Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Jet Age lands at Rodeo Drive Concours

Fins and aerodynamic stability -- the latter sometimes real, sometimes just for style -- dominated the 20th anniversary of the Rodeo Drive Concours in Beverly Hills Sunday. The era of magnificent tail fins was born from the sweet optimism of the 1950s, when “The Future” was just around the corner and we were all looking forward to piloting jet packs, being served by robots and living in futuristic domed cities on the moon. You could call it The Jet Age, and when businessjet timeshare company Flexjet offered to sponsor the Rodeo Drive Concours this year, it suddenly sounded like the perfect theme for the show.

GM ride-and-drive event puts interns behind the wheel

Interns here at AutoWeek are fortunate enough to be in and out of all sorts of cars, from the little Fiat 500 to the phenomenal Lexus LFA. But rarely do we get our own event like the Intern Ride and Drive hosted by General Motors in downtown Detroit on Friday. The event, set up and run by GM's own interns, involved summer help from local broadcast-media outlets, newspapers and many Detroit-area automotive publications.

Aston Martin Rapide coming home

Aston Martin Rapide - homeward bound It took Aston Martin what seemed like forever to get their four-door supercar – the Aston Martin Rapide – in to production, and even then they didn’t build it themselves. When they were busy planning production of the Rapide the world’s economy was buoyant, credit was a piece of cake and Aston Martins were flying out of the showroom. But the new economic reality bit in 2008 and sales fell at Aston Martin, but by then the plan to get the Rapide built at Magna Steyr in Austria was unstoppable so, despite Aston Martin workers twiddling their thumbs as Magna Steyr built Rapides, there as nothing to be done.