1979 Ford/mercury Shop Manual on 2040-parts.com

Land Rover confirms end of Defender production

It's been all but a foregone conclusion for some time now, but Land Rover has confirmed to our sister publication Automotive News Europe that the aging Defender won't live to see 2020. Originally conceived as an agricultural machine, the first Land Rover prototype used scavenged Willys Jeep bits left over from World War II. American kids of a certain age may have been captivated by the Land Rover's mystique while watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom back in the '70s.

BMW Gran Coupé

BMW has announced its interpretation of the four-door coupé. Following in the footsteps of the Audi A7, Mercedes-Benz's CLS and the Porsche Panamera, the Gran Coupé is said to offer a level of practicality missing from its premium rivals. First unveiled in concept format, back at the 2007 Shanghai motor show as the Concept CS, the concept fell foul of the global recession before resurfacing at Beijing last year – again, in concept format.

Mercedes GLA goes in to production in Germany

The Mercedes GLA (pictured) goes in to production The new Mercedes GLA – Mercedes’ latest spin-off from the A Class – arrived at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September as an urban SUV come Crossover, extending Mercedes reach in the premium compact sector with a serious competitor in the urban SUV market. With the growing fondness for high-riding cars – and something that’s a bit butch too – the SUV/Crossover take on the Mercedes A Class is a sound way to go and now, with production starting in Germany this week of the new GLA, Mercedes is getting close to having the GLA in customers’ hands. The first GLAs to get in to the hands of customers will probably be the GLA Edition 1 – a launch model with plenty of toys – but the model that will perhaps be most interesting is the GLA 45 AMG, with the promise of the same rufty-tufty compact SUV goodness as the rest of the range but with the 4WD platform and high performance 2.0 litre Turbo from the A 45 AMG.