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

Concept Car of the Week: Bugatti 18/3 Chiron (1999)

In 1998, Volkswagen AG acquired the French company Bugatti with the intention of restoring it to its former glory. After the luxurious EB112 and EB118 concepts, Ferdinand Piech commissioned Italdesign to work on another prototype: a Bugatti flagship supercar – the Chiron. While its predecessor, the mighty EB110, was a fantastic and bold design, it lacked a real Bugatti character.

Enjoy the Show: Download Detroit 2009 tour now

It's not too late to visit the Detroit auto show, which runs through Sunday, Jan. 25. If you're going in person, don't forget to download the AutoWeek editors' audio tour of the show for your mobile device.

Watch the sad, final moments of a crusher-bound heap

Automotive wrecking yards are good places to reflect on the real-world values of heavily depreciated vehicles versus global current scrap-metal prices, and to see which cars have suddenly had the fix-it-versus-total-it line moved by insurance companies (the early-21st-century Subaru Legacy Outback, for example, appeared in large numbers in high-turnover wrecking yards just during the last year, as fairly minor collision damage on these cars is no longer worth fixing). You'll see the things that a car's last owner does in a desperate attempt to sell (or at least live with) an increasingly decrepit heap (as we learned in "Repo Man," you really will find a Little Tree in every car). During a recent trip to a San Jose, Calif., yard, I encountered this sad yet strangely compelling scene.