Parade celebrates astronauts and Corvettes

After Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into outer space in 1961, General Motors executive Ed Cole presented the astronaut with a new 1962 Chevrolet Corvette, customized with a space-age interior. Shepard had brought along his own 1957 Corvette when he reported for the space-training program in 1959. Thanks to a special lease arrangement between the space men and a Melbourne, Fla., Chevy dealership, six of the Mercury Seven astronauts were Corvette owners.

Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde at Frankfurt

Alfa will be bringing the 170bhp Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde to Frankfurt Alfa Romeo has revealed that they’ll be bringing the  MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde (MiTo four leaf clover) to the Frankfurt Motor Show next week, featuring a 170bhp Multiair engine as we reported back in June (goodness, we’re ahead of the game sometimes!). The ‘Quadrifoglio’ bit refers back to Alfa’s racing history, and was the emblem used on those cars and was most recently seen on special editions of the Alf GT and 147. But the biggest news, apart from the extras and the paint job, is the clever Multiair system that Alfa is busy introducing.

Film Friday: A Wonderful New World of Fords has descended from the heavens!

In a day when every automaker seems to be eager to latch on to the smallest details -- a few pounds of weight shaved here and there, some silly feature designed to keep you and your family protected in an accident, a flashier infotainment setup -- to sell their product, this 1960 Ford spot is a breath of fresh air. There's none of this oh-so-carefully hedged “our cars are pretty OK!” nonsense in this spot for the 1960 Thunderbird, Falcon and Galaxie. There's nary a world about fuel economy (OK, one mention -- the Falcon supposedly gets up to 30 mpg).