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

One lap of the Web: microcars and muscle cars

-- Remember the 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2? Yes, the one that you can't find anywhere now outside of those amazingly outdated posters (where do they find them?) they have on the walls of your local oil change place, right next to a poster of a GMC Syclone and a first-generation Dodge Viper? The one with the plastic nosecone that inevitably gets warped?

Porsche Panamera Convertible coming

Porsche are planning a 2 door Panamera Convertible That new Porsche 928 now looks an even more likely possibility after Automotive News reported that Porsche are looking to make a convertible Panamera. But it won’t be a four door convertible, but a two door. The report says that is to help with rigidity (we buy that) and to keep weight down (yeah, just like they have on the saloon), but what it does mean is that Porsche could easily engineer a fixed-roof, shortened Panamera to create a high-end GT in the style of the 928.

Bungling thief caught after stealing hire car's steering wheel

A DIM-WITTED criminal has been convicted of theft after stealing parts of a brand new Audi A3 hire car and replacing them with old bits taken from his much older Audi S3. Alexander Keating, a 23-year-old former bodyshop technician who lost his job following the conviction, stole parts as obvious as the steering wheel and gear knob from the A3 that his mum had hired after damaging her car in an accident. Keating foolishly believed no one would notice the battered old steering wheel on the otherwise shiny, new car, but sure enough the mismatched parts were spotted and the hapless bungler was caught by the car hire firm’s bespoke anti-fraud team Asset Protection Unit (APU).