Camaro Parking Sign No Parking on 2040-parts.com

The no-show cars: a reader rant on mad concepts

Instigated by Harley Earl at General Motors in the late 30s with the quaintly named Buick Y-Job, show cars, or concept cars, were presented to an excited public eager for new things. As the world recovered from a depression and then a war, these vehicles pointed to a better future that many people believed in, including the people who produced them. And, although many of the concept cars of the 50s, with their Jetsons plexiglass roofs and notional nuclear powered engines seem ludicrous now, in their time they weren’t that cynical.

UK has 'highest car running costs'

THE UK is the most expensive country in the world for running a car, according to a new survey. Comparing the cost of fuel, insurance, road tax and MOT, on average it costs the UK motorist £3,453 a year, which is £1,000 more than in the USA and Australia, £1,825 than Japan and a full £2,000 more than in China. The survey, conducted by Webuyanycar.com, compared the cost of motoring in 21 countries on five continents, and revealed that on many fronts the UK motorist is paying more than anyone else.

American hero Dave Kinney drags Avanti no. 2 back to life

Autoweek contributor, appraiser, valuation expert and rural quiz-bowl champ Dave Kinney has a thing for Studebaker Avantis. He claims to have owned around 100 of them, though we've heard that the real number is higher than that. One of those Avantis was the second one that Studebaker ever built.