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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?

JCB DieselMax

Following its display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last month, the JCB DieselMax has recently proved itself the fastest yet diesel-powered car during Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Andy Green, who in 1997 broke the sound barrier on land in Thrust SSC, piloted DieselMax to reach a top speed of 350.09mph, increasing the existing record set in 1973 by over 100mph. Helping the JCB DieselMax achieve this is a drag coefficient of just 0.174 and two 4.4-liter four-cylinder engines, each producing 750PS.

Chevrolet Code 130R, Tru 140S at 2012 Detroit show

Chevrolet's press conference at the 2012 North American International Auto Show was all about youngsters: namely the millennials, or 11-30-year-olds who hold increasing consumer power. GM reckons there are 80 million of them in the US, and they account for $1 trillion of spending power. So it's worth taking them seriously.