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Factory Five currently sells the most popular Shelby Cobra kit by far. One of the reasons that more people build the FFR Cobra than all other Shelby kits combined is that it’s the easiest one to finish, as it comes with everything needed minus a donor Mustang. That same philosophy is behind the new ‘33 Hot Rod kit from FFR. Any small block Ford V8 engine will fit, along with the buyers choice of transmission and a Ford rear end. The benefits to starting with a completely new foundation rather than an existing Ford product from the ’30s are apparent when you take a look at that triangulated tube chassis and its in-board coil-over front suspension. Plus, with just 2110 pounds. to push around with its fiberglass body, this is one ‘33 that will have no problem getting out of its own way.

Want one? The kits are currently priced at just under $20K and are shipping now. A short wait ’till December will ensure that no parts are on back-order. That should give you plenty of time to source an appropriate engine, transmission and rear axle and rolling stock. Now, all you need to do is pick a color.

Before Cerberus took over Chrysler, the Auburn Hills-based automaker announced that it would build a new axle plant in Marysville, MI as part of a broader plan to spend $3 billion on infrastructure upgrades. The new plant is under construction and scheduled to open in 2010, but the three headed dog’s keen eye(s) on cash preservation has lead to talks with transmission maker ZF to somehow share the facility. It is unclear at this point what ZF, which is known for its transmissions but also produces axles for Mercedes, would get out of the deal, but the supplier would likely run the plant and get to build and sell axles for Chrysler, as well as other automakers, at the facility. The move to share the Marysville facility with ZF makes sense for Chrysler from a cash standpoint, and it could supply axles for one of the Pentastar’s many collaboration projects with other automakers like Nissan. Regardless of whether ZF or Chrysler ends up owning the facility, the plant would still use the union workforce being abandoned from the soon-to-close Detroit Axle plant.

Even in a down pickup truck market, the all-new Dodge Ram should be a boon to Chrysler and not just because it’s a far better truck than the one it replaces. The new Ram will also be the next Nissan Titan, a deal that helps Chrysler keep its truck factories running closer to maximum capacity. With Nissan borrowing Ram mechanicals and engineering, the assumption has been that Chrysler’s 5.7L HEMI V8 was going to be part of the package. Nissan officials have continually denied that any decision about the truck’s engine of choice has yet to be made and that its own Evolution 5.6L powerplant was still under consideration.

Chrysler chairman Jim Press put any speculation to rest when he declared at an LA Motor Guild meeting recently that the Nissan Titan would indeed receive HEMI power. After our friend Mike Levine from Pickuptrucks.com broke the news, Nissan responded by saying that it has made no decisions concerning the HEMI engine and when it does, the announcement would come from Nissan. It makes sense that the next Titan would be HEMI-fied, especially considering that the engineering needed to mate the HEMI and Ram platform has already been done and paid for, and part logistics are already in sync with truck assembly. Plus, the new HEMI produces a class-leading 390 horsepower and gets decent fuel economy for a big, burly truck engine. Nissan could do much worse.

News flash: small cars like the Ford Focus are selling beyond expectations (ours anyway) while trucks and SUVs are sitting on dealer lots much longer than auto manufacturers would like. For this reason, Ford is moving as quickly as possible to switch a few of its truck plants into car plants, including its Michigan Truck plant where behemoth SUVs like the Expedition and Navigator were being built. The switchover is going to cost the automaker since these are not flexible manufacturing facilities, with the first bit of retooling ringing the registers to the tune of $75 million bucks — and that’s just for a new bodyshop. The total cost to retool the plant will be in the hundreds of millions. As they say, it takes money to make money. While the plant is being refurbished, workers will be shuffled to the nearby Wayne plant to build even more Focuses. The best bit of news, though, is that Ford will finally be building its small cars from Europe at its converted truck plant, the ones we’ve all been asking for since the Euro-Focus got a new platform and we didn’t. Not that we’re still sour or anything…

Employees at Jeep’s factory in Toledo, Ohio reported back to work this week after two months of mandatory downtime. The good news is that they still have their jobs; the bad news is that they’ve been told to expect another four weeks off before the end of the year. This time, however, the shutdowns will be scheduled in week-long intervals instead of covering an entire four-week period. The slowdown of SUV sales has been widely covered and the Jeep brand has not been immune, including its bread-and-butter Wrangler model that had proven extremely popular a short while back when the first-ever four-door version was unveiled. Of course, back then gas was below $3 a gallon. Besides the Wrangler, Jeep also makes the Liberty and Dodge Nitro at the Toledo plant.

