1984 Honda Goldwing Gl1200 Flame Catchers on 2040-parts.com

Watch the sad, final moments of a crusher-bound heap

Automotive wrecking yards are good places to reflect on the real-world values of heavily depreciated vehicles versus global current scrap-metal prices, and to see which cars have suddenly had the fix-it-versus-total-it line moved by insurance companies (the early-21st-century Subaru Legacy Outback, for example, appeared in large numbers in high-turnover wrecking yards just during the last year, as fairly minor collision damage on these cars is no longer worth fixing). You'll see the things that a car's last owner does in a desperate attempt to sell (or at least live with) an increasingly decrepit heap (as we learned in "Repo Man," you really will find a Little Tree in every car). During a recent trip to a San Jose, Calif., yard, I encountered this sad yet strangely compelling scene.

E3: Defending the Earth, one zombie at a time

If drooling space-alien mutants hell-bent on creating a pleasure planet of intergalactic zombie love muffins ever come to Earth to steal our women, know that an entire generation of 18-to-24-year-old male gamers stands ready to defend us. So rest assured. We know this because we just spent most of a day at the opening of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 as it's known to those who stand ready with the chainsaws, bazookas and various industrial-strength bug zappers that will be needed should the inevitable happen.

New Jaguar XFR-S burns up the Goodwood hillclimb (video)

The new Jaguar XFR-S – the most powerful XF to date – has just launched and we have video of the XFR-S on the Goodwood Hillclimb. With an even more aggressive look than the XFR, the XFR-S gets 542bhp and 502lb/ft of torque, enough to move Jaguar’s appealing super saloon to 62mph in just 4.4 seconds. Until now all we’ve had are the XFR-S photos Jaguar delivered (together with a dynamic video too), but with this week seeing Goodwood starting the push for this year’s Festival of Speed with a press day, we have the XFR-S out playing on the hillclimb, and Shmee 150 managed to capture Jaguar’s new cat playing.