No, the Ford Mustang is not the first vehicle to exploit the formula of combining off-the-shelf parts with a short-trunked body to achieve something special. That distinction more correctly lies with another Ford Motor Company product, the original Lincoln Continental of 1939. But everybody knows what a Mustang is. Short wheelbase, occasional room for four, choice of powertrains, definite performance cred, a car everyone can appreciate. It’s a formula that’s worked wonderfully since the midpoint of the 1964 model year, and it’s still going strong. Everyone knows what a Mustang is. Now, we’re getting a strong sense that more people than we reasonably expected have some firm ideas of what it could be.

The vehicle on the right is the one that’s driving this discussion. It’s officially known as the Ford Mustang Mach-E, and it’s a fully electric compact crossover that Ford is bringing to market. You can see the Mustang styling hints in the curve of its front fenders, the rear-quarter kickup, and the scoop-like scalloping along the Mach-E’s sides. It merits saying once again that electric power is the future of the global automotive industry, and for any would-be buyers who understand that internal-combustion power is a contributing factor to climate change. Especially by making it part of the storied Mustang lineup, Ford is taking a real chance with this technology. The biggest, probably, since it risked everything on the success of the first Taurus back in 1985. So far, it looks like the greater public is ready to accept it. Ford announced last year that the First Edition model of the Mach-E could be ordered through an online buyer-registration process, and this week disclosed that the reservation process is officially full, with all the pre-production Mach-Es spoken for. Thirty-eight percent of the buyers chose Carbonized Gray as their color, although 27 percent picked Rapid Red, the finish of the Mach-E in the Ford photo. More than half specified all-wheel drive, and about 30 percent picked the Mach-E GT model. More than a quarter of the reservations came from California. It’s not too late to get in the game here, as reservations for the Mach-E Premium and GT editions are still open.

If you enjoy cars, you’ve wanted to be a race driver at some point. Maybe more than once. With the stunning popularity of vintage auto racing, it can become hard to appreciate the fact that not all that long ago, old racing cars were simply discarded. They were too old, too slow, or had their competitiveness legislated away by rules changes. Hardly anybody thought of keeping them. That’s all changed now, however, and actual racing cars with documented competition histories can match the most exclusive concours lawn queen dollar for dollar when it’s auction time. That’s a fact. If you’re a person of means and more importantly, a person of ability, you may come to discover that vintage racing is a sensible hobby for you in 2020. Just bring your money and common sense, and head for the event we’re about to describe.

You can get out of the winter next month and spend it with my pal and sometimes Hemmings cohort, the acclaimed international sports car and Formula 5000 hero, Brian Redman, who now spends most of his time in Florida. His Targa Sixty Six operation will be presenting its 29th annual year of vintage motorsport gatherings at Palm Beach International Raceway in Florida from February 21 through 23. Three separate groups of vintage racers will compete on the road course during the event, which also includes a dinner and cocktail get-together. Brian is a world-class driver who won one of the final runnings of the Targa Florio aboard a works Porsche 908, and is an all-around good guy from Lancashire. He is enshrined in the Motorsports Hall of Fame in America here in Daytona Beach. If you’re interested in getting into vintage racing, going to this event is a good place to start. Check the website for details or email Brian’s son, James Redman, at James@gorace.com and let him know we sent you.

Very much in keeping with its nearly eternal existence as a landmark automobile, the Volkswagen Beetle, which can directly trace its roots to the 1930s, has enjoyed a long goodbye. Wolfsburg confirmed more than a year ago that production of the Beetle, even for offshore markets, would finally come to an end. If you were waiting for the ball to come down last night and were watching Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2020 – honest, that was the name of the program on ABC – you got a chance to see Volkswagen’s final farewell to what many people consider the most iconic product in automotive history.

The Johannes Leonardo advertising agency crafted an animated film tracing the life of a young boy whose experiences unfold on a parallel track to the Beetle’s becoming (for a while) the world’s most ubiquitous car. Cultural references pop up throughout the short subject, ranging from Kevin Bacon’s performance in Footloose to the art of Andy Warhol. If you didn’t stay up late enough, we’re happy to inform you that the evening ended with the Volkswagen “lollipop” logo, and various hints of the auto giant’s coming all-electric future, were projected onto the sides of buildings in Times Square as the ball prepared to fall. Let’s face it, cross-marketing and co-branding is standard procedure in modern global business, so none of this creativity should come as a shock. Right here, we choose to focus on the animated Beetle’s license plate: “70 Years.” By any measure, that’s some kind of a successful run in a profoundly challenging industry.

