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SoCal Speed shop wins AMBR award as hod-rodding returns to its roots

In a competition that "took hot-rodding back to its SoCal roots," the SoCal Speed Shop--the entity founded by original hot-rod hero Alex Xydias and now helmed by Pete Chapouris--finally won the AMBR. That's AMBR, as in, America's Most Beautiful Roadster, the most sought-after title in all of hot-rodding and the crowning glory of the Grand National Roadster Show. There is that competition at the Detroit Autorama that hands out the Ridler Award, but that is open to all manner of kustom kars.

One Lap of the Web: Stop! It's Sledgehammer time!

-- There's a Bitter SC on eBay this week, and unlike most examples that we see on the list that is Craig's and the Electronic Bays, this is actually in decent shape. Some of you might remember these when they were new, and they remain the best way and perhaps the only way to get into an Opel Senator on this side of the Atlantic. (If you're into that sort of thing.) -- OK, we get it -- Mongolia has only about 2,000 miles of paved roads, but that's no excuse for chafing through a bottleneck in this manner.

News watch April 2010: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hourThursday 29 April 2010• The European Commission has published a document outlining plans to encourage the take-up of electric cars. It includes a strategy for a common charging socket (Financial Times)• BMW has leapfrogged Toyota as the world's most valuable automotive brand, according to the BrandZ Top 100 survey.