1970 1971 1972 Chevelle Preassembled Front Door Panels on 2040-parts.com

John Hennessey unwinds modified Chevy SS

Perhaps it's not as impressive as John Hennessey's recent 200mph blast down Houston's new Grand Parkway in a warmed-up Stingray, but we figured we'd show you his latest run down the same road in a Chevrolet SS equipped with his company's HPE600 Supercharged package. Thanks to GM's engineers, the four-door hits its top speed of 163 in 5th, rather than 6th, but what impressed us the most was watching the numbers climb on the VBOX — the car pulls John-Bonham-hard all the way up to its top speed. Hennessey hasn't released details of the mods performed on the SS yet, but we're anxious to see what this anodyne-looking monster will do on the top end once the gearing nag's sent off to the glue factory.

Porsche uses phone-formatted bar codes to connect with customers

Porsche is harnessing the power of smartphones, using Microsoft Tag bar codes to provide dealership customers with unique information about the cars they're looking at. Buyers can scan the square stickers with a properly equipped phone, and the application will take them to dedicated microsites where they can see stats, videos and pictures of the car, along with audio clips of a flat-six engine revving up. Through the microsite, buyers can provide contact info for a follow-up call from Porsche salespeople.

Chevrolet Prisma

While Europe moves onto the fourth generation Opel Corsa, GM do Brasil has used the second series of the B-segment car as basis for the new Chevrolet Prisma. Unveiled at the recent Sao Paulo Auto Show, the small four-door sedan uses the 12-year old platform to compete with the Dacia Logan, which will go on sale in Brazil next year along with a host of rivals from China. The styling is largely derivative, the rear in particular owing to Ford and Honda products.