Currie Ce-9029e Ez Tire Deflator on 2040-parts.com

Toyota says quake-hit plants escape major structural damage

Toyota Motor Corp. has released the first damage report for its northern Japanese factories in the region hammered by Friday's massive earthquake, saying some equipment and fixtures will need repairs but that the plants sustained no major structural harm. For days after the quake, Toyota had trouble contacting it plants in the northern Japan quake zone, making it difficult to assess their status.

Concept Car of the Week: Italdesign Machimoto (1986)

The Machimoto might look and sound like a Japanese concept, but it was developed in Europe in the Turin-based Italdesign studio, and was based on a Volkswagen Golf GTI platform. The name actually derives from MACHIna (car in Italian) and MOTOciclo (motorcycle) as the perfect hybrid between the worlds of two- and four-wheelers. Unveiled on its home turf at the Turin motor show in 1986, it landed like a UFO, shocking both the public and the press.

New MINI One revealed: Geneva Motor Show

The new MINI One (pictured) revealed in Geneva The big news for the Geneva Motor Show and MINI – apart from the display of the new MINI Cooper and Cooper S – was supposed to be the MINI Clubman Concept, a first look at the new Clubman in all its over-sized glory. But lurking on MINI’s stand in Geneva is also the new entry-level MINI – the new MINI One (pictured above). With a lesser spec than its siblings, the new MINI One comes with a body coloured roof, less butch front bumper and smaller wheels and an all round pruned-down spec.