News Roundup: A pickup tug-of-war war, a 1,000-hp Mustang, plus an actual pony car

Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.Here’s what you missed while you were away.Ford wants a rematch of the F-150 vs. Cybertruck tug-of-war, sort ofThe Blue Oval wasn’t pleased with its brief inclusion in Tesla’s Cybertruck reveal. During the live event, Elon Musk played a clip of the Cybertruck running away (uphill!) with Ford’s popular pickup hitched to its back bumper in a tug of war, the F-150 struggling to gain any sort of traction. In response, a VP at Ford called the contest unfair and demanded a rematch, saying Tesla cherry-picked a two-wheel-drive F-150. But when Musk said “Bring it on,” other talking heads at Ford seemed to walk the challenge back, telling Fox News it had been intended as a “tongue in cheek” comment. LISTEN: In this week’s episode, we talk about all the electrifying news coming out of the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show with Postmedia Driving senior writer David Booth, including Ford’s bold Mustang Mach-e SUV. And, of course, we get Booth’s take on Tesla’s Cybertruck. Plugged In is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.Is the player not working? Click here.The 4,000-horsepower Thor24 fetches US$12M at auctionAfter going under the hammer in Saudi Arabia, this 24-cylinder 12-supercharger 3,974-horsepower semi found its new owner — for a truckload of money. The custom big rig dubbed “Thor24” lines up two 12-cylinder Detroit diesel engines that, along with a nitrous boost pack, can get its 32,000-pound frame up to 200 km/h. Four 12-foot chutes help to bring it back down. US$12M seems like a deal, because that flaming paint job is priceless. This Ohio dealership is selling 1,000-horsepower Mustangs for US$55,000It’s called “Project M,” and it’s one wild pony. At the base: a Mustang GT (300a) with a modest interior and a Level 1 Performance Pack with automatic transmission. But Lebanon Ford in Ohio was able to saddle the pony with 1,000 horsepower from a Whipple supercharger or D1X Procharger, an upgraded fuel pump, a larger heat exchanger. The wildest part is the price of just CDN$73,000, which undercuts the 797-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye by $20,000. The Internet’s most hilarious reactions to the Tesla Cybertruck revealIt was big news. Partly because it’s an electric pickup finally here, partly because it looks like a couple of stacked triangles, and partly because, in the process of revealing it live, Tesla unintentionally broke not one but two windows while attempting to display their durability. Twitter almost instantly had a roundup of hilarious memes reacting to the Cybertruck, while Wall Street showed its uncertainty with a 6-per-cent drop in Tesla stock price, and more than a few people pointed out its proximity in looks to a certain time-travelling coupe. Horseplay a la highway—French police spot pony in passenger seatA woman piloting a microcar near Marseille in Southern France was stopped by police watching for distracted drivers after they saw a curious passenger riding shotgun. When they realized that, oui, c’est un cheval, the authorities snapped a pic and arrested the woman, who excused the fact she had a horse in the small car because she didn’t have the license to drive a more appropriately sized van. Are we sure this wasn’t Florida? Feels like
Origin: News Roundup: A pickup tug-of-war war, a 1,000-hp Mustang, plus an actual pony car

This Bentley book costs more than an actual Bentley

Bentley is celebrating its 100th birthday, and to commemorate its long and storied history, they’ve written the whole thing down—yes, the British luxury marque’s just released a big book of stories about how it got where it is today, beginning with its inception in 1919. The Bentley Centenary Book is 800 pages and encompasses nine chapters about the famous brand. The foreword is by Ralph Lauren, while the chapters touch on subjects such as performance, design, craftsmanship, and its customers. The book also weighs some 30 kilograms and spans almost a metre across, when opened. Three versions of the book will be printed. The first is a basic’ edition which costs £3,000 pounds (about $5,100) and is limited to just 500 copies. The exterior is bound in the same leather used on Bentley vehicles in whatever colour you like, and sports a Bentley badge. Only 100 copies of the Mulliner version will be printed, at a cost of £12,500 each, or approximately $21,400. That extra cash gets you 10 portraits measuring 20-by-24-inches, each featuring an iconic Bentley, as well as 56 watercolour paintings. You also get a section of the front-left tire from the 2003 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning Bentley Speed 8, and a chance to have your car – provided it’s a Bentley – photographed and featured on special pages. The big boy is the Centenary Edition, which features 100 carats of diamonds and costs a whopping £200,000. That’s about $340,000, or almost $10,000 per kilogram. Only seven of the centenary edition will be printed, one for each continent. We’re confident if all seven owners ever get together, they will probably conjure W. O. Bentley’s ghost, who will tell them what the next 100 years will
Origin: This Bentley book costs more than an actual Bentley