Ford offers yet another heritage GT livery

Our occasional roundup of new car and automotive industry news and notes

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Ford GT Holman Moody heritage edition
The latest Heritage edition of the Ford GT honors Holman Moody race shop | Manufacturer photos

Ford has unveiled yet another in its series of Heritage liveries for its Ford GT supercar. This latest version is the Holman Moody edition honoring Ford’s 1-2-3 sweep at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.

Ford says this will be the final Heritage version of the for 2022.

The car’s color scheme is gold and red and traces to the GT 40 Mk II reworked by the NASCAR shop and Shelby American and run for 265 laps over eight days in January 1966 to prepare for the 24-hour event.

Mercedes doing 150 Abloth-designed cars

The late African-American architect and fashion designer Virgil Ablate worked with Mercedes on several projects, including this Maybach

The Project Maybach concept car and the Project

Geländewagen weren’t the only programs African-American architect and fashion designer Virgil Abloth was doing for Mercedes-Benz before his death to cancer late last year. The automaker has announced a limited run of 150 examples of an S-Class inspired by Alboth’s work with the company.

The Maybach by Virgil Abloh is based on lthe Mercedes-Maybach S-Class S680 and features a unique two-tone obsidian black over sand hue color scheme inside and out.

“To enhance its monolithic appearance, the window frames are painted, and a special Mercedes-Maybach and Virgil Abloh logo is inscribed on the piano black middle of the center-console, rear cushions, head restraints and door sill panel,” the company said, adding that the cars get a special version of the Maybach MBUX vehicle technology package.

Goodyear joins domestic rubber research

TK dandelion
TK dandelion species could provide a domestically grown source of natural rubber
Goodyear is part of a group growing TK dandelion species in Ohio

The trees that supply the natural rubber used in automotive tires and other products do not grow in the United States, so efforts dating to World War II have been searching for an alternative and domestically produced source.

Bridgestone is growing a plant called guayule in the Arizona desert as a source of natural rubber and Goodyear has announced a partnership with the Department of Defense, the Air Force Research Lab, BioMade and Farmed Materials to grow a species of dandelion, Taraxacum kok-saghyz, better known as TK.

“Global demand for natural rubber continues to grow, and it remains a key raw material for the tire industry,” Chris Helsel, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Goodyear, is quoted. “This is a critical time to develop a domestic source of natural rubber, which may help mitigate future supply chain challenges.”

The Goodyear program will be based in Ohio and rubber produced will be tested initially in tires for military aircraft.

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