Nissan X-trail 2001 Combination Switch [6161500] on 2040-parts.com

Concept Car of the Week: Ghia Streamline X 'Gilda' (1955)

In 1954 Virgil Exner, director of styling at Chrysler, created a scale clay-model to communicate to his team his vision of futuristic and aerodynamic shapes. The sculpture was then painted black and was left on display in Exner's Office. There it caught the eye of Luigi Segre, director of Ghia who expressed his intentions to create a car inspired by the forms of the model.

Man-made Modern Luxury Materials in Cars

Luxury, within the context of a car interior, has been closely related to the use of wood and leather for over a century. These natural materials have a familiar organic, tactile quality that are intrinsically desirable attributes for most people and, in today's mass manufactured plastic world, they also assume a luxury or premium quality. Throughout the last century, metal, leather and wood have also been progressively supplanted by bakelite, vinyl and then polymer-based plastic materials in car interiors as well.

Best of France and Italy car show shines

You could say the most impressive thing about the annual Best of France and Italy car show was that so many of these things made it all the way to Woodley Park under their own power. But they all did. Indeed, one of the coolest things about this show is the drive there -- you'll pass Alfettas, X-19s, Renault Dauphines, Citro