1940 's Vintage Anitque Autolite Spark Plug Cleaner Sign Hot Rod Ford Champion on 2040-parts.com

E85 makes inroads on cost and availability

Three years ago, we embarked on a Midwest road trip in search of what was then the Holy Grail of fuel: E85. Our findings weren't too positive--there were far more E85-compatible vehicles on the road in 2006 (5 million) than there were E85 pumps to fuel them (about 700 out of some 200,000 fuel stations nationwide). In addition, those burning the mix of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol were paying a pretty penny for their earth-friendly ways, losing about 15 percent in fuel economy while often paying the same price as for regular unleaded.

Bristol Cars sold to China. Possibly.

Bristol Cars - is it a Chinese Takeaway Earlier this month we reported the sad demise of the quirky and eccentric supercar maker that is Bristol cars, forced in to administration through a shortage of equally eccentric millionaires to buy their creations from another time. The good news is that they still look like a viable entity if they’re properly marketed, so we didn’t expect it to be too long before a buyer popped up and grabbed the Bristol Cars name, its Kensington showrooms and the handful of staff left. So we weren’t surprised to get an email this morning from China telling us the press there are reporting that the Xinjiang No1 Tractor Company – a State-owned maker of tractors (you’d never have guessed) – had snapped up Bristol Cars from the administrators.

Ireland preparing to ban smoking in cars

Ireland prepare to ban smoking in cars Maybe the erosion of individual liberties should be secondary to safety (although we would argue the contrary), but surely banning smoking in cars – as Ireland appear close to doing – is a very silly route to go? Of course, since anything that can be remotely construed as a company car is already somewhere you’re not allowed to smoke, banning smoking in private cars is, perhaps, a logical step. The argument is that smoking in cars is detrimental to the health of children who are passengers.