New Meyle Engine Mount, 30630070 on 2040-parts.com

Mini factory celebrates its 100th birthday

A bastion of the British car-building industry, Mini’s ‘Plant Oxford’ in Cowley, Oxford celebrates 100 years of building cars today (28 March 2013). Currently responsible for producing the second-gen BMW Mini range, Plant Oxford has been the birthplace more than just trendy city cars: it’s stamped out over 11.5 million cars since 1913, including legend like the Morris Minor and Frogeye Sprite, and clunkers like the Morris Marina. It also contributed to the war effort by repairing damaged RAF fighter aircraft during the Second World War.

Chevrolet and Disney develop virtual design experience

Chevrolet designers and Disney ‘Imagineers' will offer Walt Disney World Resort guests a glimpse inside a professional design studio. After 18 months of collaboration in the fields of industrial, automotive design to architecture and animation, visitors will be immersed in a multi-sensory virtual experience. The experience gives visitors the chance to create their own designs – cars, trucks or crossovers – with some help from Chevrolet designers before test driving it on virtual track surfaces that imitate the real performance tests.

Concept Car of the Week: BMW Z13 (1993)

Rear-mounted engine, three seats, central driving position, 830 kg. What might sound like the ingredients for a fantastic little sports car apply in fact to the exceptionally compact and exciting BMW Z13 concept presented in 1993 at the Geneva motor show. BMW engineers and designers developed a car that combined practicality, innovation, safety, economy and, more importantly, it looks like a lot of fun.