Want an Audi Quattro? You’re not the only one.

Being male, and Clarkson-aged, I remember, and owned, many of the ‘Classic’ cars which have turned up in hit TV series in recent years. For many years now they’ve just been fond memories, periodically stimulated by looking at old photos, but cars like these are becoming more and more common on our roads, according to a spokesman from Brittania Rescue: “These cars are stylish and they benefit from cheaper road tax so it’s no surprise they are getting a second lease of life.” The Iconic Audi Quattro - as seen in Life on Mars And frankly, I’m not surprised. There is something hugely appealing about cars from the 70s and 80s.

Jason Castriota to head Saab Design

When Car Design News spoke to Jason Castriota about the new design consultancy he had set up in New York and Turin back in March, the designer told us he was working on a very exciting automotive project that he couldn't talk about at the time. It turns out that automotive project was for Saab, as last week the Swedish automaker announced it had hired Jason Castriota Design to oversee the development of a new generation of Saab products – the first to be completed under the tenure of its new owners, Spyker. Castriota's new appointment marks the shift from Saab's former position – where the brand was an integrated company within GM – to its newfound placement as an independent automaker, with Castriota essentially filling the role previously occupied by Mark Adams, GM Europe's Vice President of Design.

Early cars, fashion on display at the Petersen

Automotivated, a new exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, traces the evolution of clothes worn in cars--from the bulky circus-tent stuff people had to wear to keep from freezing to death in the jangly, open-topped conveyances of 100 years ago, up to the height of the European Concours in the 1920s and '30s, when what you and your date wore was just as important to winning best of show as the styling of your Delahaye/Delage/Talbot Lago. “In the earliest days of the automobile, you were sitting on the car, you weren't sitting in it,” said Leslie Kendall, curator at the Petersen. So the first section of the exhibit shows people (mannequins dressed as people) in heavy, practical overcoats, scarves and goggles.