With a mix of cutting edge performance, incredible styling and Built Ford Tough engineering, Ford vehicles are boldly leading the pack and racking up awards. The latest: top honors for Ford Focus, Mustang and F-150 at the massive 2018 Special Equipment Market Association show, going on this week in Las Vegas.

Formed in 1963, SEMA was founded as an association of motorsports, accessory and automotive component manufacturers with the original goal of developing uniform standards for products used to boost vehicle performance. First held in the basement of Dodger Stadium soon after the group was founded, the SEMA show moved to the Las Vegas Convention Center in 1977. Today the annual show attracts over 60,000 attendees, who can browse over one million square feet of display space. Fabrication shops, speed equipment manufacturers and automakers all host elaborate booths packed with the latest custom cars, accessories and technology.

Ford’s SEMA booth has been the largest of any automaker for several years now. For 2018, they have over 50 cars, trucks and SUVs on display, including a large collection of new and vintage custom Fords, nipped and tucked by some of the country’s top fabrication shops.

Every year, the SEMA show awards Vehicle of the Year Awards, with attendees voting on each category. 

Ford F-150 — the company’s best selling vehicle — was named the SEMA Truck of the Year for 2018. It’s the eighth time in SEMA show history that Ford F-150 has captured the coveted award.

Ford Mustang, which is the world’s best selling sports coupe, recently celebrating the 10 millionth example sold worldwide since the model debuted in 1964, was named SEMA Car of the Year for 2018. It’s the fourth time Ford Mustang has been named Car of the Year at SEMA. It’s also been named SEMA’s Sports Coupe of the Year twice.

The Ford Focus, with its attention-grabbing ST and RS high performance models, came home with SEMA’s Sport Compact of the Year prize for 2018. It’s the fourth award from SEMA for Ford Focus in the Sport Compact and Sport Hatchback categories.

“We are honored that SEMA Show exhibitors have bestowed Ford with these prestigious awards,” said Ford Performance Global Director Hermann Salenbauch. “We make a point of embracing the aftermarket and appreciate this endorsement from the SEMA community as we strive to keep our best-selling nameplates among the most customized vehicles around the world.”

“Ford vehicles serve as great platforms for personalization, evident by the three SEMA Awards announced today,” said SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting. “Regardless of whether drivers are choosing a car, truck or sport compact vehicle, they can be confident in knowing there’s a tremendous range of options for customization when they select a Ford vehicle.”

Want to get in on some of that award-winning performance behind the wheel of a new F-150, Mustang or Focus? Then come see us at McLarty Daniel Ford. Whether you need a workhorse truck or a canyon carving performance car, we’ve got the selection, deals and service after the sale you’re looking for. Stop in today for a test drive, or check out our big selection of new and used cars online right now!

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With Halloween just around the corner, it’s natural that a lot of minds are on the mysterious, the spooky and Things That Go Bump in the Night. Arkansas has a long, rich tradition of storytelling, and a big part of those campfire tales is telling stories of roaming spirits and restless ghosts. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, there are several places in Arkansas where tradition and eyewitnesses claim the dead still roam. It’s easy to take those claims with a grain of salt… until you see something yourself. Seen below are a few places in Arkansas which have staked a claim as some of the most haunted locations in the state. In need a car, truck, van or SUV to get you and your fellow ghost hunters there in style and safety? Stop in today at McLarty Daniel Ford, where our great selection and commitment to customer service will make you a customer for life!

THE ALLEN HOUSE
Monticello
Situated in the far Southeast corner of the state, Monticello’s magnificent Allen House was completed in 1906 by prosperous local businessman Joe Lee Allen. One of the state’s most beautiful examples of Queen Anne style architecture, the massive North Main Street mansion house would be host to more than its share of tragedy over the years, including the deaths of several of Allen’s children. This includes daughter LaDell Allen, who poisoned herself with mercury cyanide in the house in 1948 and is rumored to haunt the house. Tenants, including the current owners, have seen and heard strange and unexplainable things there including the vision of a woman in an upstairs window, dark shadows that flit from room to room, and — most disturbingly — dopplegangers that seem to take the form of flesh-and-blood occupants of the house before disappearing. For more information, visit their website at: allenhousemonticello.com

ST. FRANCIS COUNTY MUSEUM
Forrest City
Though it seems fairly unimaginable to us today, there was a time when the best medical help available to most Arkansans came in the form of small-town doctors working with primitive techniques and medicines, sometimes hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital. The St. Francis County Museum, located in the Rush-Gates House at 603 Front Street in Forrest City, used to be the office and clinic of one of these pioneering physicians: Doctor J.O. Rush, who treated both the local sick and injured, as well as workers along the nearby railroad. Soon after the museum opened in 1997, visitors and workers there started reporting strange and unexplained events in the house, including glimpses of shadowy figures, books that toppled from shelves as if pulled down by unseen hands, and strange noises. Though the building’s long association with suffering and mortality may have had something to do with the paranormal goings-on there, some suggest another culprit may be an unhappy spook or specter associated with the museum’s extensive collection of Native American artifacts, where were gathered from the surrounding countryside by Dr. Rush himself and later donated to the museum.

