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Andy Saunders sells 'Art Cars' collection

British 'car artist' Andy Saunders' 'Art Car' collection was sold by RM Auctions in London, UK on October 29, along with a selection of classic cars and a McLaren F1 that sold for £2.5 million - a new world record. Though lacking the quality of many Californian custom cars when seen close up, the Art Cars were fascinating to see, and unlike other custom car creators, Saunders has made almost all of the cars for himself; conceiving and creating the cars without any design process beyond thinking them through and getting his hands dirty in evenings after work.  Each of the cars introduced new themes not evident in their donor designs and, within the context of many salubrious but established classic car designs at the auction, they had a powerful quixotic appeal. So why is he selling them?

Finalists announced in Fiat UK's 'Smiles per Hour' design competition

Fiat UK has picked five finalists in the ‘Smiles per Hour Design Competition', a design contest we first told you about back in July. The aim of the competition was to find a budding designer in Britain who would develop a clever and amusing new way to travel. Following an initial judging process, the selection for best designs comprised of Simon Tarrant's 'Street Rower'; Nick Rawcliffe's 'Snowbone'; Natalie Daghestani's 'Hylo female commuter shoe'; Steven Spong's ‘Longbow'; and Harley Zblewski's 'Suitcase Car' -  a design we first saw at Coventry University's annual Degree Show in June.

Final second-generation Mini leaves production line

THE FINAL Mini hatchback of the current generation has left the production line in Oxford, after more than a million were made for customers around the world. There’s no time for production staff to rest, though, with assembly of the new Mini hatchback already under way alongside the many other Mini model derivatives. In total, more than 1.8 million hatchback Minis have been built at the factory since 2001, of which 1,041,412 were the currently outgoing model.