Custom Chrome 7° Raked Wideglide 41mm Triple Trees Forks Chopper Sportster St on 2040-parts.com

Selling in the Motor City: RM Auctions hawks muscle cars, classic sheetmetal--and even a boat at Detroit event

The steering wheel in a 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible is surprisingly thin. It's oversized and humongously circular--but still startlingly narrow considering it directs a very barge-like Caddy. Oh, and the seats are fairly comfortable.

The Hidden Work of Design Consultancies

Most major car companies carry out most of their design work themselves, with dedicated design departments increasingly capable of handling every aspect of the design process. But few car companies do not use the services of external car design consultancies for some smaller projects, and many smaller car companies use such consultancies to supplement their more limited in-house design facilities on larger design projects. Throughout the world there are numerous companies offering these design services to car companies.

Nissan LEAF: Fleet sales double

Nissan has revealed that fleet sales of its electric LEAF have doubled in the UK, with overall Nissan fleet sales up 9 per cent. Sales of electric cars are not exactly stellar, but there is a light at the end of a very long tunnel shining dimly on UK EV sales – the fleet sector. Nissan has reported that its fleet sales in the UK – with 89 per cent of all fleets sales of cars actually built in the UK – has risen by 9 per cent so far in 2012, but the Nissan LEAF EV has seen its fleets sales more than double.