07 Cadillac Escalade Front Lower Valance Air Dam Deflector 9 on 2040-parts.com

Mopar salutes Don Garlits and muscle-car past as it eyes global future

Mopar made its name in performance and parts, but Chrysler's aftermarket division is staking its future on practicality. The brand celebrated its 75th anniversary on Tuesday at the Mopar engineering lab in Center Line, Mich., just north of Detroit. While it rolled out four custom cars with various stages of show-and-go upgrades and drag-racing legend Don Garlits, Mopar officials were decidedly forward-looking.

Porsche Panamera Convertible coming

Porsche are planning a 2 door Panamera Convertible That new Porsche 928 now looks an even more likely possibility after Automotive News reported that Porsche are looking to make a convertible Panamera. But it won’t be a four door convertible, but a two door. The report says that is to help with rigidity (we buy that) and to keep weight down (yeah, just like they have on the saloon), but what it does mean is that Porsche could easily engineer a fixed-roof, shortened Panamera to create a high-end GT in the style of the 928.

Italian Grand Prix 2012: McLaren lock out the front row.

McLaren has locked out the front row for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza with Lewis Hamilton on pole and Jenson Button second. Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position in Monza this afternoon for McLaren  in qualifying for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix, with a second place for Jenson Button locking out the front row for McLaren. It had looked throughout Q1 and Q2 that it would be Ferrari who were dominant and likely to take pole, but Alonso suffered a rear roll bar problem at the start of Q3 and ended at the bottom in tenth place.