Bridgestone Exedra Max 120/90-17 Front Tire on 2040-parts.com

Approved mechanics essential for quality service

DRIVERS need to make sure their car is being properly serviced by a qualified mechanic, says the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI). To help drives do this, it has launched a government-backed scheme called the Professional Register. While there are around 175,000 people in the UK who call themselves automotive technicians, the IMI says it can only recommend around 27,000 as having the required skills and competence to carry out work to the required standard in their specialism.

U.S. equity firm to invest $70 million in Saab

Race-car fan and private-equity executive Alex Mascioli is pumping $70 million into Saab as the Swedish automaker works to stay afloat. Mascioli's firm, North Street Capitol, is buying $10 million in shares of Swedish Automobile, which owns Saab, and is also giving the company a $60 million loan to pay for the carmaker's reorganization. U.S.-based North Street Capital struck a deal in September to buy the Spyker sports-car business from Swedish Automobile for $44 million.

One lap of the Web: microcars and muscle cars

-- Remember the 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2? Yes, the one that you can't find anywhere now outside of those amazingly outdated posters (where do they find them?) they have on the walls of your local oil change place, right next to a poster of a GMC Syclone and a first-generation Dodge Viper? The one with the plastic nosecone that inevitably gets warped?