1979 Plymouth Champ Brochure-champ Custom Hatchback on 2040-parts.com

Vauxhall launches speed limit detectors on Insignia (2008)

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 19 June 2008 07:53 Vauxhall's new Insignia will be the first of a wave of cars to have a forward-facing camera that can read road signs. The optional kit will detect speed limit and no overtaking signs – and flash up a reminder to the driver on the dashboard.GM calls the tech, which will be launched in early 2009, Traffic Sign Recognition and it uses a small, wide-angled camera system supplied by Hella. It sits at the top of the windscreen near the rain sensors and rear-view mirror, scanning the road ahead taking 30 photos per second.It's 1984 all over again...With a range of 100 metres, the camera focuses on circular patterns and then interprets the numbers inside by contour comparison; if a match is found on the software's database, that road sign will be flashed up in the driver's binnacle.The front-facing camera is also used as a lane departure warning system, alerting the driver if they unintentionally swerve out of their lane on a motorway.Cars with cameras: a growing trendMore and more manufacturers are fitting cameras to their cars nowadays and you can expect a flood of systems like the Insignia's to be launched in 2009, including the new BMW 5-series.CAR tried out these new systems on Bosch prototypes in 2007.

Looking back: Denise McCluggage remembers Enzo Ferrari and the machines he made

When Enzo Ferrari died on Aug. 14, 1988, it was clear that road and racing cars bearing the Prancing Horse emblem would continue to be produced. What was less certain, however, is whether Ferrari would change as an organization following the loss of its founder.

Volvo V40 Cross Country arrives

Volvo has revealed the 2013 V40 Cross Country, a new variant on the new V40, offering a more rugged option for the V40 range. We thought it was going to be the Volvo XC40 – denoting an SUV come crossover version of the new V40 – but Volvo has decided that their more rugged version of the V40 will take the Cross Country name - first used on the V70 in 1997 – and so we get the new Volvo V40 Cross Country. Following on from the new V40 R-Design, revealed last week, Volvo now offers a V40 they say is for ‘those who want a sense of adventure in their everyday life‘ – in other words, this is a slightly more rufty-tufty V40.