El Camino Antenna Mast, 1964-1966 on 2040-parts.com

Ariel Atom 3.5 (2012) first official pictures

It's difficult for Ariel to come up with a mid-life refresh for its cars - there simply aren't that many bits to fiddle with in the first place. Still, the boys from Somerset must have succeeded, because what we have here is the freshly updated Ariel Atom 3.5. As the name suggests, it's a development of the Ariel Atom 3, with a crop of minor visual  tweaks and some mechanical changes too, keeping Caterham and BAC looking over their shoulders.

Toyota recalls 6.58 million cars – 35,000 in the UK

The Toyota Yaris (pictured) – one of the Toyotas recalled It seems Toyota has decided its dealer service centres aren’t busy enough, so it’s revealed a massive series of recalls for 6.58 million Toyota’s around the world – and 35,124 in the UK – to fix a raft of problems. The cars affected are the RAV4, Hilux, Yaris and Urban Cruiser models, and although no accidents or injuries have occurred as a result of the problems, Toyota are taking no chances. The Rav4 and Hilux models are being recalled to fix a spiral cable assembly in the airbag module where the shape and location of a retainer for the flexible flat cable could damage circuitry when the steering wheel is turned.

The Alliance on Winter Tyres: The world’s gone MAD

Philip Hammond dropped a clanger on Winter Tyres We’ve banged on about Winter tyres to anyone who’ll listen – and those that won’t – for longer than we care to remember. And we’ll continue to do so. Winter tyres can offer better grip in crappy conditions than driving an SUV.