1959 Scottsdale Studebaker Pick Up Truck Front Grill on 2040-parts.com

Chrysler ‘Thomas Special' steals the show at RM Meadow Brook auction

Posting more than $10 million in total sales, RM Auctions' Vintage Motor Cars of Meadow Brook event had an unexpected top seller on July 24. After crossing the auction block at $858,000, a 1953 Chrysler coupe known as the “Thomas Special” became the event's headliner. It was estimated to sell for $350,000 to $500,000.

One Lap of the Web: It's always St. Patrick's Day when you're Irish

-- If your crippling hangover didn't remind you today, yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. You know what that means: today is a good time to catch up on both green-themed car news.

Cash for clunkers plan revives trade fight

Import brand automakers and dealers warned on Thursday that a vehicle scrappage proposal before the Senate would violate trade agreements and could weaken the economy. The Senate could vote on the plan on Thursday, which would offer $10,000 to any moderate- or low-income consumer who trades in a car or truck that is at least 10 years old and buys a new one that is more fuel-efficient and "assembled in the United States." The trade-ins would be scrapped rather than resold. The U.S.-made mandate "smacks of the protectionism that led to the Great Depression," said Barbara Nocera, the top Washington lobbyist for Mazda North American Operations.