KING OPERA HOUSE
427 Main Street, Van Buren
Though Van Buren today is a town full of restaurants, parks and quaint shops, there was a time when Van Buren was on the frontier — the last waystation between the relative safety and security of Arkansas and the wild and lawless territories beyond. As such, Van Buren saw plentiful violence and bloodshed in the old days, and its said some of that troubled energy stuck around at Van Buren’s King Opera House. Completed in 1880, the restored Van Buren Opera House once served as one of the town’s prime entertainment venues in the days before movies and television, hosting everything from Shakespeare to vaudeville for the masses. Like a lot of old theaters, King Opera House has developed a reputation for being haunted over the years, with eyewitnesses reporting lights flipped on and off by unseen hands, spectral figures sitting in the audience during rehearsals, and the ghostly apparition of a young man dressed in a Victorian top hat and black silk cape. Though it’s hard to separate fact from folklore these days, some say the young man is the ghost of a travelling vaudevillian who fell in love with the daughter of a local doctor while performing at King Opera House. When he found out his daughter planned to elope with the performer, it’s said the doctor killed the actor in a fit of rage, with his spirit returning to haunt the theater where he and the girl first met.

THE CROSSETT LIGHT
Near Crossett in Ashley County
One of the most enduring legends of the American South are so-called “spooklights” — round, glowing lights that hover in certain places on moonless nights, drawing in the curious while remaining stubbornly out of reach and unexplained. In Arkansas, one of these ghostly glows is the Crossett Light, a hovering ball of light that haunts former railroad tracks just outside Crossett in Southeast Arkansas. Less famous than the Gurdon Light in Clark County, the Crossett Light is no less spectacular and mysterious, with attempts to explain it working out no better than they have in Gurdon. Seemingly the size of a basketball, the Crossett Light hovers two to three feet off the ground along a raised grade where railroad tracks once ran, with the association with trains leading to the familiar explanation that it is the swinging lantern of a ghostly railroad worker who was killed in an accident and is now looking for his head. The Crossett Light has been seen by tens of thousands of witnesses since it was first noticed in the early 1900s, with the color ranging from yellow to blue-green. If a viewer tries to approach the light, it is said that it will disappear, only to reappear a little further away. Explanations over the years have ranged from ignited swamp gas to a trick of the eye caused by the uneven terrain and car headlights in the distance — though the car theory wouldn’t account for how the light was seen before automobiles became common in the area.

Arkansas in the fall is full of strange and mysterious things to see, do and experience, and your friends in the car business at McLarty Daniel Ford can help you get out there and find adventure in a great new or used car, truck, van or SUV! Stop in today and check out our big selection in person, or shop us online for the best deals. We’ll keep the (spook)light on for you! Happy Halloween!

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There was a day when having a four-cylinder engine under the hood meant anemic performance and sluggish acceleration, especially under a load. That said, Ford Motor Company has taken the lead in recent years in showing that power can come in ever-smaller packages. Thanks to modern engineering and the use of power adders like today’s next-generation turbocharger systems, Ford four-cylinder and V6 engines have been posting massive and reliable horsepower and torque, all while maintaining world-beating fuel economy.

Ford recently announced another feather in the cap of that smaller-is-smarter philosophy when they posted the towing and hauling numbers for the all-new 2019 Ford Ranger, the much-anticipated rebirth of the classic mid-size truck nameplate that’s in production now and will be on dealer lots by this winter. Simply put, the news is big.

Standard power under the hood of the 2019 Ranger is the 2.3-liter EcoBoost turbocharged four cylinder, with 270 horsepower and 310 lb.-ft of tow-hungry torque. It’s the only available engine combo in the 2019 Ranger, but those who were worried the 2019 Ranger wouldn’t be able to hang with V6 powered competitors like the Chevy Colorado and Toyota Tundra can cool their jets.

In addition to the 2019 Ford Ranger’s best-in-class gasoline torque numbers, Ford has announced that the 2019 Ford Ranger’s 2.3-liter four has also claimed the towing and hauling crown in the segment, with best-in-class gasoline max hauling of 1,860 pounds, and best-in-class gasoline max towing up 7,500 pounds when properly equipped with the available tow package and integrated trailer brake. Those numbers soundly beat every competitor in the midsize truck segment, including V6 powered competitors.

Backed by Ford’s revolutionary and class-exclusive 10-speed automatic transmission to keep that small-but-mighty power plant in the horsepower and torque sweet spot no matter what the road demands and built on a high-strength steel frame with a solid rear axle and Hotchkiss suspension, the 2019 Ford Ranger is poised to be a game changer in the world of mid-sized trucks, pushing the envelope of capability, performance and what a smaller truck can be expected to deliver.

It’s another way Ford is helping drive America into the future, and the latest in a long list of details and features that have us excited to drive the all-new 2019 Ford Ranger. Are you ready to buy a 2019 Ford Ranger in Fayetteville, Springdale, or Rogers, Arkansas? If so, stop in today at McLarty Daniel Ford in Bentonville and see how we can put you in the driver’s seat the day the first ’19 Ranger models roll off the transports. For now, check out our big selection of great Ford trucks online, or visit our online finance department to get the process started right now.

