2006 Volvo S40 Dealer Sales Brochure~original Showroom Literature Catalog on 2040-parts.com

The no-show cars: a reader rant on mad concepts

Instigated by Harley Earl at General Motors in the late 30s with the quaintly named Buick Y-Job, show cars, or concept cars, were presented to an excited public eager for new things. As the world recovered from a depression and then a war, these vehicles pointed to a better future that many people believed in, including the people who produced them. And, although many of the concept cars of the 50s, with their Jetsons plexiglass roofs and notional nuclear powered engines seem ludicrous now, in their time they weren’t that cynical.

Toyota GT 86 gets 320bhp from turbo & S/C upgrade

Gazoo GT 86 Sport FR Concept Toyota’s Gazoo Racing has taken the standard Toyota GT 86 and added a turbo and a supercharger to give the GT 86 320bhp. The Toyota GT86 has managed to deliver almost what we expected now it’s finally arrived, although many have been a bit disappointed at its peaky performance and lack of out and out grunt. There’s been much speculation that Toyota (and Subaru with the BRZ) would bite the bullet at some point and bolt on a turbo or supercharger to give the lightweight sports car a proper turn of speed.

One Lap of the Web: Christmas edition

-- Ferrari is getting into the Christmas spirit by... towing Santa's sleigh with one of their F138 race cars. Spoiler alert: We don't know what visual-effects house Ferrari used, but we have a feeling the sleigh was towed slightly slower than the velocity shown in the video.