Fox Racing Trucks Presented at Boyd's Open House
Boyd Coddington, one of the world's leading billet wheel makers and hot rod builders, joins the likes of Fox Racing. With Boyd's experience of producing high-quality billet, such as its line of custom wheels, Fox Racing will start putting together a line of accessories for a special-edition run of Ford and Chevy trucks to be sold at dealerships. The trucks will sport new suspension from Fox Racing, billet logos, and Boyd Coddington forged aluminum wheels.
Every second Saturday of the month, Boyd Coddington's Hot Rod Shop opens the doors and lets the public walk in and see what's cooking. With a trip to the La Habra, California-based shop, you too could visit the world-famous shop that is the location of the Discovery Channel's American Hot Rod show. Inside, you can take a peek at what the Boyd crew has been up to and see some of the vehicles that are up on consignment. And if you enter with the registration of your hot rod or musclecar, you could have the chance at winning a Best of Show custom billet trophy. Also, you could win a $500 gift certificate toward a set of any Boyd wheels.
In December of 2005, the show was not only there at open house, but the Chevy and Ford trucks with Fox Racing packages were revealed. The new rough and tough trucks were out in full force, and everyone liked them. For more information on these packaged vehicles, contact your local Ford or Chevy dealer. And for more information on the open house, visit www.boydshop.com.
Ford and GM Both Claim Kingpin Status in '05
According to Automotivenews.com, Chevy has been advertising heavily as of late, touting its place as the Number One selling brand in America. Ford Motor Company responded by saying its brand actually outsold Chevrolet in 2005 and demanded that GM stop advertising itself as "America's top brand." But, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner responded that GM will stand by sales data showing Chevrolet won the 2005 sales crown. "R.L. Polk & Co. registration data received by Ford executives showed that Ford had 5,000 more total registrations in 2005 than Chevrolet," spokesman Jim Cain said. Ford quickly whipped up a slide on the Polk data to include in its meeting with dealers at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention. Chevrolet earlier reported sales of 2,651,124 vehicles in 2005. Ford's reported sales were 2,634,041. Chevrolet has been blanketing the airwaves with commercials touting it as America's top brand. "Ford intends to send GM a letter this week asking that Chevrolet change the ads," Cain said."The lesson here is to make sure that all the facts are in your favor before you make such a bold claim," he said. "Fair is fair." According to Ford, Polk data show 2.630 million total registrations in 2005 compared with 2.625 million for Chevrolet. Even when medium-duty trucks are exempted, Ford still had the most registrations, according to Cain. Polk registrations show the number of vehicles registered by retail and fleet customers. The earlier data released by the manufacturers reflects sales as reported by dealers. A GM spokeswoman said sales data is the industry standard and that there are always discrepancies between sales and registration data. Wagoner said GM will stand by its claim based on sales data. "All I know is the data we published and we all go by," Wagoner said. "That's been out a month or so. Our data is right. It's published, public data, which has come out."
DaimlerChrysler Approves Use of B20 in '07 Dodge Ram Pickup Trucks
The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) welcomed DaimlerChrysler's decision to approve the use of B20, a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent regular diesel fuel, in its Dodge Ram pickup trucks for government, military, and commercial fleet customers. Use of B20 in fleets is approved effective with the '07 model year for Dodge Ram pickups equipped with Cummins diesel engines. DaimlerChrysler is the first U.S. automaker to specifically approve of B20 in a warranty position statement. Chrysler Group President and CEO Tom LaSorda touted the benefits of biodiesel during his remarks at the Economic Club of Detroit meeting on January 23, 2006.
"Biofuels represent a huge opportunity to reduce fuel consumption and our dependence on foreign oil, while also offering a significant environmental benefit," LaSorda said. "Biodiesel is proof that at least part of the solution to these national challenges can be homegrown."
Chrysler Group initiated a factory fill of B5 (5 percent biodiesel) fuel in the Jeep Liberty CRD diesel SUV starting with the '05 model year. Every vehicle is fueled with B5 at the assembly plant in Toledo, Ohio.
"Chrysler Group continues to blaze new trails in the industry by supporting the use of biodiesel in its various diesel vehicle programs," said Joe Jobe, CEO of NBB. "These are important steps in making clean, renewable biodiesel an appealing option for all diesel owners, and we anticipate that other OEMs will follow DaimlerChrysler's lead."
DaimlerChrysler is working with NBB and others to develop a consistent, universally applied American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) quality standard specifically for B20 that would allow them to recommend B20 to all owners of Dodge Ram diesels. In the meantime, DaimlerChrysler requires the biodiesel be produced to ASTM D 6751 B100 specifications, to be used in a blend. The blended B20 must also meet U.S. military specifications, which include using the B20 within six months.
NBB's close work with DaimlerChrysler and other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) was foundational to Chrysler Group's decision to support B20. Over the past several years, NBB and the diesel engine, fuel injection, and vehicle companies have engaged in extensive biodiesel research and testing programs to develop an informed, fact-based position on the use of as much as a 20 percent biodiesel blend in diesel applications in the U.S. The results of this testing have been based on a stakeholder assessment of actual fleet experience with B20 in controlled validation tests.