If tech articles are the meat and potatoes of an automotive magazine, then feature car stories are the dessert. It's the one chance for an editor to stop wrenching and stressing over parts installation, and just take in the fruits of someone else's labor. Sure there are still challenges. Coordinating the photo shoot, interviewing the owner, and weaving together an entertaining and informative story take time and effort. The hardest part of a feature car story however usually in selecting the car. Since we are dedicated to featuring real cars, as opposed to trailer queens, we often start and end our search right here with the cars you submit to the Readers Rides Gallery. On average around 100 cars are submitted to the gallery each month, and we look at every single one - even if for just a few seconds. If a car catches our eye we flag it for further follow-up and a possible full-blown article.

When it's all said and done however we only get the opportunity to feature six to eight of your cars in a year. That leaves hundreds of cars that caught our attention but we just couldn't get to. So this year we decided to create the 2006 Readers Rides Editor Choice. Listed below are five cars, in no particular order, that the Editors really wanted to learn more about but didn't get around too. It doesn't mean we won't next year, but we thought we'd share them with you now. These guys and gals will all be sent an FM t-shirt and decal package.

	Markus Becker's 1967 Mustang Fastback
	On the Forums: Max
	You're most likely to see this car in: Somewhere in Germany
	What we dig about it: This car appeals to us for many reasons aside from the fact that '67-'68 Mustang 2+2's are iconic. First of all Markus and his fastback reside in Germany. Sure there are a good scattering of vintage American muscle cars in Deutchsland but the laws out there make it very difficult to modify these things. You have to file petitions to so much as change the stock wheels. Combine that with the general difficulty in finding speeds parts for American cars out there and it's a wonder how Markus has made this car what it is. That brings us to the second part. Markus has modified this ride in way's most of us living in the States dream about. The engine is an EFI stroked 5.0L with AFR 185 heads. Markus has also installed a Tremec TKO gearbox, upgraded to disc brakes and modified the suspension to handle the autobahn. Nice work Markus, we enjoy reading about your progress on your site.
	Show me more: http://www.mustang1967.de/frame.html

	Ras Daniel's 1964 Falcon Sprint
	On the Forums: Iethiopian
	You're most likely to see this car in: Los Angeles, CA
	What we dig about it: Along with this 64 Ras owns a 63 Futura. He has named his cars Horus and Isis. In Egyptian mythology Horus is a falcon headed god and Isis is his mother. Whatever, we're more intrigued with the killer stance and eye popping appeal. The black 17" Bullit wheels and black chin and trunk spoilers work well on the yellow paint. The Falcon also sports a 331 stroker and T5 running gear. Hopefully we'll get more details behind this sweet Falcon and run a full story next year.
	Show me more: members.cardomain.com/iethiopian

	Darren Keck's 1978 Mercury Zephyr Z7
	On the Forums: ZephyrZ7
	You're most likely to see this car in: Fort Worth, TX
	What we dig about it: We love Zephyr's and Fairmonts. They are ugly sleeper cars on a Fox body platform. If you avoid the 5.0L Mustang scene because it is too played out then get into one of these. The Z7 is the rarer two-door, funky roof line version. We love the fact that Darren has fully carried out the wolf-in-grandma's nightgown image by fitting twin-turbos to the 5.0L under the hood. From Darren's personal website we've calculated that the twin-turbo project has been inching along for a few years now. We hope seeing his ride featured here will put some boost into his motivation engine and get things moving again.
	Show me more: www.geocities.com/qikfords/index.htm

	Erick Andersson's 1973 Ford Consul
	On the Forums: MadDog
	You're most likely to see this car in: Koskullskulle, Sweden
	What we dig about it: The first thing that came to mind when we saw this car was "Wow, what the hell is that?!" The fact is, we still don't really know. Of course this is a Ford from Europe. From what we can glean the Consul was a descendent of the Ford Cortina and a predecessor to the Europe version of the Granada in the mid-70's. None of these things came with any sort of power or even a V8 (well maybe in Australia.) Erick has put a stroked Windsor (408cid) and a C4 in it. With the 4.88:1 9" rear and tubbed back-half this car wreaks havoc in Sweden's drag racing scene. The 3300lb. car runs 10.20's at nearly 200 (don't blow a gasket, that's in kilometers.) Tell us more Erick.
	Show me more: w1.933.telia.com/~u93302096/sftech/

	Matt Robison's 1971 Mercury Cyclone Road Racer
	On the Forums: mattrobison
	You're most likely to see this car in: an SCCA or NASA race.
	What we dig about it: This car has a remarkable history. It started out as a 1969 Torino NASCAR racer. When the Cylcone body style was introduced they changed it over for better aerodynamics. It set a track record at Skagit Speedway in Washington. You could write a book on this car and all the fabrication alone. The wheelbase has been shortened by 10", weight balance is nearly 50-50, and on and on. The 3,700 lb. race weight is moved by a 555 cid. big-block Ford and G-Force five speed transmission. Since this car resides in Northern California we're certain you'll be reading more about it in 2007.
	Show me more: www.robisonracing.com

Congrats to the owners and keep us informed on the progress with these great cars. For everyone else out there with a killer ride that we may have missed, go create or update your Readers Ride page now. Hint - we like entries with full descriptions and details. It also doesn't hurt to have a link to more pictures of your car, or images uploaded to your FordMuscle Picture account.