New Quick Change Aluminum Seal Plate -winters-richmond-frankland-late Model on 2040-parts.com

Make the McLaren MP4-12C your own with new online configuator

We all want to own a McLaren--a lucky few among us actually will. But the rest of us can still dream, design our custom MP4-12C with McLaren's new online configurator and hope for a winning lottery ticket. Anyone can log on at www.mclarenautomotive.com and access the configurator.

July 11: Visiting a rival

I will take it to work all week, including Wednesday when I go to Santa Monica to drive a Nissan Leaf electric car. I wonder how they'll take to seeing a competitor in the parking lot. Not far enough to worry about range, though I will look for a charging spot in Santa Monica.

Cuba loosens some limits on selling cars

For decades, driving down the streets of Cuba was like entering an automotive time warp. The streets are full of cars from the 1950s, and there's virtually nothing modern. But with an announcement by President Raul Castro last week, the strict rules are going to be relaxed a bit, and Cubans and foreign residents now have the right to buy and sell cars made after 1959.