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Fall is here, and that means a lot of things are back on the menu: Halloween candy, sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes and — best of all — tailgating before the big game! As the name suggests, Tailgating has always been built around trucks and SUVs, with diehard fans competing to see who can make the biggest, best and most delicious pop-up presentation of their team spirit. The result are tent cities that spring up virtually overnight, with a massive spread laid out for fans to share and share alike.

If you’re in need of a new tailgate to get your tailgate on this fall, stop in today at McLarty Daniel Ford. From the beautiful 2019 Ford F-150 to the sleek performance of the twin-turbo 2019 Ford Edge ST, we’re bound to have the four-wheeled friend that can make a great impression at the pregame celebration, whether you want it in Razorback Red or Bentonville High Black and Gold (go Tigers!). Stop in today for a test drive, or check out our big selection online. For now, though, read on for six steps for making your tailgate party an epic touchdown!

Pre-game your pre-game
Planning makes perfect, and that goes double for a big event like tailgating. With that in mind, spend a few days getting your equipment checked out and ready, especially if you’re heading out for the first tailgate of the season. Are your folding chairs and canopy in good condition and still holding together? Does your generator have gas? Will it start? Are you sure? Do you have folding tables? Is your ice chest still shipshape? Do you have drink options for kids, or those who might not want adult beverages? What’s the weather looking like? Do you have enough food for the masses? Do you have enough propane for your cookers? Have you done everything you can to get the word out on social media? Considering all these factors (and about a hundred more) will make the difference between being a tailgate hero or zero.

Get your Game Day decor and attire up to snuff
Tailgating is about creating an atmosphere of fun and support for the team, helping both you and the folks who wander past your tailgate feel pumped up and energized before they head to their seats. With that in mind, be sure to put your best foot forward by wearing the team colors, blasting the fight song and other party anthems, and making sure your tailgate is decked out in flags, signs, jerseys and anything else you can think of to keep the energy pumped to 11. Some tailgaters even set up big-screen TVs playing highlight reels from great games of the past, or video game systems so passerby can play a little (digital) football themselves. Be creative!

Go long on presentation
This one is kind of an addendum to the one about Game Day decor, but don’t overlook how important it is to present your food offerings in a fun and team-spirit-promoting way. The most ambitious tailgaters we know go all out to pump up the energy around their food table, going so far as to build replicas of the stadium from dip trays and sandwiches, football-shaped cheese balls, massive brownies baked in the shape of the number of their favorite player, or intricate cakes designed to replicate coaches, trophies or teams on the field. It takes extra time to create, transport and assemble some of the more intricate food presentations, but it can be a kind of edible artwork for those who love to cook. Bonus advice: be sure to keep the food that’s supposed to be hot hot! From Sterno cans to camp stoves, there’s ways to do so safely and easily, and nobody likes a bowl of lukewarm chili or cheese dip.

Scope out the nearest Gettin’ Place
When you’re getting ready for a big event that might be taking place miles from home, it never fails to that no matter how meticulously you plan, you’re going to forget something! Foil. Cooking spray. Plastic forks. That special condiment you just gotta have on your bratwurst or burger. Even the most prepared among us aren’t immune to forgetting something. So spend some time online before the game to scope out the neighborhood around the stadium and find where you can get those last-minute items, especially if you’re tailgating in a city you don’t know. Nothing is worse than rushing 30 minutes to a store on the edge of town and then learning there was a grocery store with everything you needed just up the block from the stadium. Also: be sure to have a young and energetic go-fer on hand with a car stationed nearby to go get those things you may have forgotten.

Get there early and have activities to kill the extra time
As in real-estate, one of the most important things in tailgating is location, location, location. The most diehard fans actually arrive days before the game, snagging all the best spots nearest the stadium. Lest you wind up tailgating so far from the venue you need binoculars to see it, get there early to get a great location on the tailgating grounds. And because getting there early means having a lot of time to kill before the game, be sure to bring things to pass the time, like cornhole boards, horseshoes and stakes, or giant Jenga sets, even TVs and video game consoles. Not only will games make the anxious hours before the big game pass faster, they will promote friendly competition and good times between you and other fans. Isn’t making great memories and new friends what it’s all about?

Clean up your mess
Nothing is worse for team and city morale than driving past a location that has just hosted thousands of jubilant tailgaters and seeing the ground littered with cans, bottles, paper and plastic trash. Not only is it ugly, it reflects badly on the fans and the team. So if you’re going to tailgate, be sure to follow the Boy Scout campsite rule: try to leave the place you tailgate in as good or even better condition than when you arrived. That means bringing plenty of garbage bags, having provisions to take your trash with you if garbage cans on site are filled to capacity, and picking up any garbage you see in your area, even if you didn’t help make it. Doing your part will not only make sure tailgaters are welcomed back to the area with open arms, it’ll reflect well on you, your team, and their fan base.

With these simple steps and a little preparation, you can put your tailgate plans in the win column for you, your guests and other fans, cutting down tremendously on frustration prior to cheering on your team. And if you need a new tailgate to tailgate on, come see us at McLarty Daniel Ford in Bentonville. We’ve got a huge selection of great new and used cars, all of them ready to impress the other fans before kickoff, and at prices that will leave you plenty of cash for brats, cupcakes and supplies. Stop in today for a test drive, or check out our big selection online today!

