01 02 Cavalier L. Front Seat Bucket Cloth Man Cpe on 2040-parts.com

Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.

Alfa Romeo teases the 4C. Why?

Alfa Romeo 4C Frankfurt Tease (click for full image) We’ve had good reason to report on the Alfa Romeo 4C since it arrived on the car landscape back at Geneva in March. The 4C is exactly what Alfa should be doing to resurrect interest in the marque. They’ve done lots of good with the cracking little MiTo and the surprisingly good Giulietta.

Edelbrock teams with Ohio Technical College to teach hot-rodders

Many of today's prominent hot-rodders and car customizers talk about how they learned their craft working alongside a mentor, turning wrenches in a garage for hours on end. Now, there's a school for that. Noted tuning-parts maker Edelbrock LLC has teamed up with Ohio Technical College in Cleveland to create the Edelbrock Academy.