Ford Trucks For Sale

The average price in Reno for a gallonm of diesel is $3.69 per gallon.

It’s not just truckers feeing the pain. We all will. Analysts say since just about everything we buy gets moved around in a diesel truck at some point.

This year’s FAI Ford Cup final sees Cork City take on Longford Town at the RDS on Sunday, kick-off 3.30pm.

Longford Town are down to the bare bones due to injury, suspension and cup tied players.

Midfielder Gary Deegan is suspended, while Dave Freeman is absent due to illness. Colm James, signed from Galway United, and former Shamrock Rovers player Ian Ryan are both cup tied.

Robbie Martin is likely to partner Daire Doyle in centre midfield due to Deegan’s absence with Jimmy Duffy on the right and Mark Rutherford on the left.

In defence, Pat Sullivan and Sean Prunty are expected to play either side of centre halves Damian Brennan and Kevin Doherty.

While in attack Dave Mooney, with 19 goals so far this season, will probably be partnered by Dessie Baker.

Cork City are hopeful that full-back Darragh Ryan will be the only absentee, as he recovers from a hernia operation and will not be a member of the Cup final squad.

Cork have three players returning from recent injuries - midfielder Liam Kearney, striker John O’Flynn and centre-back Brian O’Callaghan.

Kearney, who was treated for a calf injury, returned to full training last week and played for 60 minutes in the challenge game against Cobh Ramblers on Sunday last and manager Damien Richardson will monitor his recovery with interest.

John O’Flynn also returned to training last week after treatment for a groin injury. O’Flynn’s season has been disrupted by regular injury and a fully-fit O’Flynn would be a big asset to Cork.

Brian O’Callaghan’s run at centre-back was interrupted by a hamstring. He too has also returned to training and will be challenging for selection for a game that provides Cork with a last opportunity of a major trophy this season.

Cork are also due to be without full-back Neal Horgan because he has to serve a one-match suspension. They and Longford Town are hoping to persuade the FAI to postpone on sympathetic grounds the suspension that Horgan and Longford’s Gary Deegan are due to serve.

A minute’s silence will be observed before the game as a mark of respect to Longford club president, Peter Keenan who died during the week.

In the news release, Ford (NYSE: F) Plug-In Hybrid Hits CaliforniaStreets, issued earlier today by Ford Motor Company over PR Newswire, we areadvised by the company that the contact phone number for Paul Klein shouldread “626.302.2255″ rather than “623.302.7935,” as originally.

Ford Trucks for sale at :- http://www.usedfordtruckforsale.com/

The GLK will debut as a 2009 model and is expected to be introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 2008. Power is expected to come from a 3.5-liter V-6 with Mercedes 4Matic all-wheel-drive standard. All versions are expected to have the 7G-Tronic TouchShift automatic transmission. Later on there could be a V-8-powered GLK63 AMG version.

In line with Mercedes’ new development strategy, many of the components used for the upcoming GLK share their design with the parts used in the C-Class. The car’s underpinnings will be based on a revised version of the C-Class platform, meaning the GLK will be powered by the same engine lineup as seen in the new saloon. A brand new four-cylinder Bluetec diesel displacing 2.2L and producing up to 204hp should also make an appearance.

Mercedes-Benz cars for sale at EcarJunction.com

There’s a tragic beauty about the 2008 Dodge Viper that makes it virtually the perfect collector car.

Like Ted Williams in his last time at bat.

Like Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.”

Like the last saber-toothed tiger, roaring at its own imminent extinction.

Massively powerful, beautifully styled, the Viper symbolizes the very best and the very worst aspects of America’s relationship to the road: Arrogance for thinking we can guzzle gas by the gallon while the rest of the world measures it in teacups; childish clinging to a bygone era that was truly great while it lasted.

As one reared in the golden years of American motoring, when the rest of the world was still clearing the rubble of war, I share deeply nostalgic feelings for those days when American automakers could afford extravagant means to capture the buyer’s imagination, knowing that gasoline cost just pennies per gallon.

Ignorance was bliss. But we can’t claim that excuse anymore.

When oil started sniffing the $100 per barrel mark and my neighborhood gas prices shot past $3 per gallon again, the reality that we could be facing a permanent transition to high fuel costs became increasingly undeniable.

For someone who can afford an $83,145 roadster, a measly $1,700 gas-guzzler tax and annual fuel cost of $2,812 is no deterrent to ownership. But you need more than money to enjoy this car. You need a strong sense of denial, perhaps even a cultural death wish.

There are people who will truly enjoy the Viper — enthusiasts, collectors, people emotionally connected to amazing machinery. Frankly, there’s nothing like it made in America, though the Chevrolet Corvette provides the closest comparison.

