New Package

Ford Performance introduces new leveling kits for F-150 and Ranger

Eileen Falkenberg-Hull
Oct 1, 2019, 11:19 am

Ford is giving the Ranger and F-150 available off-road leveling kits.

Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company
Going off the beaten path is about to get more comfortable for Ranger and F-150 owners thanks to new Ford Performance off-road leveling suspension kits.

"Truck customers are asking for options for increased capability and customization, and the new leveling suspension kits for Ranger and F-150 deliver on that need," said Eric Cin, global director, Ford Vehicle Personalization and Accessories.

Most Ford trucks are purchased with four-wheel drive. The new kits add increased ground clearance, improved off-road performance, and parts that are covered by a factory warranty and does not void your current vehicle warranty upon installation.

2019 Ford Ranger & 2019 Ford F-150

2019 Ford Ranger and 2019 Ford F-150 off-road leveling kit

Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company

Ford is selling new Ford Performance off-road leveling suspension kits for the Ranger and F-150.

Each kit includes:

  • New aluminum FOX shock bodies are designed to provide ample cooling capacity over rough terrain
  • New front coilover springs deliver optimal spring rate
  • Vehicle-specific upper front mounts with polyurethane bushings work to help isolate noise and vibration
  • 2-inch front lift levels the truck from front to rear
The kits also improve the brake-over angle of the trucks. According to the automaker, Ranger gets an approximately 21 percent increase in approach angle and a 10 percent increase in breakover angle. F-150 has its approach angle increased by 22 percent and its breaker angle increased by 7 percent.

Before the cost of installation, Ford is selling each kit for $1,495. Kits are designed to be installed at dealerships. Sales begin later this fall.

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Eco Warriors

Ford partnering with McDonalds to recycle coffee beans, create car parts with them

Soon, you'll be able to drive away from McDonald's with your coffee in a Ford car made from the fast food giant's leftovers.

Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company

I'm lovin' it! Ford Motor Company and McDonald's are teaming up to recycle the millions of pounds of coffee chaff leftover from the fast food giant's food service. The automaker and its suppliers will use the chaff in the creation of various auto parts, including headlamp housings and hood components.

The chaff is the skin of the coffee bean that naturally comes off during the roasting process. The companies found that they could convert the chaff info a durable material that can be used to safely reinforce vehicle parts.

Ford Motor Company McDonald's Ford Motor Company and McDonald's will soon be giving vehicles a caffeine boost by using part of a familiar staple in the morning routine, coffee beans, in vehicle parts such as headlamp housing.Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company

This isn't the first time that Ford has used recycled materials in their vehicles. A few years ago the company was touting its use of tomato skins and soy in the Ford Mustang.

How does it work? The chaff is heated to high temperatures under low oxygen conditions. Then plastic and other additives are added in turning the product into pellets. Those pellets are then formed into various shapes.

The new components created using the chaff-based compound are 20 percent lighter and require 25 percent less energy during the molding process.

"McDonald's commitment to innovation was impressive to us and matched our own forward-thinking vision and action for sustainability," said Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical leader, sustainability and emerging materials research team. "This has been a priority for Ford for over 20 years, and this is an example of jump starting the closed-loop economy, where different industries work together and exchange materials that otherwise would be side or waste products."

McDonald's is expected to direct a significant portion of its coffee chaff in North America to Ford to be incorporated into vehicle parts. Other involved companies include Varroc Lighting Systems, which supplies the headlamps, and Competitive Green Technologies, the processor of the coffee chaff.

"Like McDonald's, Ford is committed to minimizing waste and we're always looking for innovative ways to further that goal," said Ian Olson, senior director, global sustainability, McDonald's. "By finding a way to use coffee chaff as a resource, we are elevating how companies together can increase participation in the closed-loop economy."

They're not stopping there. McDonald's and Ford are continuing to find new ways to collaboratively use waste as a resource, while furthering their respective sustainability goals.

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Hollywood

Peek at the 2020 Pirelli calendar, art film by Paolo Roversi

This year, there isn't just a calendar. Pirelli has also produced a short film.

Photo courtesy of Pirelli

In fair Verona, Pirelli unveiled the 2020 Pirelli Calendar. Featuring a "Looking for Juliet" theme, the calendar features many of the world's top film stars including Claire Foy, Mia Goth, Chris Lee, Indya Moore, Rosalía, Stella Roversi, Yara Shahidi, Kristen Stewart and Emma Watson.

This is the 47th edition of TheCal, as its colloquially known.

Alongside the calendar, calendar creator Paolo Roversi showed his new short film that follows the same theme as the calendar, merging photography and cinematography. The 18-minute short features Roversi playing himself as a director interviewing candidates for the role of Juliet.

Here's how Pirelli describes the film:

"The scenario unfolds in two phases. In the first, the protagonists are shown arriving at the set, without makeup or costume. They sit and talk with Roversi about the project under way, each one vying to be chosen, telling the director about their personal experiences and how they envisage Juliet. In this way, the actresses reveal their intimate, personal side. In the second phase they put on the costumes devised to transform them for their personal interpretation of Shakespeare's heroine. The idea is to portray a story in which reality and fiction dovetail and their distinctions blur, as in a hazy photograph."

"I was looking for a pure soul, someone full of innocence that combined strength, beauty, tenderness and courage," said Roversi. "I found this in the glimmer of an eye, in the gestures and words of Emma and Yara, Indya and Mia and in the smiles and tears of Kristen and Claire…in the voices and chants of Chris and Rosalía. In Stella we have the innocence. There's a Juliet in every woman ... and I will never stop looking for her."

The photo and video shoot took place in May in Verona. The 2020 calendar is the first to be created by an Italian photographer. Past calendars have been shot by masters of the craft including Annie Leibovitz, Herb Ritts, Mario Testino, and Terry Richardson.

Check out this extended look at the production of the calendar:

It is comprised of 132 pages. The monthly calendar is on the cover and then there are sections of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" followed by 58 photos featuring a storied imagining of "Romeo and Juliet" in Verona. The scope of the project was informed by Roversi's love of opera.

The many behind-the-scenes moments during the photo-shoots and filming, along with the characters and backstage stories of the 2020 Pirelli Calendar can be found online at the dedicated site www.pirellicalendar.com, which also offers the chance to explore the over fifty-year history of The Calâ„¢ with films, interviews, photographs, and hitherto unpublished texts.