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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.

Volkswagen Passat CC Facelift (2012) at LA Motor Show

Volkswagen Passat CC gets a Facelift for 2012 The VW Passat CC – the swoopy-coupe version of the regular Passat – has been around for four years and has hardly changed since it launched. Well, unless you count the option of having five seats in the back of your Passat CC, that is. But now its time for Volkswagen’s Mondeo-sized offering that thinks it’s a Mercedes CLS to get a bit of a makeover.

Toyota Prius camper carries on grand Scandinavian tradition

It's commonly said that folks who used to drive Saabs now drive Subarus. While this undoubtedly is true in the Northeast, in California, at least, they also flocked to the Toyota Prius. One of the more ingenious accessories ever developed for a Saab--aside from the absolutely boss rear-window louvers--was the Toppola camper.