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Cars, Culture and the City

When you think of American cities associated with the car it is Los Angeles of course that leaps first to mind, thanks mostly to Hollywood, and Detroit second. But New York turns out to have been vital in the history of car design, as I found researching an exhibition Cars, Culture and the City at the Museum of the City of New York as guest curator over the last few months, working with the museums curator architecture and design, Donald Albrecht. The show has just opened, on March 25.

New Infiniti Q50 starts at £27,950 for the Q50 2.2d

Infiniti are pinning the new Q50′s sporting credibility on Sebastian Vettel (pictured) Infiniti are hanging their future sales on a name change that sounds like a James Bond reference – with all Infiniti models now getting the ‘Q’ prefix – and Sebastian Vettel’s input and endorsement of the brand – he’s Infiniti’s Director of Performance (well, there’s a price to pay for Infiniti’s Red Bull sponsorship). The first outing for Infiniti ‘Q’ in the UK is the new Infiniti Q50, which gets a four cylinder 2.2 litre turbo diesel as its entry-level, and it looks quite promising with 168bhp and 295lb/ft of torque and emissions of 115g/km, which should mean official economy around 65mpg. Standard features on the Q50 2.2d include Infiniti inTouch (so you can Tweet and Like on the go), Infiniti Drive Mode Selector, Stop-Start, rear view camera, Climate, 17″ alloys, Voice and Bluetooth.

Ford Model T climbs Ben Nevis: Ford Heritage Images

Ford Model T climbs Ben Nevis in 1911 (click for full size image) When the good Mr Clarkson decided Top Gear should do a piece about a Land Rover Discovery using its incredible off-road abilities to climb a mountain in Scotland we were all astonished that – despite a couple of hiccups on the way – he managed to get one of Land Rover’s finest up a mountain where cars were never designed to go. What’s even more astonishing is that Ford managed to do the same 100 years go, but they used a standard Model T and choose Britain’s tallest mountain – Ben Nevis – for the stunt. The 20 horsepower Model T was driven up Ben Nevis as a publicity stunt for Ford’s agent in Edinburgh.