Harley Sportster Starter Jackshaft Assembly 1967-1980 on 2040-parts.com

Visionary tech

Ignore the marketers: There's nothing new under the technological sun. Cost and reliability concerns may have hindered the early adoption of these auto-tech breakthroughs, though you'd never know it based on their present-day ubiquity. 1941: Crossovers The combination of a fully enclosed, carlike body and all-wheel-drive underpinnings got its start with the Volkswagen Type 87 Kommandeurwagen.

Toyota i-Road concept (2013) first official pictures

This is the Toyota i-Road, a tiny concept car that will be officially unveiled at the 2013 Geneva motor show tomorrow. It's a two-seater, three-wheeled electric city car that Toyota reckons is the future of urban motoring. Is the Toyota i-Road a potential Renault Twizy rival? If it does go into production, the pair could be pretty close.

Ferrari California Handling Speciale (2012) first pictures

This is Ferrari’s revised California, which will be unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March 2012. It’s got more power, weighs less, and can be optioned with a chassis-sharpening Handling Speciale package, all features scooped by CAR last year. The California caused quite a stir when it was launched, ushering in a whole host of firsts for Ferrari: it was the company’s first convertible with a folding metal roof; the first with a double-clutch gearbox, the first front-engined V8 Ferrari, and the first with direct-injection engine technology.