Those who know me well are likely a little surprised to see all these Ford posts from me lately. You don’t know me to be a car gal. Little known fact: I used to be into cars. I had posters of Lamborghinis and Jaguars on my wall. I photographed MGB’s and Mustang convertibles driving by on road trips when I was not yet a driver. I was married to a car guy, a mechanic who owned an old Ford Ranger (84?) when we met and until he was employed elsewhere was a Ford man. I liked cars. But I like the environment more, so my interest in cars waned. With recent strides in efficiency and other green efforts, especially by Ford, my interest has begun to build.

So ya, I like cars. Fuel-efficient and alternative fuel cars especially. Not having affordable or accessible options available to me for driving the hilly longer distances required of Nova Scotia drivers, I bought a 2012 Focus. I average 7.6 liters/100km. Not bad.

But am I a truck gal? I’m all about driving purpose-driven vehicles. If you need a truck, by all means, drive a truck! If you don’t, why drive something that consumes so much energy? That being said, after my getaway to #FordNAIAS and a short subsequent road trip, I returned home to snowbanks blocking my driveway. They were small crusty snowbanks. My friend’s truck would have handled it no problem!

The 2014 Ford Atlas concept… would have eaten the snow in my driveway for breakfast and gone looking for more!

[cincopa AwNAkErV_cil]

When Ford Canada invited me to the North American International Auto Show, I was thrilled. Besides taking in The Henry Ford while there, what excited me most was the unveiling of some of the concept vehicles. With limited time, I only caught a few, but the Ford Atlas was our focal point. With our media credentials verified we were escorted to the press show. Talk about impressive! We saw the Transit and Transit Connect in their glory, then the highlight… the Ford Atlas concept truck. Spectacular!

This video will show you what Ford’s unveiling of this gorgeous truck involved. I was awestruck to be honest. I could see how a truck lover would be excited.

A few interesting facts about the Ford Atlas:

Photo compliments of Ford

• Tailgate step turns into cargo cradle to carry long items – < no more balancing long items on the tailgate and hoping they don’t break or go flying with the force of inertia! >
• 360-degree camera helps steer truck in tight spots < this in itself could help me overcome my fear of driving big trucks 😉 >
• Power-deployable running boards < how cool is that? >
• Intelligent Access unlocks doors and tailgate when you walk up < so I’m a bit of a technology geek, I think this is really cool >
• Work glove-friendly truck-specific MyFord Touch < more tech geek stuff, I know 😉 >
• Rain-sensing wipers < !!! too cool !!! >
• Text-to-voice capability < your truck could read stuff to you! 😉 >

After the unveiling we headed to the COBO Centre for the auto show. I’ll include photos of the rest of the show in a subsequent post for now let’s stick with Ford.

To be honest, the classic 1948 F-100 pickup in the COBO Centre had me drooling. < I know, I know, there is nothing fuel efficient or green about that truck… but a girl is allowed her weaknesses 😉 >

[cincopa A0LAgFb6_oVt]

I had my photo taken sitting in my red 2014 Mustang Shelby convertible, and made a few photos of the eye candy that Mustangs really are. < More weaknesses, I know. >

Photo compliments of @wedding_crasher

For Day 1 of the FordNAIAS digital summit, click here

For the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, click here

A recap of the rest of Day 2 can be found here

To read the FordNAIAS Wrapup click here

My travel and expenses to the Ford Digital Summit were covered by Ford, however I was not compensated in anyway for my time or this post. Opinions expressed are my own.

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