Antique 1930s-1940 -1950s Accessory Tel-tru Suction Cup Thermometer Gauge on 2040-parts.com

Mopar salutes Don Garlits and muscle-car past as it eyes global future

Mopar made its name in performance and parts, but Chrysler's aftermarket division is staking its future on practicality. The brand celebrated its 75th anniversary on Tuesday at the Mopar engineering lab in Center Line, Mich., just north of Detroit. While it rolled out four custom cars with various stages of show-and-go upgrades and drag-racing legend Don Garlits, Mopar officials were decidedly forward-looking.

BMW: Carbon fiber goes high volume in 2013

BMW AG plans to begin high-volume production of carbon fiber parts in two years, making it a strong contender to be the first automaker to move beyond limited-edition use of the exotic material. But Daimler AG, which has taken steps aimed at making carbon fiber parts in 2012, is among the automakers racing toward the same goal. In 2013, BMW will start building the i3 electric car, a vehicle that features a passenger cell--the protective shell around the passenger compartment that ensures the integrity of the vehicle in a crash--made of plastic reinforced with carbon fiber.

One Lap of the Web: Forsberg can't stop, won't stop drifting

-- Jann Mardenborough won the "Nissan GT Academy" back in 2011 and since then has finished on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as participating in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing driver program with aspirations of Formula One. He explains what it's like to move on from video games -- which he started playing at age 7 -- and transitioning into real sports cars. Mardenborough, it must be said, once drove too fast in British GT to be considered an amateur, but not quick enough to enter the pro class -- and race organizers, who didn't know what else to do, gave him a time penalty so the amateurs could catch up.