Never let it be said that the boys from Woking don’t know how to grab the attention of the automotive world. This past week, McLaren put on a pre-Christmas exercise on the long runways of Cape Canaveral in Florida. Its endless runways, designed to support space shuttle landings, were the site of some 30 top-speed runs for the under-development McLaren XP2 Speedtail hypercar prototype. Test driver Kenny Brack, a former Indianapolis 500 winner, assaulted the pavement of the Johnny Bohmer Proving Ground at the Kennedy Space Center on the Speedtail runs, achieving the best numbers in McLaren production car history for acceleration and top speed.

Its carbon-fiber bodywork slicing through the wind, the Speedtail arrowed along the Florida coast on consecutive runs that topped out at 250 MPH, with zero to 300 km/h (that’s 186 MPH) in 13 seconds flat. The Speedtail will use a gasoline/high-voltage electric powertrain that produces 1,055hp and 848-lbs.ft. of torque, making the copious performance a reality. Just 106 Speedtails will be built, each hand-assembled to individual customer specification, with deliveries starting in February. If you’ve got to have one, hit the website for details.

Remember the old fairy tale about Hansel and Gretel, who couldn’t find their way out of the woods because the birds ate the bread crumbs they’d left to mark their trail? That was how the intrepid youngsters stumbled into the witch’s house. The Ford Motor Company promises a less stressful outcome if you find yourself similarly lost in one of their Ranger midsize pickups. Its available SYNC 3 navigation system has a new kind of “home” feature called Breadcrumbs. Activate it, and the GPS navigation system drops a virtual marking pin along your route, one per second, so you have waypoints by which to navigate your return trip without looking for actual landmarks.

The GPS-enabled Breadcrumbs feature is available on Rangers delivered with XLT or Lariat trim. It’s also offered across other Ford truck lines for rigs optioned with SYNC 3 and navigation aids. Speaking of off-road, brush-busting goodies, the Ranger can also be ordered from Ford dealers with the FX4 Off-Road Package, which combines a locking rear differential with Terrain Management System that optimizes bite in minimal traction situations.

John Oates and his longtime songwriting partner, Daryl Hall, were musical icons of the 1980s. Their success allowed both to pursue passions they enjoyed outside of music. Hall restores historic houses, including his home and recording studio in Pawling, New York. Oates is a car collector who took up amateur road racing in a serious way. He and his wife, Aimee, are marking their 25th wedding anniversary and they’re doing it by making a contribution to one of the world’s truly great automotive events, the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in northeastern Florida. John and Aimee Oates are donating one of John’s race cars, a 1984 TIGA SC84 Sports 2000 that he raced in SCCA club events while Big Bam Boom was topping the charts, with all proceeds going to benefit the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Foundation, which benefits innumerable charitable causes in and around Jacksonville, Florida.

Amelia Island founder and president Bill Warner shot this image of the fully race-prepped TIGA, which sports a new commemorative color scheme. The acclaimed concours, which picks dual Best in Show winners representing both road and competition cars, is set for March 5 through 8, 2020, at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island. The celebration will salute Roger Penske as its guest honoree. There’s also a tour for vintage cars, high-end auctions, a silent auction, book signings and a display of cars designed by Harley Earl, among many other activities. The best place to get acclimated with everything that goes on at Amelia Island, and you can also get advance tickets, a game plan we highly recommend. Every car enthusiast ought to set aside the time and money to experience Amelia Island at least once. It’s a terrific happening run by wonderful people. You won’t be disappointed.

You may never have heard this name before, but take time to remember it: Hailie Rochelle Deegan. She is a product of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, and just this week signed a developmental deal with Ford that will see her run the entire 2020 ARCA schedule in addition to fielding a Mustang in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, beginning in Feburary at Daytona. Deegan had a previous development contract with Toyota but switched to Ford because it represented more potential open seats. She is the daughter of Brian Deegan, a former professional freestyle supercross rider and veteran of global rallycross in cars. Hailie Deegan came out of karting and off-road racing into what used to be known as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, now branded for ARCA, where she scored two wins and was named rookie of the year.

