1980 Corvette Interior Peice on 2040-parts.com

Chevrolet to pull out of Europe

General Motors is ‘strengthening’ its ‘European brand strategy’ by pulling Chevrolet out of mainstream markets in Western and Eastern Europe. This is ‘largely due to a challenging business model and the difficult economic situation’ – but does not mean that Chevrolet is set to disappear entirely. On Bing: see pictures of European Chevrolets Find out how much a used Chevrolet costs on Auto Trader Instead, Chevrolet ‘tailor its presence’ by offering only select ‘iconic’ vehicles from the marque’s global portfolio.

Worth a read: Wired's 'Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design'

Wired has just published a series of short articles entitled 13 Lessons for Design's New Golden Age. While there are some interesting examples cited in the piece, the concluding article, ‘Why Getting It Wrong Is the Future of Design' by the former creative director of Wired magazine, Scott Dadich, feels like it has particular resonance for car design. Dadich's Wrong Theory uses disruptive examples from the world of art, plus his own experience of working at Wired, to explain how design goes through phases: establishing a direction, creating a set of rules that define that direction and finally someone who dares to break from that direction.

SoCal Speed shop wins AMBR award as hod-rodding returns to its roots

In a competition that "took hot-rodding back to its SoCal roots," the SoCal Speed Shop--the entity founded by original hot-rod hero Alex Xydias and now helmed by Pete Chapouris--finally won the AMBR. That's AMBR, as in, America's Most Beautiful Roadster, the most sought-after title in all of hot-rodding and the crowning glory of the Grand National Roadster Show. There is that competition at the Detroit Autorama that hands out the Ridler Award, but that is open to all manner of kustom kars.