Making famous friends at the Petersen museum

Celebrities, they're just like us! And aside from the public adulation and fame, plus our sneaking suspicion that the 12 or so really well-known car guys can actually afford their lavish hand-picked choices without so much as entering a PIN or presenting a letter of credit, celebrities bicker and fret over the cars with which they'd fill their dream garages. Difference is, when they fill their dream garages, people pay attention.

U.S. set to raise fuel-economy standard

Government regulators will get their prize of higher fuel-economy standards, and automakers will get the certainty of a national emissions standard, under new rules to be proposed Tuesday by President Barack Obama. The fleet average fuel economy for automakers will rise to 35.5 mpg in 2016 under the president's proposal--10 mpg more than today's mandate. At the same time, the president's proposed rule will cut carbon emissions, thought to be a key factor in global warming.

Concept Car of the Week: Plymouth XNR (1960)

In the early ‘50s, both GM and Ford offered attractive and exciting sports cars, symbols of a proud post-war America. Ford had the Thunderbird and GM the Corvette, but Chrysler's approach was more pragmatic, producing cars that were practical and robust but also slow. After commissioning a long series of concepts designed by Italian carrozzeria Ghia, Chrysler gave a free hand to its design chief Virgil Exner to inject some life into its lineup.