This Toyota image shows Deegan’s ride before she jumped to the Dearborn squad this week. What’s significant here is that Deegan is 18, has a demonstrated ability to pass cars and win, and has been competitive since she first crawled into a Legends car. From a purely personal standpoint of observation, NASCAR and its sponsors have been looking for their next phenomenal superstar ever since Dale Earnhardt died in 2001. As Danica Patrick’s stint in Cup demonstrated, it hasn’t happened yet. The closest thing NASCAR now has to a polarizing magnet for eyes is its reigning champion, Kyle Busch, who comes closest to replicating the late legend in terms of pure driving ability and naked aggression. All that said, a truly front-running female driver – or driver of color – could do some amazing things in terms of swiveling some new eyeballs toward America’s most-watched form of motorsport. So far, Deegan is checking the right boxes. Smart observers will keep a close eye on what she does from here forward.

Anytime an advance in technology transforms the way that motor vehicles are created, we’re interested in hearing about it. The auto industry advanced the craft of designing cars exponentially when CAD entered the mainstream, allowing engineers to conjure mathematical models of automotive structures that could be tested for torsional rigidity, crush capability and other critical considerations. Co-branded South Korean giants Hyundai and Kia are about to undertake the next major advance, introducing virtual reality into design processes at their global headquarters in Seoul. This new protocol will allow up to 20 designers, working remotely in different parts of the world, to simultaneously work digitally on new vehicle platforms.

Unveiling the new technological discipline at the Namyang Research and Development Center in Seoul, Hyundai and Kia rolled out the result of a $12.8 million investment in this new design practice. Besides allowing a lot of designers to work on one project all at once, the virtual reality system is expected to scissor up to 20 percent of the development time now typically required by new-vehicle projects. Virtual reality will come to be used throughout the R&D and design procedures at both brands. Virtual-reality headsets will allow operating designers to enter developmental simulations, utilizing 36 motion sensors that will allow the designers to work together in real time, regardless of location. The system was first used in the development of the HDC-6 NEPTUNE heavy truck that was first shown in October at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show. The three-dimensional system is capable of returning results with 100 percent accuracy.

For some of us, it’s always all about the power. And if you’re the kind of person who needs a truck that dumps, can haul big hay bales or be converted for contractor or utility work, Ford’s got you in mind. The chassis-cab version of the 2020 Ford Super Duty is ready to start printing your paycheck, with additional horsepower and other powertrain upgrades leading the list of improvements. Leading the way, literally, is an all-new 7.3-liter V-8, the biggest gasoline-fueled engine in its class, rated at 350hp with 468-lbs.ft. of torque on tap at 3,900 RPM.

Need still more torque? Then you can opt for the new, Navistar-built 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 diesel, which produces a maximum of 825-lbs.ft. of axle-twisting work ability, all at just 1,600 RPM, a boost of 75-lbs.ft. over the previous diesel’s output. There’s also a 6.2-liter gasoline V-8 in the Super Duty power lineup. All can be connected to a new 10-speed TorqShift automatic transmission. Depending on engine selection, the Super Duty can be optioned to produce best-in-class payload capacity of 12,750 pounds. Interactive Ford Telematics and Data Services are available to help fleet operators keep track of their trucks’ productivity, among other functions.

Let’s get this out of the way right now: I’ve never been particularly enthralled with Christmas and all its trappings. The annual torment of Black Friday shopping – when does it get underway now, in June sometime? – has always been an exercise in self-flagellation to me. I hate it. That said, the rituals of holiday shopping are a very big deal for most normal people, and it involves a measure of personal safety if you’re going to really do it. Criminals, especially those who specialize in burglaries from motor vehicles, positively love Yuletide shopping. It’s very easy for them to smash a window and grab the new iPad or Xbox that you left in plain site while you headed into P.F. Chang’s for a break.

Christmas is just a couple of weeks off but if you run out tomorrow and score yourself a new Nissan Rogue or Rogue Sport, you can take advantage of its optional Divide-N-Hide system for organizing and storing cargo behind the passenger seats. Depending on the Rogue model, the system allows owners to configure their rear cargo area up to 18 different ways, which can help you in hiding most anything up to giant-screen TVs from the prying eyes of thieves. Rogue features also include a motion-detecting rear liftgate that raises itself as you approach while grappling with an armful of wrapped presents, like the poor schmuck in the Nissan image demonstrates. Feliz Navidad.