New 37-13722a12 Decal Set Mercury Mercruiser Quicksilver on 2040-parts.com

Project Car Hell, Straight Eight, Two Doors Edition: '47 Buick or '53 Packard?

Welcome back to another session in the Hell Garage, where you choose between a pair of projects that match coolness with torment. We've been through air-cooled German cars, cheap Italian cars and incomprehensible French cars in recent weeks, and now we're going to winch a couple of big American two-doors with straight-eight power out of the Lake of Fire. Before the V8 reigned supreme in luxury-car land, cars with long hoods and smooth-running inline-eight engines showed that you had made it, and we've found a pair of such cars that should be gorgeous when restored…after about a decade of work.

Vogon poetry: Mercedes-Benz shows off S63 AMG Coupe

Depending on your taste for the "crown of literature," the above video is either barbaric hokum or sublime wordplay -- image-laden poetry, in AABB rhyming scheme, appealing to car enthusiasts making full use of their expensive English majors. "Darkness has a companion tonight," reads the passably Vincent Price-ish voice of a poem written exclusively for AMG by a "Betty Stewart," over sounds of the Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG Coupe roaring mellifluously across abandoned runways and through the world's largest parking garage. "Small creatures prick ears and tremble with fright.

Brits prefer driving abroad

BRITISH DRIVERS say they would rather drive abroad than in the UK because continental roads are less congested and in better repair. The lower price of fuel in continental Europe also attracts British drivers. Every year, 4.2 million British drivers head to Europe and research by the RAC shows the UK ranks only 24th when it comes to the quality of its roads.