Dodge Jeep 45rfe,545rfe Transmission Torque Converter For 1999 - 2006 13-37 on 2040-parts.com

The fall and rise of the budget car

Twenty years ago, the classic bargain brands like Lada seemed to be going the same way as the Soviet empire that spawned them. Woefully dated and badly made, only a weirdo would have bought a new Lada rather than a second-hand model from Ford, Vauxhall or VW. However, one of the big trends in the car industry today is the re-emergence of bargain cars.

Who's Where: Craig Metros heads back to Michigan to become Ford's exterior design director of The Americas

Craig Metros is heading back to his native Michigan to take up a new position as Ford's exterior design director of The Americas. Metros leaves his current role as design director of Ford Asia Pacific in the company's Melbourne studio in Australia, where his team led the Everest, Falcon and Ranger programs. During Ford's PAG (Premier Auto Group) era, the CCS graduate was the first American designer to work in the Jaguar design studio in the UK before returning to America to lead the interior and exterior design themes of the 2004 Ford F-150.

Bob Bondurant at 80

Last fall, as we waited for our turn to partake in a braking drill at Bob Bondurant's driving school in Arizona, a black Cadillac CTS-V coupe came screaming out of the facility's parking area and onto the tarmac where we sat. The driver hustled the big two-door around a tight autocross course at a startling pace, though he likely would have been faster had he avoided some of the smoky, sideways stuff. Our instructor, Johnny O'Connell, grinned, “I guess it's good to be the boss.” Bondurant -- who turns 80 on Saturday -- started racing an Indian motorcycle as a teenager.