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

Pedigreed 1980 Porsche 933 (almost) ready to race for $15,000

Looking for a pedigreed piece of racing machinery on the cheap? One could do worse than this example of a 1980 Porsche 933, listed by our good friends at Bring a Trailer. They claim that this is one of sixteen 924 chassis cars factory-developed in Weissach, Germany, and delivered to Holbert Racing in Pennsylvania.

First Fiat 500s will have stick shifts

The 2012 Fiat 500 , heading to U.S. dealerships later than first expected, is enduring another hiccup: The first units arriving in dealerships in late February will have manual transmissions, the company said. Moreover, only about 20 percent of the 130 Fiat dealerships will be open when those first cars arrive, said Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand in North America, at the Detroit auto show last week.

Tesla pays off its government loans

Tesla paid off the last of its $465 million government loans May 22, nine years ahead of schedule, thus outperforming most U.S. college graduates and the vast majority of American homeowners. Tesla used funds from a stock offering to finish the loan with a whopping bank transfer of $451.8 million Wednesday, pointing out that it was “…the only American car company to have fully repaid the government.” Apparently no one at Tesla was even born when Lee Iacocca paid off Chrysler's $1.2-billion government bailout ahead of schedule back in 1983.