Ford Explorer Alternator on 2040-parts.com

What we drive: 1969 Triumph TR6

Updated March 2013: Go straight to the update here. Wisdom borne of experience: If you are contemplating the purchase of a British car and the vital parts of that car are in more than, say, two cardboard boxes, your purchase is suspect. Obviously there are exceptions: The D-type Jaguar comes to mind.

Crashing the Pixar Motorama car show

The animated film studio Pixar sits behind newly aged brick walls on a sprawling campus in the East Bay that looks and seems a little like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, especially since you can't get inside. But we've been inside, and it is a pretty wonderful place. On July 12 Pixar's Jay Ward, guardian of the "Cars" franchise and all the wheeled wonders that entails, organized the latest Pixar Motorama, the greatest car show you'll never see.

Mercedes start the tease for the 2014 S63 AMG

Mercedes are teasing the arrival of the new S63 AMG (pictured) The 2014 Mercedes S Class has already made its debut, at least in ‘standard’ guise, but there’s a lot more to come. There’s the S-Class Coupe – which will replace the current CL – and there’s the new S-Class Pullman – which will replace the Maybach. But the next instalment for the new S-Class will be the performance S63 AMG, which we’re expecting to arrive at Frankfurt in a couple of months, and ahead of that Mercedes is starting to tease its arrival.