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For years, science fiction has speculated on the ways artificial intelligence — the ability of computers to “think,” reason and make complicated decisions — will affect our day-to-day lives. While some of the more out-there of those speculations have gone very dark indeed (hello, Terminator!), the reality is: modern industry and even consumer products are poised to be transformed by the advent of thinking computers.

One case in point is the all-wheel-drive disconnect system on the new 2019 Ford Edge and high performance 2019 Ford Edge ST. Designed to help improve gas-mileage in all-wheel-drive vehicles, which historically have had lower mile-per-gallon fuel economy than their two-wheel drive counterparts, the system uses a basic form of artificial intelligence computing to almost instantaneously “know” when to go from all-wheel-drive to two-wheel drive, allowing for added traction when it is needed and better fuel economy when it’s not.

A first for a Ford vehicle, the all-wheel-drive disconnect system can switch between all-wheel-drive to front-wheel-drive and back again in less than 10 milliseconds with no input from the driver, while giving those inside the 2019 Ford Edge zero sign that the change from 4×4 to 4×2 is happening. The system works through a newly developed electronic “brain” which receives input from dozens of sensors located throughout the vehicle calculating hundreds of factors, including detecting the degree of wheel slippage, road conditions, anti-lock brake input, vehicle speed, windshield wiper usage, whether a trailer is in tow, outside temperature and more. The computer then uses a form of artificial intelligence called “fuzzy logic” to sift this constant stream of data and make the call to either turn off or turn on the all-wheel-drive system. Depending on that “decision,” which can be made over 50 times faster than the blink of a human eye, the computer can then allocate torque to individual wheels, including routing 100 percent of engine power to the front wheels if traction demands are low.

“‘Fuzzy logic’ refers to the algorithm,” said Scott Beiring, Ford driveline applications supervisor. “It’s like you or I determining what to wear based on reading a weather forecast, where we’re going, the time of year and looking outside. In the case of the new Edge, just because the windshield wipers are on doesn’t mean all-wheel drive is going to engage. The algorithm makes the call based on a variety of things that are happening – but much faster than a person could process.”

The result of the technology is the best-ever fuel economy for an all-wheel-drive Ford Edge, with an estimated 19 mpg city and 26 mpg highway for the 2019 model year. Also helping keep mileage low on the 2019 Ford Edge and 2019 Ford Edge ST is a new 8-speed automatic transmission with double overdrive gears, an active transmission warm up system that uses engine heat to help the transmission reach operating temperature faster, and a new synthetic, ultra-low viscosity transmission fluid developed specifically for the 2019 Edge. The 2019 Ford Edge also includes active grille shutters, a full underbody shield and air curtains to improve aerodynamics and reduce drag.

It’s just one more way the engineers at Ford are pushing the Blue Oval brand boldly into tomorrow. If you’re looking to buy a 2019 Ford Edge in Fayetteville or Rogers, stop in today at McLarty Daniel Ford of Bentonville. The 2019 Ford Edge and high-performance, twin-turbo 2019 Ford Edge ST won’t start arriving on the lot until later this fall, but we can get you set up to be the first in town to get the keys to one of these incredible new machines from Ford. Stop in today and speak to one of our sales associates, or shop our big selection online today! 

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Every day, in everything he does, the mind of McLarty Daniel Ford of Bentonville General Manager Jason Hooe is on the Four-Oh-Nine. That’s what he calls the philosophy he came up with during his 14 years at the dealership, and his two decades in the car business. Since he became General Manager at McLarty Daniel Ford, he’s made the 409 the heart of the culture.

Click here to shop our selection of new Ford vehicles

“The 409 is this,” Hooe said, “I’ve got 97 employees who work here under this roof. If you take those 97 employees and multiply that by the national household size, that means this business is responsible for 409 people: wives, husbands, children.”

Those 409 people, Hooe said, have things going on in their lives: births, deaths, weddings, illnesses. But every one of them depends a little or a lot on the continued success of McLarty Daniel Ford. And for that reason, every person who works there is committed to keeping the dealership strong by making sure customers stay satisfied enough to become customers for life.

That’s not only a commitment from one employee to another, Hooe said. It’s a commitment to understanding that the customer has the right and ability to hire and fire McLarty Daniel Ford every time they walk through the door or open their phone to write a review of the dealership. “We’re very vested in making sure that our reputation is not a reputation of five stars because we paid for them,” he said. “We want a reputation of five stars because we earned them.”

Hooe has worked in several different departments at the dealership since starting there 14 years ago. He started out in the car business as a detailer, moved into sales, and worked his way up to General Manager at McLarty Daniel Ford through a little luck and a determination to get it right. The luck comes into play in that he happened to be exactly the right age to get in on the ground floor of the monumental changes the Internet had in store for the way cars are sold.

“Fortunately I am of the right age to have been old enough and young enough to have been at the very cutting edge of the Internet age of the car business,” he said. “The guys that were older than me couldn’t figure it out or were having a hard time translating it… They were saying: ‘What’s this internet deal? I can barely figure out my email much less figure out the internet.’ But I did understand it was valuable because it was how I communicated with my friends, and it was how I started shopping [online].” Soon, Hooe was promoted to a position as the dealership’s first Internet Manager.

