Autoblog

Have you stopped by your local Ford dealer lately to check out the hot new Shelby GT500? The 5.4-supercharged-liter Mustang that brings Carroll Shelby back to Ford directly, as opposed through the rental fleets? The Mustang that promises Corvette performance at half the price? The most powerful factory Mustang ever? What's not to like, right? Have you seen the 20 grand markups they're demanding? Well, come right over here, my friend. We have something that might cheer you up a bit. A very detailed scale model of your beloved supercharged 'Stang produced by the folks at the Franklin Mint. It has all of the bold styling and go-fast hardware of the full scale version, albeit in a non-functional form (d'oh!). The best part is that it can be yours at MSRP. And the cost is only a fraction of the driveable one at just $120. Limited to only 5,000 units, we found it odd that it's listed as being on backorder through the Franklin Mint website. Can dealer markups for this pint-sized pony car be far behind? Click on over to the Mint website to get on the list and read the full release after the jump for more details.

[Source: Franklin Mint]

SEMA just announced its Design Awards for this year's show. The Design Awards are designed to acknowledge the most accessory friendly vehicles for 2007. There were four categories this year as Hybrids joined Cars, Pickups, and SUVs as eligible segments. Not necessarily the BEST designed vehicles in each class, this being SEMA the focus is on how they can be customized. So recipients might not be what everybody would immediately think of when Best and Design are mentioned together. This year's winners were the Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang, the '07 Toyota Tundra, the 4-door Jeep Wrangler, and the Chevy Silverado Hybrid. And in the People's Choice category, which is just labeled Car, the Honda Civic took the honors.

Follow the jump for the other winners.