Auto Stereo Control Face Plate on 2040-parts.com

Project Car Hell, Unidentifiable German Coupes Edition: Borgward Isabella Coup

Welcome back to Project Car Hell, where every iron atom always finds the oxygen it seeks, every vehicle ran when parked, and the parts you need are always in another continent! Last week, we got all patriotic with a couple of classic American muscle cars, and that just whetted our appetite for cars that were smaller and more, you know, German. We gave you a tough choice between a couple of air-cooled Volkswagens not long ago, but this time we're interested in German marques that disappeared in the 1960s: NSU and Borgward.

Pioneer App Radio officially unveiled

Pioneer has officially unveiled the App Radio that AutoWeek told you about earlier this month. Now that it's willing to talk, Pioneer claims that the radio and audio system is "the first in-vehicle product designed to utilize the processing power, storage capacity, network connectivity and apps of the iPhone and iPod Touch as the primary source for its information and entertainment capabilities." That does sound a lot like what Mini Connected and, in a more platform-agnostic sense, Ford Sync are doing. Pioneer said it couldn't speak to the similarity of those systems, but Ted Cardenas, director of marketing for Pioneer's car-electronics division, briefed us on installation of the device and what Pioneer is doing to minimize driver distraction.

Ford F-150: Diesel model is delayed

A diesel engine for the Ford F-150 light-duty pickup is looking dicey. Ford had said it would sell a diesel F-150 beginning in 2010. Last spring, dealers were shown a 4.4-liter V-8 diesel said to deliver more power and torque than the F-150's 5.4-liter gasoline V-8 and offer a 20 percent fuel savings.