2001 Chrysler Pt Cruiser Emergency Brake Lever on 2040-parts.com

Porsche Battery – a mere £1200

The rather expensive Porsche Lithium Ion Battery Car batteries have been roughly the same shape and size – and utilised basically the same lead-acid technology – for years. They’ve got better, as you no longer need to top them up with distilled water at regular intervals (I’m showing my age now), and they are less prone to going flat. But that probably has more to do with alternators replacing dynamos than the batteries themselves.

Auctioned Ferrari Dinos fetch more than £380,000

TWO FERRARI Dino cars have sold for a combined £383,000 during the same auction, despite one of them needing significant restoration. The model has in recent years become a golden goose for any owners lucky enough to have acquired one years ago, and the latest Silverstone Auctions sale shows what a cash cow even poor condition examples have become. A recently-restored 1971 Dino topped £250,000 inclusive of its buyer's premium, while the rusting form of a 1973 version still brought about a £132,500 sale.

Volkswagen aims for lofty Beetle sales

The attractive new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle is expected to sell as many as 50,000 to 60,000 units a year in the United States. The car launches this fall. That level will be a big improvement over the latter years of the outgoing model, in which sales dwindled to just 15,000 a year, but it remains lower than the record figure of 83,000 achieved 18 months after the launch of the revised model.