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

Concept Car of the Week: Alfa Romeo BAT 7

This week sees the Concept of the Week title go to Alfa Romeo and Bertone for their collaboration on the Alfa Romeo BAT 7, the second addition to the BAT series that began in 1953 and finished in 1955. First seen at the 1954 Turin motor show, this wildly futuristic ‘dream' car came about after Alfa Romeo contacted Giuseppe "Nuccio" Bertone of the Bertone carrozeria to commission three concepts with the lowest possible drag coefficient. The cars were named BAT for "Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica." Built upon the Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis, the BAT cars featured large rear bumpers and curved fins, and the concepts achieved a drag coefficient of just 0.19 - an impressive result.

Andy Saunders sells 'Art Cars' collection

British 'car artist' Andy Saunders' 'Art Car' collection was sold by RM Auctions in London, UK on October 29, along with a selection of classic cars and a McLaren F1 that sold for £2.5 million - a new world record. Though lacking the quality of many Californian custom cars when seen close up, the Art Cars were fascinating to see, and unlike other custom car creators, Saunders has made almost all of the cars for himself; conceiving and creating the cars without any design process beyond thinking them through and getting his hands dirty in evenings after work.  Each of the cars introduced new themes not evident in their donor designs and, within the context of many salubrious but established classic car designs at the auction, they had a powerful quixotic appeal. So why is he selling them?

Aston Martin drops Cygnet city car

Autocar is reporting that the diminutive Aston Martin Cygnet has been dropped from the company’s portfolio. The automaker, now owned by Prodrive and private equity firm Invenstindustrial, will focus on its “core product range,” also known as “good cars.” Autocar posits that the justification for the Cygnet was to continue producing V8 and V12 cars, while keeping its average CO2 emissions down. The Cygnet shared bones with the Toyota iQ city car and used a 97-hp, 1.3-liter engine and got 58.9 mpg using the U.S.