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2015 Ford Mustang invades SEMA, led by King Cobra

Ford showcased more than a dozen customized 2015 Mustangs at its sprawling 20,000-square foot display this week at the Las Vegas Convention Center as the iconic pony car's 50th anniversary celebration continued at the SEMA Show.
While Mustangs are always a hot commodity at SEMA, the new generation brought increased attention from the aftermarket, as builders like Galpin Auto Sports, Richard Petty's Garage and Vaughn Gittin Jr. offered their takes on the new 'Stang.
The extensive display included a range of Mustangs from mild to wild, with everything from a 600-plus horsepower King Cobra pictured at the top, to paint-and-wheel packages. The new regal Cobra, which we spied early in our SEMA adventure this year, may not be the replacement for the Cobra Jet as we speculated, but it does seem to point the way forward for the next iteration of a supreme Ford dragster. Fat drag slicks out back make it's reason for being abundantly clear, and for tells us that modded car is good for a 10.97-second quarter-mile run.

The fascinating forgotten civil defense history of Mister Softee trucks

Hemmings came across an interesting article from the Throwin' Wrenches blog about the intersection of ice cream, cars and civic duty in America's late 1950s. In particular, it focuses on the Mister Softee trucks, which criss-crossed neighborhoods of the eastern US serving ice cream. Looking past the ultra-durable vehicles used - heavy-duty Ford-based chassis, for what it's worth - the article delves into some deeper national-security territory.
See, Mister Softee truck owners were voluntary members of the Civil Defense, thanks to all the useful stuff (potable water, generators, freezers and fridges) that the machines carried with them for serving ice cream. Click over to Throwin' Wrenches for the full run down of how Mister Softee would have stepped in to help fight if the Cold War ever turned a little hotter.

Shelby American cleans house of 14 concept cars

Typically when an automaker rolls out a concept car or pre-production prototype, it does its tour and then disappears into the company's archives. Maybe it will be displayed for the public to see in the company's own museum or maybe it will spend most of its time under covers in a warehouse somewhere, but every once in a while, an automaker will open up its history and start selling off its concept cars. For Shelby American, "once in a while" has just rolled around.
The House that Carroll Built is moving from its previous headquarters at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to a new facility off of the Las Vegas strip, and in the process is liquidating fourteen of the rarest cars in its collection. That presents a tremendous opportunity for muscle car collectors to bring one or more of these snakes home.
As you might expect, the catalog is composed mostly of Mustangs, but not exclusively. There's a pair of 289 Cobras: the last of the 50th anniversary slab-sided continuation cars and an original development vehicle, offered at $200,000 apiece. At the other end of the spectrum you'll find the 2013 Shelby Raptor concept for $125k and Focus concept for $50k. And of course there are the Mustangs.