While the appearance of police cruisers at a race is never a good sign, there's always an exception to the rule.

Take Ford for example. The automaker has just announced that its brand-new 2013 Police Interceptor Utility and Sedan models will serve as the pace cars for the 2011 Ford Championship Weekend NASCAR races at Homestead Miami Speedway from November 18 to 20.

As usual, the upcoming SEMA Show in Las Vegas will be crowded with plenty of one-off and accessorized vehicles from most carmakers. As a preview, the crew over at Tjin Edition have released some up skirt photos of two of the Ford models they are currently working on in partnership with the Detroit automaker.

First up is Tjin Edition's take on the 2012 Ford Explorer. The teaser picture only provides a glimpse of the tuned crossover model, but the company has shared some initial details.

Now here's a review that is bound to get the conversation heated up. Motor Trend's senior editor, Jonny Lieberman of former Jalopnik, The Truth About Cars and Autoblog fame, tried out the new 2012 Ford Explorer with the 2.0-liter EcoBoost turbocharged four that produces 240-ponies. And well, let's just say he didn't like it one bit.

After testing the Explorer, Lieberman states, among other things, that the 2.0-liter model is "slow, clumsy, pricey, thirstier than we would have thought, and a packaging disaster".

We have seen LEGO bricks used to craft just about anything one can imagine but we never cease to be amazed when somebody goes over the top to construct a freakishly big design.

Case in point, a full-size replica of Ford's 2012 Explorer built almost entirely from LEGO bricks, which was made to mark the beginning of a new long-term alliance between Ford and the LEGOLAND Florida theme park.

Michigan outlaws beware: State Police is getting ready to add another weapon in its armory, or rather two: the Ford Taurus Police Interceptor Sedan and the Explorer Police Interceptor Utility, which today passed the two-day State Police tests and are ready to enter service.

Although the Taurus Interceptor was tested just as thoroughly, it was the Explorer SUV Utility version that received most of the attention.