Hooe said the Internet has taken car sales from an inefficient, dealer-focused experience and turned it into an efficient, customer-focused experience. “The consumer has the capacity within ten seconds to tell me what the most efficient price is,” he said. “It has put the power in their hands. It has allowed us to turn a lot more volume, but there’s a lot lower revenue. I’m good with that. I’d rather be a dealership that’s a high-volume, high velocity store, and sell to everybody at the most aggressive price point that we can. That’s what the internet has done.”

Hooe said he counts himself fortunate to have been in the business long enough to see the last of the “old breed” car salespeople, and to know it was not for him. “I was a very young man, but I got to touch that culture, and I got to reject it,” he said. “My generation are the ones that got to put the power back in the customer’s hands, and that allowed for a lot more transparency in the transaction, allowing the consumer to have a better understanding and more peace about their decision to do business with us.”

On a shelf in his office, Hooe keeps two things that he said are very important to him. One is a die-cast replica of the 1979 Ford F-150 truck that Walmart founder Sam Walton drove for over a decade until his death. A little digging by Hooe confirmed that Walton’s real F-150, an icon which is currently on display at the Walmart Museum in downtown Bentonville, was personally purchased by Walton from the same lot that’s now McLarty Daniel Ford.

“That was kind of a local legend, so I called the old owner [of the dealership], Ron Blackwell,” Hooe said. “He’s a local guy who is still tied into the community. I reached out to him and asked him to confirm that, and sure enough, the famous truck was bought here. I’m so proud of that little truck. I know it’s not ours, it’s Sam’s. But look, I work on Walton Boulevard. Maybe that truck’s not famous anywhere else. But to me, that truck means the world. He bought that truck from here. He serviced that truck here. That truck still speaks to this community today. So I’m very proud of that little Ford F-150.”

Another thing Hooe keeps in his office features another famous Sam: a copy of the famous Dr. Seuss book, “Green Eggs and Ham.” In it, a character named Sam I Am asks another character over 100 different ways if he would like to try green eggs and ham. Spoiler Alert: in the end, the character tries the dish and loves it. Though the book is for children, Hooe believes it can teach sales people something important about the job. “Dr. Seuss taught me in ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ that you’ve got to ask 129 times to get to yes,” Hooe said. “Just keep being persistent until you find a solution that works for your customer. Whatever it is, if the customer has a concern, continue to ask to get that customer the right solution, just like the salesperson Sam I Am.”

Hooe said meeting the customer’s needs is a key to success in the fast paced world of modern car sales. That, and the ability to own up to and quickly correct the inevitable mistakes we all make.

“Every single day, we make a mistake here at the dealership. But so does everybody else,” he said. “We’re going to make mistakes, but the important thing is how you recover and how you fix it. At that point, the consumer has the ability to make an additional buying decision from you. Most of the time, you’ll find that if a mistake is made and a solid recovery is given, that’s a customer for life. A consumer who walks in and has a great experience and buys a car and we send them off, you almost never see them again. But that consumer where something small happens, we recover and the team rallies and the team puts the customer first? We end up with that customer for life.”

Like a lot of the people who make McLarty Daniel Ford what it is today, Hooe seems to have found the place he belongs in the world. Behind the current location, work continues on a new showroom and service center which, when completed this fall, will be the first new home for the dealership since the days when Sam Walton bought his Ford F-150 there. Hooe, who helped in the design of the new space, said it’s being built for a purpose that’s more important than more room and a bigger office.

“I’m not building it to sell cars,” he said. “I’m building it to service cars better. I’m building it so I can have a car wash. I’m building it so that when somebody comes in for an oil change, they get their car washed too. I’m doing it so that when people come in for service, we have absolutely the latest technology to lift their car in the air, service their car and get it back to them as quickly as possible. I’m building that building for service, and because the customers deserve it. We designed the whole building around customer satisfaction, not car sales.”

While Hooe believes anyone can sell a car if they follow a few basic tenets of the business, it takes a special set of talents to make those who buy from McLarty Daniel Ford customers for life. Among them: the ability to truly understand a consumer’s needs, put those needs ahead of your own, and empathise with customers without having to force or fake it.

“The real secret is: consider the consumer’s needs first,” Hooe said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean price. That’s where people miss it sometimes. It just means that you understand that they came to you and trusted you and they must know that you care, genuinely, about their position. If you do that, they’ll buy from you. Really, price is always a secondary thing. That’s why Amazon.com is so successful. They’re not the best price. The consumer just feels good about the process. That’s how I see it here. It’s about that true heart of a customer…. Now it’s all about how you get treated. You can buy a Ford anywhere. You can buy a car anywhere. But they choose to buy them from me.”

Click here to contact McLarty Daniel Ford, or click here for directions to our dealership. 

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Here at McLarty Daniel Ford, we not only sell, service and work on cars, we’re obsessed with cars! Many of us were blessed with the proverbial “gasoline in our veins” from an early age, eating, sleeping and breathing anything on four wheels or two. When you love cars like that, you tend to find ways to work your love of automobiles into most any getaway, from hitting a local car show while we’re in a strange town, to seeking out the region’s best automotive museums to drink in the rich history of the automobile in America. Seen below are a few of our favorite gearhead-related road-trip destinations in the region. And if you need a great new or used car, truck, van or SUV to get you there, come see us at McLarty Daniel Ford! Our selection is second to none, and our great hometown deals are worthy of a handshake. Stop in today for a test drive!

