Fun fact: in the late 1980s, the much maligned Ford Probe was planned to be the next iteration of the Mustang.
Ford thought that releasing a small, lightweight, and sporty coupe with a modern suspension and more efficient engine design could be competitive with Japanese offerings at the time. They even partnered with Mazda on the production. Obviously, this didnât work out.
Once it leaked, a loud and angry outcry from muscle car enthusiasts made Ford reconsider replacing the Mustang. Things had moved too far along to cancel the Probe project entirely, so they released it as its own thing and marketed it toward young buyers as a budget-friendly alternative to its Japanese competitors.
The Mustang stayed around for those older and wealthier enthusiasts who still wanted their large, heavy, outdated, and big-engined sporty coupes.
And the Mustang Mach-E (which I am now a proud owner of!) changes that again, same enthusiasts, but now what is IMHO the performance EV to beat, thanks to great tech and great design.
Itâs ironic, as I was totally one of those Mustang-haters only a few years ago, and in fancy laughed at this car when it came out as a terrible idea. Mea culpa!
Oh look, itâs another ekranoplan!
Another hybrid, too. Hydrofoil flavoured.
The short answer is no. Not if the âinterimâ plane is supposed to have even remotely the capabilities a VC-25 is supposed to have. Sure, you can cover every available surface of the interior with gold spray paint to please the Donvict, but thatâs about it. Communications suite, EMP-hardening, in-air refueling, missile countermeasures and whatnot, you canât just bolt these things on.
A used Qatari 747? Not nearly ostentatious enough. Iâm amazed that Trump isnât insisting on a fully blinged-out Emirates Airbus A380, capabilities and practicalities be damned.
Covering every surface in gold foil may create a Faraday cage, thereby accidentally decreasing EMP susceptibility
Well, the two 747 being worked on right now are 2nd hand as well.
Boeing has stopped making the 747, Airbus has stopped making the A380, Antonov is UkrainianâŚ
Maybe he can ask Vova for an Ilyushin Il-96-300PU?
Far from the biggest tragedy of the current war, but RIP Antonov An-225, which would have made even the A380 feel inadequate.
Archive link:
https://archive.ph/1LJmJ
Going down on her own terms. Some good ships get to do it.
Iâm sure itâs a perfectly fine car, but calling it a âMustangâ is something that boggles my mind.
When Ford was considering replacing the venerable Mustang with the Probe concept, it at least kind of made sense since it was still sporty coupe to sporty coupe. Even the transition from the Mustang to the much maligned Mustang II was a sensible progression.
Now Ford is selling two cars branded as âMustangâ, one is a sporty ICE coupe and the other is an EV SUV. It just doesnât make any sense to me.
Thereâs almost certainly plenty of other highly classified capabilities that the VC-25 has that we donât know about. Either way you slice it, itâs not something you can easily replace.
(Also letâs not forget that many of the current Air Force One replacment problems are of Trumpâs own making from his first term.)
ETA:
tl;dr: To save a seemingly inconsequential $1bn on the Air Force One replacement project, Trump threw a wrench into the negotiations including demanding refurbishment of existing planes rather than building to spec, which would have been more expensive but would have likely been much simpler.
Very true. Itâs definitely an evolutionary step in the meaning of âMustangâ, and necessitated by current battery densities making âcar-sizedâ performance EVs have too many trade-offs to work. They try to make it feel like a car with styling, and as a prior car owner (including an RX-8 I used to autocross) it feels much more like a âcarâ than an SUV, especially the GT with magnaride to help it along.
But it doesnât matter. Itâs not a car and not a coupe. I am not a long-time Mustang Stan and respect the opinions of those folks as to what a Mustang owner is. As an owner I can tell Ford is defining âMustangâ as an âenthusiast performance vehicleâ, but even I thought that was a stretch before I changed my mind by driving (then owning!) one.
I wonder how the world would have reacted if Ford had gone forward with their original Mustang design: a mid-engined 2-seater with aluminum body.