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Top student technicians compete for $12 million in scholarships

Jimbo Paranada and Marc Paguirigan wore their leis made of lucky Hawaiian ti leaves, but it wasn't quite enough to give the Maui High School students the win in the 62nd-annual Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills national competition on June 14 at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. The Hawaiian duo finished second to the two-person team of Matthew Saunders and Drew Torrey from Vale High School in Vale, Ore. The Oregon pair won the title of "America's Best Student Auto Technicians," outscoring at field of state champions from all 50 states.

2012 Mercedes SLK55 WILL get 5.5 litre V8

2012 Mercedes SLK55 to get naturally aspirated 5.5 litre V8 (2011 SLK photo) You never really know until it’s officially announced, but we did expect the 2012 Mercedes SLK55 to get the new 5.5 litre V8. When Mercedes revealed the new SLK back in January, we knew there were still two more versions to come for 2012 – the SLK55 and the Diesel SLK – and that we’d get the official details later. Well, now it’s later – at least for the SLK55.

MINI Paceman Adventure Concept – it’s a Countryman Pickup

It’s a MINI Pickup – the MINI Paceman Adventure It’s always hard to decide if a MINI concept – and they’re not exactly as rare as hens teeth – is a real one-off or a pointer to a future production MINI. A good example of that is MINI’s April Fool in 2012 for ‘Camping MINIs’ which turned in to a fully-blown official concept in 2013 as the MINI Clubvan Camper, Countryman All4 Camp & Cowley Caravan. Now we get the MINI Paceman Adventure Concept, a pickup based on the Pacemena (itself based on the Countryman) put together by BMW students and instructors at plants in Munich and Dingolfing and built as an exercise to show the skills and talent of the apprentice programme.