05 Acura Tl Passenger Front Window Motor on 2040-parts.com

The other side of the curtain: A look back at Lada, Volga and more

While Americans in the 1960s and '70s were enjoying the heyday of muscle-car madness, our friends over in the Soviet Union were treated to an entirely different kind of automobile. Fiat-based Ladas and Russian-born Volgas were the cars of the day, and our friends at Retronaut have gathered some press materials and advertisements for the compact sedans. Lada was named after a famous Czech manufacturer of sewing machines in the 1960s.

Electric cars amped up with £500 million boost

THE GOVERNMENT is to extend the £5,000 grant scheme open to anyone who buys a car with plug-in electric power. It is part of a £500 million move to encourage car owners – and city authorities – to take up the electric car baton and run with it. The initiative will give cities a chance to win government funding to further the sales of electric cars in their areas, for example by allowing them to use bus lanes or park for free.

Pick-ups do poorly in latest Euro NCAP tests

By Mark Nichol Motor Industry 26 February 2008 11:54 Euro NCAP released its latest crash test results today, and it’s bad news for pick-up drivers. Only three picks-ups were tested, but they achieved some appalling results, with the Nissan Navara registering just one star for adult crash protection. Pick-up registrations increased by 7.2 percent in Europe last year and are increasingly being used as family transport.