If the Corvette is a true American sports car, the Viper qualifies as an exotic, sitting somewhere between the ‘Vette and a Lamborghini.

While the Corvette can shred the pavement with its 6.2-liter, 430-horsepower V8, the Viper SRT10’s 600-horsepower V10 is even quicker, sending the roadster from 0 to 60 mph in less than 4 seconds and to 100 mph in about 12 seconds.

City driving doesn’t really tell you much about this roadster, except that it has awesomely deep vocal tones and a rather harsh ride. If you enjoy the basso-profundo stylings of Barry White, you’ll love just sitting in this car with the shifter in neutral, running the rumble up the rpm scale.

On surface streets, the Viper is actually well behaved. You don’t have to restrain it from taking off, and in routine situations, the six-speed stick goes from first to third to save fuel. But on a track or closed road, the car runs like 600 pent-up thoroughbreds.

The ideal surface would be a well-maintained oval track, where you could really work the gears on the straightaways. The chassis is so stiff that road bumps create loud noises and jolting sensations.

The personality of the car is conveyed by its deep-cut side scallops, swept-back fenders, crosshair grille and side-mounted exhaust pipes. Red brake calipers show through the 18-inch front and 19-inch back wheels, as do the massive brake discs. The Viper needs less than 100 feet to reach a complete stop from 60 mph.

Inside, the shifter and boot are mounted to the center console with very visible bolts designed to convey an industrial brawniness.

The seats are low to the road, but well designed for the driver and passenger. The 2008 is available with hard or convertible tops. To start the car, you turn the key, push in the clutch and punch a bright red “Start” button on the dash.

To liven things up, Dodge is introducing an interesting palette of new colors: Venom Red, Snakeskin Green, Viper Violet, Viper Orange and Bright Blue.

This is the ninth year that Dodge has offered the Viper as a production model. Another show car released on the streets, the Prowler hot rod, went the way of the dodo bird in 2002. Even the more subdued Chrysler Crossfire is heading into retirement this year.

Built in Detroit’s Conner Avenue Assembly Plant the Viper SRT10 is the flagship of the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) vehicles that follow the mantra: “Race inspired, street legal.” Typically, the SRT team takes a production model and re-tunes it for high performance. Viper SRT10 is all performance. There is no milder version.

Not surprisingly, only 4 percent of Viper buyers are female. The median age of the men who will own the car is 45. They have a household income of $173,000 and 44 percent have college degrees; 62 percent have spouses. They are primarily executives or entrepreneurs.

One can only wonder if their other car is a Mini.

WHAT’S NEW: Five new colors, styling tweaks.

PLUSES: Collector value, performance, styling.

MINUSES: Cost, fuel economy, ride.

BOTTOM LINE: Speed freak.

A pair of Sangamon County vehicle-pedestrian accidents Monday evening left a 38-year-old Riverton woman dead and a 58-year-old Berlin man hospitalized in critical condition.

Michele J. Everhart, 38, was killed instantly when she apparently jumped or ran in front of a car on Old Route 36 in Riverton shortly before 8 p.m., according to Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Barb Freesen.

Everhart had recently moved to Riverton, authorities said.

There is little lighting at the site of the incident, and authorities were unsure why the woman was in the roadway.

A Riverton couple told police the 79-year-old husband was driving east in a Ford Focus when what they initially thought was a deer appeared in front of them at the Fourth Street intersection. There was no way for him to avoid the collision, which caused the victim to be thrown up over the hood of the car, shattering the driver’s side windshield, Freesen said.

It appeared the woman approached from the westbound lane.

Authorities went to Riverton Middle School afterward to talk with a Lincoln man who had been in a romantic relationship with the victim. State police also indicated she had at least one child.

It wasn’t immediately known if the woman was under the influence of alcohol or any other intoxicating substance, Freesen added.

Meanwhile, Sangamon County sheriff’s Capt. Jack Campbell said alcohol appeared to be a factor in an accident that badly injured Gary Sheppard about 4:10 p.m. in the 400 block of South Washington Street in Berlin.

Witnesses told deputies Sheppard had been drinking throughout the afternoon before a woman came to pick him up at a friend’s house and take him home.

Sheppard refused, prompting the woman to get back into the 2003 Pontiac Sunfire.

As she looked over her shoulder in the other direction and started to back out of the driveway, deputies said, Sheppard approached the driver’s side door. The car then swung around, striking Sheppard and running him over.

He suffered injuries including a skull fracture and a broken leg and remained in the trauma unit at St. John’s Hospital late Monday.