Darryl Starbird National Rod and Custom Car Hall of Fame
55251 E OK-85A, Afton, Oklahoma
In the history of custom cars, there are few with a bigger legacy than Darryl Starbird. In the 1950s and 60s, Starbird’s wild, futuristic creations were regulars on the show circuit, with several of his radically-altered autos becoming so famous through car magazines and shows that they were later remade as popular plastic model kits for Monogram. Today, Starbird’s influence is still going strong, inspiring both those who love cars and the next generation of custom car builders. You can see why at the Darryl Starbird National Rod and Custom Car Hall of Fame in Afton, Oklahoma. Sprawling over 40,000 square feet, the museum includes displays of over 50 custom cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles designed and built by Starbird, as well as memorabilia from his long career and cars by other well-known custom designers, painters and fabricators, including George Barris, Bill Hines and Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Seen as a whole, it’s a great introduction to the history and evolution of the unique ideas and ingenuity that turned plain ol’ cars into rolling works of art. It’s definitely worth the drive, and Darryl and his wife are sometimes on hand to greet visitors and show them around.

Museum of Automobiles on Petit Jean Mountain
8 Jones Lane, Morrilton, Arkansas
Founded in 1964 near the mountaintop ranch of Winthrop Rockefeller, who would go on to be the governor of Arkansas, the Museum of Automobiles on Petit Jean features not only Rockefeller’s Cadillacs — famous for their sterling silver hood ornaments featuring a Santa Gertrudis Bull like the ones he raised on his ranch — but also one of the finest collections of restored classic cars, trucks and motorcycles in the region. The rare and significant vehicles on display range from the dawn of the 20th century to the late 1960s, including a 1920 Ford Model TT school bus, a 1913 Harley Davidson board track racer, 1937 Packard Towncar Model 120-C, a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr, a 1913 Cretors popcorn wagon, a 1947 Hudson Pickup, the world’s last known example of the Arkansas-made 1923 Climber touring car, and the Mustang convertible formerly owned by President Bill Clinton. Beautifully arranged and full of cars that have been lovingly restored to showroom-new condition, the museum is a real treat for those seeking fun on Petit Jean.

Ralph Foster Museum at College of the Ozarks
237 Christian St, Hollister, Missouri
If you’re of a… more mature vintage… chances are you’ve caught an episode or three of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” the 1960s TV show featuring the fish-out-of-water adventures of the Clampetts, an Ozark mountain family who struck it rich and moved to a mansion in Beverly Hills. In addition to Uncle Jed, Ellie May, Granny and Jethro, another star of the show was their battered, ramshackle truck, which was featured in the intro to the show and nearly every episode. Created by legendary car customizer George Barris, the Clampett’s truck was actually based on a 1921 Oldsmobile Model 43 A touring car, which Barris found rotting away behind a rural feed store. Some hillbilly touches and a little faux-patina later, and the Olds became the truck which the Clampetts drove on the show for nine seasons. After the run of the show ended, series creator Paul Henning donated the truck to the Ralph Foster Museum on the campus of College of the Ozarks. It remains there as one of the museum’s most popular exhibits. If you’re someone who loves both cars and classic TV memorabilia, it makes for a very cool stop on any road trip to Branson.

The Celebrity Car Museum
1600 MO-76, Branson, Missouri
We not only love cars, we love movies about cars or even movies that just feature an iconic vehicle or two. Though it’s rare to get an up-close look at the real cars from some of your favorite movies, there’s a place within easy driving distance of Northwest Arkansas where you can see dozens of screen-used cars, trucks and motorcycles from some of the most famous movies of all time: The Celebrity Car Museum in Branson. The museum features loads of rare and screen-used vehicles from great flicks, including the shag-carpeted Dog Van from “Dumb and Dumber,” the Mystery Machine from the 2000s revival of the “Scooby Doo” franchise, a mid-1990s Ford Explorer used in “Jurassic Park,” an original Batmobile from the TV show, a Hudson sedan seen in “Driving Miss Daisy,” President Harry Truman’s presidential limo, a replica of the DeLorean from “Back to the Future,” an appropriately blacked-out Ford LTD from the “Men in Black” films with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, a 1959 Cadillac Hearse remade as a replica of the ECTO 1 from “Ghostbusters,” several screen-used cars from the “Fast and Furious” and “Mission Impossible” films, a late-70’s “Bumblebee” Camaro from the “Transformers” franchise, and many, many more. It’s a stellar collection that’s sure to delight lovers of cars and films.

If you’re a lover of automobiles, be sure to check out any of the above suggestions if you get a chance. They’re all stellar stops or destinations for any roadtrip, and well within day-tripping distance on a single tank of gas from Northwest Arkansas. If you need a great new or used car to make that possible, cushier or easier, stop in today at McLarty Daniel Ford. We’ve got loads of great new and used cars, at prices that fit your budget. Shop our big selection online right now!

