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Category: Highlight

  • Ring Brothers 1968 Mercury Cougar combines old school style with modern running gear

    Wisconsin-based hot rod builders Ring Brothers are known for their resto mods. Mike and Jim Ring specialize in taking old cars and revitalizing them with modern components. Their latest project is a 1968 Mercury Cougar.

    The badge may say “Cougar,” but there’s a Coyote under the hood, as in Ford’s 5.0-liter V-8. It produces 460 hp, and drives the rear wheels through a 10-speed automatic transmission from a Ford F-150 Raptor.

    The car got a frame-off restoration, with new floor pans and a new transmission tunnel, as well as a new front bumper, grille, and badging. A performance suspension by DSE was installed, as were modern brakes. The Cougar rides on HRE Series C1 C103 forged three-piece alloy wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport tires.

    Ring Brothers 1968 Mercury Cougar

    Ring Brothers 1968 Mercury Cougar

    While some of Ring Brother’s past builds have had flashy paintwork and heavily modified sheetmetal, the Cougar looks largely stock. The main giveaways are the aforementioned forged wheels on the outside, the F-150 shifter on the inside.

    Launched in 1967 as a companion to the Ford Mustang, the Cougar never escaped the Ford’s shadow. The Cougar eventually shifted to a platform shared with the Ford Thunderbird, becoming larger and more luxurious in the process, and was then reimagined again as a compact front-wheel-drive coupe. That final generation ended production in 2002, and the Mercury brand followed it into oblivion a few years later.

    “We had never done a Cougar before, so this was a fun build,” Mike Ring said in a statement. “I love working with new shapes and coming up with new ideas. Ring Brothers would normally unveil a newly completed car at the annual SEMA aftermarket show in Las Vegas, but that wasn’t possible due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Mike Ring said he hopes the car can be shown to the public soon.

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  • Toyota begins construction of its smart city

    Just before the coronavirus pandemic hit, at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show, Toyota announced an ambitious plan to build an entire city in Japan as a showcase for futuristic tech. Despite everything that’s happened since that announcement, Toyota is still going ahead with this scheme.

    Toyota held a groundbreaking ceremony for the project, dubbed Woven City, Tuesday at a construction site adjacent to one of its former factories. The automaker didn’t give any other updates on construction, or on its efforts to recruit people to live in the city.

    Woven City will be built from the ground up on 175 acres of land at the base of Japan’s iconic Mt. Fuji. At its CES 2020 press conference, Toyota said the city would allow for testing and development of autonomous vehicles, robotics, smart-home systems, and other future tech in a real-world environment.

    The name Woven City comes from the use of designated streets for three types of traffic: faster vehicles, mixed usage for lower-speed personal mobility devices (such as scooters), and pedestrians, as well as pedestrian-only zones. There will also be one underground road to transport goods, according to Toyota. The name also refers to Toyota’s roots in the textile industry.

    Toyota's Woven City

    Toyota’s Woven City

    Toyota previously said it would deploy working versions of its e-Palette and LQ concepts in Woven City, plus an assortment of scooters and mobility aids for the pedestrian-only areas. The e-Palette is a reconfigurable box-shaped autonomous vehicle designed for both ride-sharing and delivery services, while the LQ is a small hatchback with an AI interface and some degree of autonomous-driving capability.

    Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, whose team designed Google’s Mountain View headquarters, was commissioned to design the city, which will be built from sustainable materials and powered by renewable energy, including hydrogen fuel cells (a Toyota favorite) and rooftop solar panels.

    Toyota also previously said homes would have robots and sensors to monitor occupants’ health, and that all buildings, vehicles, and people would be connected through a citywide network managed by AI.

    Initially, Woven City will have just 360 residents, mostly older adults, families with young children and inventors. Toyota plans to eventually house more than 2,000 people, including some of its own employees, in the futuristic city.

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  • 2022 Land Rover Defender adds V-8 to powertrain portfolio

    Ever since the modern Land Rover Defender‘s reveal in 2019, fans have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of a V-8 option.

    Well, we can confirm that Land Rover will finally deliver with the 2022 Defender which will offer up Jaguar Land Rover’s familiar 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 as the range-topping powertrain. Here, it will be rated at 518 hp and 461 lb-ft of torque.

    Buyers seeking more performance may want to wait as the SVO division is rumored to be planning a more potent version of the V-8 for the Defender, possibly in an SVR-badged model, though Land Rover remains quiet on the matter.

    2022 Land Rover Defender

    2022 Land Rover Defender

    The current V-8 still offers plenty of grunt and will be offered on both the two-door Defender 90 and four-door Defender 110. It will come hooked to an 8-speed automatic and should see the Defender deliver 0-60 mph acceleration in about five seconds and a top speed approaching 150 mph.

    Numerous chassis tweaks were also added to suit the extra grunt. The list includes stiffer anti-roll bars, unique spring and damper rates, as well an electronic active rear differential.

    2022 Land Rover Defender

    2022 Land Rover Defender

    The Defender’s off-road driving mode selector known as Terrain Response has also been augmented with a special Dynamic mode exclusively for the V-8. It helps to optimize power delivery whether on a smooth or rough surface. It also improves throttle and steering response to deliver a sharper and more agile driving experience, and dials in the exhaust note for a spicier sound.

    Apart from the noise it makes, it will be hard to tell the V-8 Defender from those with lesser engines. There will be some unique visual cues, though. The list includes quad-exhaust tips at the rear, model-specific 22-inch wheels, and 15-inch brake rotors with bright blue calipers.

    Other powertrains offered on the 2022 Defender will include a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 with 296 hp and 295 lb-ft and a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-6 mild-hybrid setup with 395 hp and 406 lb-ft. Buyers outside the U.S. will also have the option of a plug-in hybrid setup that uses the 2.0-liter engine.

    The 2022 model year also sees the Defender receive Defender XS and Defender Carpathian editions. The latter gets its name from its exclusive Carpathian Gray paint finish (with a contrasting black roof) and will come exclusively with the V-8.

    2022 Land Rover Defender

    2022 Land Rover Defender

    Other changes for 2022 will include an available 11.4-inch infotainment screen instead of the standard 10.0-inch unit, along with a standard wireless charging pad for mobile devices, over-the-air update capability, and a navigation system that optimizes route guidance using AI and real-time traffic updates.

    The 2022 Defender will arrive at dealerships later in the year. Pricing information will be announced closer to the market launch.

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