Nissan 280zx Datsun 280zx Passenger Door Handle on 2040-parts.com

One lap of the Web: $52 million Ferrari 250 GTO, Alfa Romeo Montreal for sale and more bizarro engines

-- Even as the hammer fell on Juan Manuel Fangio's $30 million Mercedes-Benz W196R, we knew that that car wasn't the most expensive one ever sold -- it was merely the most expensive car sold at auction. Other cars were reported to have traded for a bit more in private sales. But now we have word of a car that absolutely blows the sale price of Fangio's little Silver Arrow out of the water: a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO that sold to an undisclosed buyer for $52 million.

Only the top is soft in new Audi A5/S5 cabriolet

Audi is bucking the trend among luxury automakers who are churning out hardtop convertibles, as the new A5/S5 cabriolets that will reach these shores in October will be the old-fashioned, soft-top design. While other manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Volvo, among others, offer folding hard-tops, Audi says the compromise necessary to make room for the top and all its mechanical apparatus makes a soft-top the right choice for a small to mid-size convertible. The soft top is well insulated; even during a steady rain during our first drive of the car, the cabin was relatively quiet.

Lotus Evora hits London showroom

Despite the fact that the new Lotus Evora is not due to start delivery until next Summer, Lotus of London, in Park Lane, has this week taken delivery of the first Evora to hit a showroom anywhere in the world, and it will be on show from the 22nd December. The Evora is going to be on display until the 9th January, offering potential buyers, and the terminally nosey, the opportunity to see this exciting new Lotus in the flesh. Finished in Frost White (trendy, but I’m not sure it suits the Evora that well), with a red leather interior, the 2+2 is the first proper new Lotus car for more than a decade.