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For those who’ve reached a certain vintage, it might seem like just yesterday that they drove past a dealership or opened a magazine and first laid eyes on the new 1964-1/2 Mustang. The first so-called “pony car” — with a long nose, short trunk and available high output engine options — the basic shape of the Mustang would soon be imitated (though never duplicated) by every major auto manufacturer, kicking the muscle car wars of the 1960s into high gear.

Those folks who were fortunate enough to see the rollout of Ford’s iconic Mustang back in 1964 are sure to feel extra old today, with the news that Ford Motor Company recently celebrated production of the 10 millionth example of the breed.

At an event held on August 8 at Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan, where the 2019 Ford Mustang is currently built, Ford rolled out the 10 Millionth Mustang to come off the line since 1964: a 2019 Ford Mustang GT convertible in a special Wimbledon White paint scheme that mirrors the shade on the very first Mustang ever produced for sale: a Wimbledon White 1964-½ Mustang convertible with a VIN ending in 001. That legendary first Mustang was also on hand for the festivities, loaned by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

During Mustang’s 54-year production run, the model has also been built in San Jose, Calif., Dearborn, Mich. and Metuchen, N.J.

The 10 Millionth Mustang features a 5.0 Coyote V8 putting out 460 horsepower, backed by a six-speed manual transmission. For comparison, Mustang #1 is also a V8, with a stout-for-its-day 164 horsepower, backed by a three-speed automatic.

Also on hand for the event were more than 60 Mustang owners whose cars represent all years of production, including one of two Highland Green 1968 Mustang GT fastbacks driven by Steve McQueen in the movie “Bullitt,” a film which currently lends its name to a 2019 Mustang package.

On the massive parking lot where new Mustangs are parked before being prepped and shipped to dealers, the cars on hand for the unveiling of the 10 millionth Mustang were used to spell out “10,000,000” in 50-foot letters, with Mustang #1 and the 10 millionth Mustang standing in for the commas in the number. Those in attendance were also treated to a flyover by three World War II-era P-51 Mustang fighter planes. Though the galloping mustang horse is the official logo of the Ford Mustang, famously seen on the grille and trunk of every model ever produced, the high-performance P-51 fighter was the true namesake of the model according to Ford company lore.

“Mustang is the heart and soul of this company and a favorite around the world,” said Ford global markets president Jim Farley in a press release issued by Ford. “I get the same thrill seeing a Mustang roll down a street in Detroit, London or Beijing that I felt when I bought my first car – a 1966 Mustang coupe that I drove across the country as a teenager. Mustang is a smile-maker in any language.”

According to an analysis by Ford, the Mustang — now in its sixth-generation model — has been America’s best-selling sports car for 50 years.

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The world has gone podcast crazy, and that’s a great thing if your job or an upcoming vacation requires you to be behind the wheel for long stretches. Though listening to music is fine, nothing engages your brain (safely) and helps make the miles a little shorter than listening to a great podcast. Light years beyond the stale, “two guys in a basement with a microphone” format that was the hallmark of early examples of the form, the best modern podcasts are exhaustively researched, and feature the behind-the-scenes stories of hidden history or intrigue, with great sound design and professional-grade narration that really brings the story to life.

Here at McLarty Daniel Ford, we’re all about making the miles more enjoyable, so read on for three of our favorite podcasts to make your next long haul less of a haul. And if you’re in the market for a great new or used vehicle to serve as your new roadtrip rocket, stop in and see us today at McLarty Daniel Ford!

You Must Remember This
For over a hundred years now, America has been infatuated with the bright lights of Hollywood. As with any place that attracts naive people with stars in their eyes, however, there’s a dark side to the place dreams are made. If you enjoy the movies, television or Hollywood lore in general, you’re bound to love “You Must Remember This.” Written and narrated by creator Karina Longworth, the podcast, which launched in April 2014, delves into all facets of Hollywood, from the scandalous to the macabre to the comical. If you don’t mind listening to details of true depravity, the multi-part series on the cult leader Charles Manson — who hung out in Hollywood with The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson prior to trying to start a revolution through insanity and shocking violence – is stellar, but there’s plenty of other stories to check out, including the rise and fall of playboy and inventor Howard Hughes, the rivalry between classic horror icons Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, the life and tragic death of Marilyn Monroe, the Hollywood films of pop music icon Madonna, the 1970’s resurgence of Marlon Brando, and lots, lots more. Check it out and stream the whole, addictive series for free at: www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com

Cocaine And Rhinestones
If there’s a place in America OTHER than Hollywood with a reputation for chewing up and spitting out the dreams of both the famous and the unknown alike, it’s Nashville, Tennessee. Every year, the Music City draws in thousands of young hopefuls, all clamoring for their shot at country music stardom. Mix in a heaping dose of ego, fame and failure, and you wind up with some of the greatest music — and some of the most scandalous stories — of all time. That’s the bountiful seam of drama mined every week by the podcast “Cocaine and Rhinestones,” which is dedicated to taking deep dives into the stories behind some of the brightest names and biggest songs in country music. Created, written and hosted by Tyler Mahan Coe (the son of country music legend David Allan Coe), the show features detailed, multi-part episodes on songs and artists, all exhaustively researched, produced and delivered. His two-hour episode on the rise and implosion of mother/daughter singing duo The Judds, for example, is great, as are the episodes on the cultural and social impact of songs like Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley PTA,” Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billy Joe,” and Merle Haggard’s “Okie From Muskogee.” For old-school charm, his two-parter on the early “blood harmony” duo The Louvin Brothers is also a winner, even though, like a lot of stories on the podcast, it has a tragic ending. Definitely one to sample, and completely free to stream at: www.cocaineandrhinestones.com.