No citations were immediately issued as deputies continued to investigate.

A 54-year-old employee of a Pontiac car repair shop apparently decapitated himself early Thursday using a cable and the thrust of his Tow Truck.

Authorities in Livingston County released few details of the death and declined to identify the man pending notification of relatives. The man’s employer called the death outside the shop a suicide.

The man, who had worked at S&R Route 66 Auto Center on the western edge of Pontiac for about four years, appears to have tied a cable to a sign in front of the business and the other end around his neck.

Then, at about 4:30 a.m., he got inside his Tow Truck and popped the clutch.

Jeff Semmens, the owner of S&R, said the man usually kept the Tow Truck at his house, but had been sick the last few days and left it at the shop.

“He was a pretty good guy,” Semmens said. “It really freaks me out — I can’t think of why he’d want to do this.”

Semmens had not arrived at the shop by the time police had already found the decapitated body. He said he usually gets to work around 5 a.m.

A bystander in the area called 911 at 4:27 a.m. to report a Tow Truck driving erratically through the S&R and neighboring parking lots along a commercial area off Illinois 116 near its junction with old Route 66.

The truck careened through the S&R parking lot and adjacent Superior Gyros parking lot eastward, then struck a sign and crossed old Route 66. It went down an embankment and came to rest behind a business on the other side of the road.

When police arrived, they found the man’s head in the S&R parking lot and his body inside the truck.

It looked like a little boy’s dream come true in front of Springfield’s Fire Station No. 1 Monday morning.

Four brand-new, sparkling red fire engines were parked in the driveway, complete with new car smell inside, stairs that automatically descend when the doors are opened and side mirrors that are controlled electronically.

“I think we’re more excited about this than anyone else,” joked Fire Chief John Kulek.

It’s been a while. The engines will replace vehicles in the fire department’s fleet that are as many as 22 years old.

“In 2000 and 2001, they got new aerial Trucks, but there have been no new frontline vehicles for quite some time,” said Mayor Tim Davlin as he stood in front of the purchases.

The Trucks cost about $460,000 each for a total of $1.8 million.

“This is really a big thing, a long time coming,” Davlin said.

The police department is expected to get some good news soon, too, with 50 new police cars on the way, the mayor said.

“The last city council came to the conclusion that we needed to spend some money (on equipment),” Davlin said.

Kulek said the Trucks have better suspension and brake systems than older Springfield fire engines.

“It will be safer for our guys. They can get to the scene safely and on time,” he said. “When we’re running hot through city streets, we’ll have better control and better stopping.

“We train on defensive driving,” he said, “but someone comes from behind, and when it’s car versus fire Truck, you can imagine who will win in that situation.”

The new trucks, which are made by the same company as others in the fleet, will also be easily repaired because the city can stock all the same replacement parts.

To prevent the city from having to spend so much at one time again, Kulek said the fire department is trying to get on a steady program under which one new Truck is purchased each year. There is another new one in the budget for the current fiscal year, he said.

The new engines will be housed at fire stations on Stevenson Drive, at Ninth and Ash streets, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and on Koke Mill Road.

Some engines currently used at those firehouses will be worked into the backup fleet, and the oldest in the backup fleet will be sold at a city auction next year, Kulek said.

67-year-old man and 6-year-old boy taken to hospitals; 3 others were troopers

A sport-utility vehicle drove this afternoon into a Chick-fil-A in Edgewater, injuring five patrons, two seriously, an Anne Arundel County fire official said.

The SUV crashed through the brick and glass exterior of the restaurant at 3220 Solomon’s Island Road around 12:30 p.m., and into the dining area, said Battalion Chief Michael Cox, a fire department spokesman.

A 67-year-old customer, who was sitting directly where the car struck, in front of a handicapped parking spot, suffered serious injuries and was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. A 6-year-old boy was also hurt and was taken by ambulance to Anne Arundel Medical Center, Cox said.

Three state troopers who were having lunch at the restaurant suffered “very minor” injuries, said 1st Sgt. David Jones, a Maryland State Police spokesman. They refused medical treatment and returned to work, he said.

“They just picked the wrong place to eat lunch,” Jones said.

The driver of the SUV was uninjured, Cox said. No additional information was available.

State Route 19 is closed one mile north of Collinsville because of an overturned Tanker Truck carrying acetone, which is a highly flammable liquid.

Currently at the scene are personnel from MDOT, MEMA, MDEQ and MHP as well as the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office. Because of a slow leak of contents, officials have decided to close this section of highway until the tanker is unloaded and moved back to its upright position.

The projected reopening time should be around 10 p.m.