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

Kia plots rear-wheel-drive strategy

Kia is going rear-wheel drive. The company's first-ever production rear-wheel sedan will launch in Korea in the first half of this year. It's code-named “KH,” and it shares a platform with the Equus, Hyundai's top-of-the-line RWD sedan.

Bentley Hunaudières: The Bentley that became a Bugatti

Bentley Hunaudieres Now seemingly forgotten, the Bentley Hunaudières Concept car from the 1999 Geneva Motor Show was the forerunner to the Bugatti Veyron. At the end of the 1990s Volkswagen embarked on a buying frenzy that would see them become makers of some of the world’s most desirable cars, acquiring Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini in the space of a few months in 1998. But even though VW had bought Bentley and Bugatti it seems they weren’t entirely sure at first where they would take their new marques, and at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show they revealed a W16 hypercar.

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.