HomeCar CultureCommentaryHey, baby, have you slept in a Ford, lately?

Hey, baby, have you slept in a Ford, lately?

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Baby sleeps in bed that mimics sounds and movement and even lights of a late-night car ride | Ford of Spain photo
Baby sleeps in bed that mimics sounds and movement and even lights of a late-night car ride | Ford of Spain photo

You may have had friends like Laurie’s parents. To get her to go to sleep when she was an infant, they’d have to put her into her baby safety seat and drive around the block a few times before she’d doze off for the night. Sad to say, you may have had such an experience with your own children.

That situation is so commonplace and apparently so universal that Ford of Spain and its advertising agency have created the Max Motor Dreams, a prototype infant bed that simulates the sounds, lights and even the “comforting movement” of a ride in the car.

Cell phone records car ride and programs the electronics beneath the bed
Cell phone records car ride and programs the electronics beneath the bed

(PS: This is no April Fool’s Day joke. Ford made its announcement on April 6, but I was still skeptical enough to ask and to be assured the company really has produced a working prototype.)

According to the Max Motor Dreams news release, a British study of 1,800 people has revealed that new parents “can typically expect little more than five hours sleep a night while losing the equivalent of 44 days sleep in just the first year of their child’s life.”

“After many years of talking to mums and dads, we know that parents of newborns are often desperate for just one good night’s sleep,’ said designer Alejando Lopez Bravo. “But while a quick drive in the family car can work wonders in getting baby off to sleep, the poor old parents still have to be awake and alert at the wheel.

“The Max Motor Dreams could make the everyday lives of a lot of people a little bit better.”

The idea is that you go for a real baby sleep-inducing drive which you record via a smartphone app. That experience is downloaded into the baby bed so in subsequent nights, the entire family awakes refreshed each morning.

Ford has not announced plans to put the bed into production, but it did produce a video so you can see how it works.

A Bentley to park in your living room

Sofa and lounge by Bentley available for $46,520
Park this sofa and lounge by Bentley in your living room for $46,520

Bentley not only has added furniture creation to its portfolio, but the Bentley Home furniture line that was unveiled at the recent Salone Internazionale del Mobile is available for sale.

The sofas, chairs, table, bed, cabinet and lamp were designed by architect Carlo Colombo and are produced in Italy. According to Bentley, the collection marks a faithful reinterpretation of the company’s codes of excellence, expressed in furniture and accessories.

Colors are ecru and quartz grey juxtaposed with highlights of burgundy and cognac. Materials include leather, maple and eucalyptus wood, with soft cotton, silk velvet and “high-performance” chenille fabrics.

Prices? Well, if you have to ask, you probably cannot afford them, but the Morpeth table lamp is $7,490, the Stamford bed is $13,370, the Stamford four-seat sofa is $29,140 and the Eastgate cabinet is $45,040.

Ride on Pirellis to the ski hill, and down it as well

A set of the new Pirelli skis
A set of the new Pirelli skis

So, if your baby can sleep in a Ford crib and you can relax in your Bentley bed, why not hit the ski slope on your Pirellis? The Italian tiremaker has joined with ski producer Blossom to produce a line of snow skis that incorporate a layer of vibration-dampening rubber within the sandwich construction.

“The skis guarantee high performance and have very deep sidecuts to adapt to various snow conditions for fast speed and great handling,” Pirelli said in its announcement.

Pirelli engineers worked with Blossom’s craftsmen to produce skis with “a wooden core with graphite sole, a double layer of Titanai for stability and triaxial fiberglass for perfect torsion,” the company said, adding that a layer of special rubber compound dampens as much as 60 percent of the vibration normally transferred from the surface to your legs during the descent.

The skis are available in a variety of sizes and in seven colors. However, as part of the 110th anniversary of Pirelli Motorsport, only 110 pairs in each color will be produced. To order yours, visit the Pirelli Design website.

Larry Edsall
Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

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