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

The Toyota FT-1 concept would make a damn fine new Supra

The Detroit auto show is just getting started, and Toyota has kicked things off with a nice surprise: The racy FT-1 concept. A product of Toyota's Calty Design Research facility, the FT-1 concept shares some of the swoops and vents with the Lexus RC F. But there's a boatload of high-performance styling cues there, too: Take a quick glance and you might spot the front end of a Ferrari Enzo, the profile of the Nissan GT-R, the double-bubble roof of the SRT Viper/any number of Zagato creations and the oversized retractable rear wing of the McLaren P1.

Parade celebrates astronauts and Corvettes

After Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into outer space in 1961, General Motors executive Ed Cole presented the astronaut with a new 1962 Chevrolet Corvette, customized with a space-age interior. Shepard had brought along his own 1957 Corvette when he reported for the space-training program in 1959. Thanks to a special lease arrangement between the space men and a Melbourne, Fla., Chevy dealership, six of the Mercury Seven astronauts were Corvette owners.

Churchill’s Land Rover sells for £129,000

A Land Rover presented to Sir Winston Churchill on his 80th birthday has sold at auction for £129,000. Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, probably the greatest Prime Minister the UK has ever had, was 80 in 1954, prompting Rover to present the great man with a custom Land Rover so he could be chauffeured round his Chartwell Estate. The Series 1 Land Rover came complete with an extra wide passenger seat, big, padded centre armrest and leather grab handle and had the registration UKE 80 which may (or may not) have referred to Churchill’s age and ‘United Kingdom Empire.