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

Porsche 911 50 Years Edition celebrates the 911′s half century

The Porsche 911 50 Years Edition (pictured) celebrates half a century of the 911 If you’d guessed how much the Porsche 911 would change in the coming years when it was first launched in 1963, there’s a pretty strong chance you’d have decided the shape would change out of all recognition and the engine would move from the back to the front. But you’d have been wrong. The Porsche 911, perhaps more than any other car ever made, has evolved over its 50 years of life instead of being replaced by a new and ‘better’ car.

Concept Car of the Week: Opel Junior (1983)

30 years ago, Opel was already thinking about a very compact vehicle that would fit in its range below the Corsa. The Junior Concept was a realistic study of a future-oriented A-segment car with an interior packed with innovations. The three-door Opel Junior offers room for four passengers in a package of only 3,410mm in length.

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.