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

Mercedes-Benz prototypes spotted

Modern technology makes it harder for automakers to hide their upcoming products from prying eyes. Take, for example, these images sent to us from Autoweek subscriber Jonathan Peters while he was in Utah. Peters speculates that what he saw was a gathering of a varied Mercedes-Benz cars being tested, along with cars from other carmakers for comparisons.

Early cars, fashion on display at the Petersen

Automotivated, a new exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, traces the evolution of clothes worn in cars--from the bulky circus-tent stuff people had to wear to keep from freezing to death in the jangly, open-topped conveyances of 100 years ago, up to the height of the European Concours in the 1920s and '30s, when what you and your date wore was just as important to winning best of show as the styling of your Delahaye/Delage/Talbot Lago. “In the earliest days of the automobile, you were sitting on the car, you weren't sitting in it,” said Leslie Kendall, curator at the Petersen. So the first section of the exhibit shows people (mannequins dressed as people) in heavy, practical overcoats, scarves and goggles.

Maserati Kubang (2011) at Frankfurt motor show

Yes, yes - CAR Online got a bit excited last week and thought it had scooped the new Maserati SUV when it hadn't. But this one is real: Maser showed the new Kubang concept in the metal at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show. If that badge sounds familiar, that's because Maserati showed a concept car bearing the same name at the Detroit auto show 2003.