stripes, bacon mini strips, full bacon strips or a complete bacon wrap to combine a fine small car with everybody's favourite use of a pig.
Released to coincide with "International Bacon Day" (August 31) and to promote Ford USA's new custom graphics range for the Fiesta, the bacon Fiesta graphics were personally approved by the "King of Bacon" himself, Allan Benton, CEO of Benton's Country Hams.
"In the 40 years I've been in this business, I've never seen so much interest in bacon," said Benton.
"It's being used in bourbon, chocolate, ground beef, caramel corn and whatever else you can think of.
"This car just makes so much sense. You can only imagine that a hillbilly from Tennessee is pretty happy to hear about a Ford wrapped in bacon," said Benton.
"I expect there will be some real excitement among the young city crowd."
And who can disagree with him? After all; it's bacon!
New York cop Michael Dee got the surprise of a lifetime recently when a stranger wandered into his backyard during a family barbecue.
The stranger was Toyota Group vice-president Bill Fay and he was bringing Dee a special prize for being Toyota USA's 50 millionth customer the title to his car.
Toyota's 50 millionth customer Photo / Supplied
But Fay had another surprise, because he also presented Dee with the keys to a brand new RAV4 that was parked in his driveway.
We're so grateful to our customers in the US on helping us achieve such a huge milestone for our company,'' said Fay. ''To be able to thank our 50 millionth customer in person - one of New York City's finest, no less - was also a great honour to me personally. By the way, the barbecue was great.''
We are the world
*A Chicago taxi driver is wanted by police after he charged a Chinese student US$4250 ($5430) for a taxi ride. The man approached the student at O'Hare Airport and told him that no more buses were running, but he would take him to his destination for a ''reasonable'' $1000. Once there he allegedly demanded $4800 for the ride, which the student didn't have, so he took all the cash he did have. Which poses two questions: why was a student carrying $4250 in cash? And would a taxi driver actually act like this? Oh ... wait ...
*Getting the occasional parking ticket is a fact of life in a big city, but a man in Sweden seems to have some kind of pathological disregard for parking laws by racking up a thoroughly impressive NZ$5.8 million in fines. It appears that, despite not having held a driver's licence since 2010, the man has been the registered owner of more than 2000 new cars, so it is likely a computer glitch is to blame.
*Westminster council in the UK has just set a new record for the shortest double yellow ''no parking'' line in the UK - all 23 centimetres of it. The embarrassed local body was forced to admit that its road painting contractors made an error painting the tiny length of line - big enough only for a model car to illegally park on - between a taxi rank and legal parking bays.
The only good caravan is ... well ... this one, actually.
Now, if someone here in NZ made caravans as utterly cool as this, then The Good Oil may just stop hating them so much.
Bowlus Road Chief caravan. Photo / Supplied
Designer John Long has taken the original's aircraft-inspired design and updated the mechanicals and interior to suit the modern retro-craving traveller.
The Road Chief is a thoroughly modern piece of kit though, with wireless antennas, hidden power points, built-in air conditioning and state-of-the-art electronics.
The king-size bed at the rear can convert into two singles, if needed, and the two armchairs and full-size couch in the dining area also convert into two more beds.
Okay, so it will set you back a rather remarkable US$100,000 ($128,000), but just look at it!
Everybody's favourite utterly mental supercar manufacturer is no more - German manufacturer Gumpert is finally being liquidated after its last employee was laid off in July.
Gumpert Apollo Photo / Supplied
But the last few years have not been kind to Gumpert. After a failed attempt to break into the Chinese market, the company was left on the brink of insolvency, only to be saved by a mysterious investor back in March of this year.
But recently the mystery saviour has stopped funding Gumpert.
This, combined with the fact that punters also stopped ordering cars, has led the company right back into the red (no, not Ferrari) and it now looks like it is very much the end of the road.
4 COUNTRIES There are pretty much only four countries in the world where the caravan is taken seriously; the US, the UK, Australia and, sigh, New Zealand.
2b DOLLARS The caravan industry is worth roughly this much (in NZ$) to the UK economy alone and it is continuing to grow.
2 CARAVANS The number you are legally allowed to tow in Texas AT THE SAME TIME! Providing, that is, that the combined length is not more than 65 feet (19.8m) ...
25,000 PEOPLE The number expected to attend the Lawns Caravan Show in East Yorkshire this September.
