1954 55 56 Oldsmobile Exhaust Manifold Gasket Set on 2040-parts.com

MINI celebrates 100 years of car production in Oxford

MINI will be celebrating a century of car production in Oxford on 28th March 2013, 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford was produced. It’s 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford rolled out on 28th March 1903, since when 11,655,000 cars have been built – with as many as 28,000 people employed in its heyday – and even Tiger Moth planes and Iron Lungs built alongside 80,000 repairs to Spitfires and Hurricanes during WWII. What is now MINI’s Plant Oxford was founded by William Morris – and Morris Motors kept control until 1952 – and has been owned and run by BMC, then British Motor Holdings (when Jaguar arrived), British Leyland (when Leyland Trucks, Triumph and Rover joined), nationalisation in the 1970s saw a variety of names, Rover Group arrived in 1986 and was subsequently privatised and sold in 1994 to BMW.

Buick Regal unveiled in Hollywood

Buick unveiled its 2011 Regal sedan Thursday night at the once-and-future-famous Hollywood Palladium, a new car from an old division being shown at an old dance hall that just got a full renovation. Is there an analogy in there someplace? The Palladium opened its doors with a Tommy Dorsey concert in 1940, at a time when Buicks ruled the road.

McLaren 12C Spider gets topless, goes sideways

McLaren has released a glossy launch video to accompany the release of the new 12C Spider supercar. It looks as if the boys and girls from Woking are determined to destroy the reputation for anodyne, 'boring' supercars at McLaren, given that the 12C Spider spends most of its time going very sideways in this clip. Then again, given the 12C Spider's hardware, it's not hard to see why it's such a lairy beast when off the leash.