Up to right now point, all Highlanders destined for the U.S. undergo been heard erected in Japan. Toyota had calculated to initiate construction a new, redesigned Highlander in late 2009 at its plant in Tupelo, Mississippi, a factory such a is continue to short of construction, but the hastily low SUV world prompted it to adjourn the vehicle’s redesign to 2010. Things tweak soon in their business, however, and due to the fact that its plant in Princeton, Indiana too builds the full-size Tundra is now sitting idle, Toyota has concluded to use the capacity to craft constructing the Highlander in the lessen of 2009. The Tupelo plant, meanwhile, might in its place embark on constructing the Prius right here in the U.S. when its constructing is finished in 2010. All the current flip flopping of creation can be wrapped up due to the fact that of the flexible manufacturing the was made to every of Toyota’s plants, and the definite end result is the current its employees can remain trying instead as opposed to sitting at house without a paycheck.

Volkswagen has already announced its intentions to build a factory in the U.S., narrowing down the possible sites to Alabama, Michigan and Tennessee. Now, in advance of a shareholder meeting in Germany, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler is reportedly saying that Audi is considering a U.S. plant, as well. The move on both automakers’ parts is an attempt to capitalize on the weak U.S. dollar, the stronger euro and the fact that material costs are on the rise and a U.S. plant could mitigate some of those expenses. Additionally, both VW and Audi have made it clear that in order to achieve their lofty sales goals – one million units a year by 2018 for V-Dub and Audi’s campaign to become the numero uno luxury carmaker – ramping up production capacity in the U.S. where many of those sales will be made is instrumental to their mutual success.

[Source: Autoweek]

General Motors announced earlier this morning that it has agreed to sell Allison Transmission to two private equity firms. The Carlyle Group and Onex Corp. will purchase both the commercial and military ends of Allison, all for the bargain price of $5.6 billion.

The plan is to sell of the firm’s seven manufacturing centers throughout Indianapolis, along with the company’s sale offices and a worldwide distribution complex. However, GM plans to retain its Baltimore plant to produce both regular and hybrid two-mode transmissions for it’s trucks and SUVs.

Naturally, the regulators and the unions will want to have their say first, so don’t expect anything solid until later in the third quarter of 2007.

[Source: Yahoo News]

General Motors has informed its dealers that production of some of its 2008 full-size trucks and SUVs has been halted due to the ongoing American Axle strike. The affected vehicles include the GMC Yukon, Denali, Sierra heavy-duty regular and extended cab, its commercial-duty pickup and variants of Chevrolet trucks and Tahoes. According to the General, a basic lack of parts is the reason for the stoppage and dealer orders for the week of May 8th and May 15th have been cancelled. While a lack of production is bad news for any automaker, we can’t help but think that it couldn’t have come at a better time for the General as SUV and truck sales are down overall.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req’d]

The sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata means that the two British marques will have to look elsewhere for the parts normally supplied by Ford. Following the news that Daimler could be a supplier to both automakers comes word from Dr. Z himself that a deal is a distinct possibility.

Daimler holds a seven-percent stake in Tata Motors, which could make an easy case for Mercedes to supply Jag and L.R. with the necessary components to wean them off of Ford. Dieter Zetsche told Auto Motor und Sport that, “If Ratan Tata approaches us regarding the supply of components, we would be open to talks.” AMG-powered XF, anyone?

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport via Automotive News – Sub. Req.]