Slow Burn: A Podcast About Watergate:
It’s been over 40 years since the slow-motion trainwreck of Watergate brought down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. Nixon was the first and only U.S. president to resign the office under threat of impeachment, but even folks who lived through those days may not quite remember how we got from Nixon being re-elected in a landslide in November 1972 to his eventual resignation on August 8, 1974, less than two years and a political rollercoaster later. The story of those days, it turns out, is a heck of a lot wilder than most people, even those involved, ever knew. In this seven-part historical podcast from slate.com, reporter and narrator Leon Neyfakh takes a microscope to the Watergate affair, shining a spotlight on how a botched break-in at the Watergate Hotel set off a chain of events that snowballed bigger and bigger until the pressure on Richard Nixon was too much for his administration to survive. In the process, Neyfakh reveals a story full of absurd, comical and downright shocking details that have mostly been forgotten in the past four decades, but it’s also a story of dogged determination, uncompromising patriotism, the rule of law, checks and balances, the limits of the presidency and why America is such a great place to live. Stream it online for free at: www.slate.com/articles/slate_plus/watergate.html

Well, that should give you something to do the next time the road gets long and you’re tired of listening to Top 40 radio. And speaking of the road, if you’re in the market for a new or used vehicle, come see us at McLarty Daniel Ford in Bentonville. With literally hundreds of great new and pre-owned vehicles in stock, we’re sure to have the vehicle that fits into both your life and your budget. Come see us soon!

McLarty Daniel Ford is a new and used car dealership that is proud to serve the communities of Northwest Arkansas, including Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Lowell, Pea Ridge, Siloam Springs, Tontitown, Bella Vista, Eureka Springs, Fort Smith and all points in between.

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If you’ve thought about buying a F-150 Raptor for the take-no-prisoners, high-horsepower grins, but need a comfortable, upscale truck that can make a refined first impression, do we have some news for you! Our friends at Ford recently announced that the 2019 F-150 Limited, their top-of-the-line full-options showboat, will be available for the first time with the awesome 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V6!

Currently found only under the hood of the high-performance F-150 Raptor, the dual overhead cam, intercooled V6 — with an incredible 450 hp and 510 lb.-ft. of torque on tap — will make the 2019 F-150 Limited the most powerful light-duty pickup available from any maker, and the most powerful half-ton truck Ford has ever produced.

For now, and until the 2019 F-150 Limited twin-turbo appears on dealer lots later this year, the light-duty truck horsepower crown is held by GM, whose GMC Sierra 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado 1500 can be ordered with a 6.2-liter V8 putting out an undeniably stout 420 hp. To that we say: bring on the Modern Muscle Truck Wars! Pretty please?

In a press release announcing that the F-150 Limited will be available with the Raptor’s high-output V6, Ford touted the luxury and refinement of the Limited trim package, noting that for 2019, updated interior selections will include a new “Camel Back” two-tone leather color scheme, with heated, ventilated and massaging seats, real burl ash wood trim, machined billet instrument bezels, heated and leather-wrapped steering wheel, and other details that will lux out the already plush limited cabin. Every 2019 F-150 Limited will feature a laser-engraved plaque on the console listing the truck’s serial number.

Outside, the 2019 Limited will feature a new, more free-breathing dual-exhaust system with chrome exhaust tips integrated into new rear bumper pockets. Polished “Limited” badges will adorn the front of the hood, while polished, Limited-specific 22-inch wheels fill the arched wheel wells. Also unique to the Limited trim package will be a satin-finish chrome grille, window trim, tailgate trim and door handles. Power-deployed running boards, remote start, remote tailgate release and twin-panel moonroof are also standard.

Horsepower fans should note that zero-to-60 times for the hefty, 6,650-pound 2018 Raptor are a rocket sled-like 5.1 seconds, with the Raptor running the quarter mile — on knobby off-road tires, mind you — at a blazing-fast 13.8 seconds at 100 mph. Add to that the fact that the Raptor outweighs the 2018 F-150 Limited by over 1,200 pounds, and it’s easy to see that what Ford is about to unleash on America with the twin-turbo 2019 F-150 Limited is a truck that moves faster than gossip at a church picnic, potentially putting the truck deep in the 12-second quarter mile range on street tires. That wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing quality will undoubtedly lead to some Mustang, Challenger and Camaro owners getting quite a surprise from that big ol’ four-door F-150 lined up next to them when the stop light turns green.

No word yet on pricing, but the standard 2018 F-150 Limited (with 370 horsepower from a single-turbo 3.5-liter V6) has a starting MSRP of $61,360, so expect the twin-turbo version to be priced even higher. Exclusive performance comes with an exclusive price tag.

To read the full press release on the 2019 F-150 Limited with twin-turbo power, click here.

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