The Good Oil: Happy birthday Mondeo

Paul Radisich in his '93 Monza-winning World Cup Ford Mondeo. Photo / Supplied

The ultimate company car has turned 20! Originally launched in November 1992 as a replacement for the ageing Ford Sierra, the Mondeo officially went on sale the following year in Europe, although we didn't get it here in New Zealand until the second-generation car replaced the locally assembled Telstar in 1997.

The first Mondeo is significant for Kiwi motorsport fans, however, as it is the car raced by Paul Radisich (below) in the ferocious British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), winning the FIA World Touring Car Cup in 1993 and 1994.

The Mondeo was significant for Ford, being the first "world car" launched by the company, which had plans for it to go on sale both in Europe and America, even though it didn't quite work out that way.

Ford had badly botched the transition from Cortina to Sierra - with thousands of Cortinas remaining unsold when the Sierra launched in 1982 - so was far more cautious with the Mondeo.

The new Mondeo offered such ground-breaking innovations as a driver's airbag and a stonking 100kW 2-litre engine that would rocket to 100km/h in under 10 seconds! That was the top engine, mind you; the 77kW 1.6-litre and 85kW 1.8-litre engines were less "impressive".

While called the Mondeo in the rest of the world, it has been sold in the USA as the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique until 2000 and has recently made the move back into the US market rebadged as the Ford Fusion. Because Americans are like that ...

Hennessey cures performance anxiety

Worried that your Ferrari 458 is just a bit limp and underpowered compared to your showy neighbour's Lamborghini Aventador?

Well, worry no longer you sad, insecure, little rich boy, as legendary US-based tuner
Hennessey Performance has released a cure for your feelings of inadequacy in the form of a twin-turbo conversion that will crank the 458's power up to a staggering 550kW at 8400rpm and 721Nm at 5600rpm.

The Hennessey-converted HPE700 Twin Turbo 458 will officially scamper to 60mph in 2.8 seconds, meaning a 0 to 100km/h time of around 3 seconds is alarmingly likely.

Underneath the custom-made carbon-fibre covers lie low-inertia ball-bearing turbochargers, twin wastegates and blow-off valves, a trick aluminium plenum that
contains the air-to-water charge-cooler element and a rear-mounted heat exchanger paired with dual electric fans that work to reduce inlet temperatures that come with a
maximum boost pressure of 7psi, and holding 6psi through the 4.5-litre V8's 9000rpm redline.

Further personalisation will be possible with optional upgrades including Hennessey's
''CarbonAero'' exterior pieces consisting of a carbon-fibre front splitter and rear lip spoiler.

Of course, stupidly large 20-inch monoblock forged alloy wheels are available, as is a KW
suspension system with 2-way adjustable shocks.

Interior upgrades can be as extensive (and, no doubt, tasteless ... ) as the buyer desires, with custom leather/Alcantara colour combinations, special stitch patterns and carbon-fibre trim for the dash and instrument cluster.

The HPE700 Twin Turbo upgrade sells for US$59,995 ($74,000) installed and includes
a 1-year/12,000-mile limited warranty and full dyno tuning and road testing. Serial-numbered aluminium plaques for the engine compartment and dash are part of the upgrade.

Goodbye Kombi

Sad news for fans of ancient hippie vans long past their use-by dates _ the Volkswagen Kombi is about to end its 56-year production run in Brazil.

While the iconic VW Type 2 has been in production in Brazil for 56 years, it has actually been made somewhere in the world for 64 years. It was introduced in 1950 and as the name suggests was only Volkswagen's second model, following on from the Beetle (or
Type 1).

It is a rare thing that a vehicle can hang around so long that it fails to meet Brazil's safety standards, but that is what has happened to the elderly Type 2 as it simply cannot be
bought up to standard.

Despite the fact that the flat-four boxer engine was replaced by a more modern water-cooled in-line four that runs on sugar-cane alcohol (and produces a massive 60kW), the Type 2 remained rear-engined to the end, meaning that not only does it die in December
this year, so does VW's unbroken run of rear-engined production that has lasted 78 years.

VW will produce 600 ''Last Edition'' Type 2s and will sell them for US$36,000 ($44,000), roughly double the cost of a standard one.

Farewell old friend, your slow, wheezy progress will be sorely missed. By someone ...

We are the world

*It would seem logical that an open umbrella may not be the most sensible choice of
sunshade for motorcyclists, but that doesn't seem to be the train of thought in China, where police are having to crack down on umbrella-using motorcyclists hiding from the heat in such an unwise fashion. ''They aren't happy about it,'' said a police spokesman, ''they can wear hats or use high factor sun cream. There are lots of legal alternatives.''

*The US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently shut down the All Nations Coach company following a series of complaints that culminated with 53 customers being dumped at a truckstop at midnight and left there for a day after a bus breakdown. Oddly enough, the FMCSA had previously shut down a bus company called Tichy Express that just happened to have the exact same buses, drivers and even the same owner. Some people never learn ...

*James Bagarozzo was a parking meter repair man with a serious retirement plan; he had
rigged dozens of machines in New York so that the deposited coins never reached the coin canister, allowing him to retrieve the money himself.
Unfortunately for him though, the FBI discovered his ploy and he has recently been jailed for two-and-a-half years for pilfering more than US$210,000 ($258,000) in spare change.

Number Crunching

11,000 CORTINAS The number sold in 1983, the year Ford Sierra replaced it.

6 CORTINAS The number sold in 1987, five years after it had gone out of production.

1 CORTINA The last ''new'' Cortina sold in 2005, 12 years after the Sierra had gone out of
production.

2.6m CORTINAS The number sold worldwide during Cortina's 20-year production.