Oldsmobile 455 400 425 Oil Pan on 2040-parts.com

More Saab products coming, Muller says

Saab's new Dutch owner, Spyker Cars NV, intends to spin additional models off its new Phoenix platform after it yields a redesigned Saab 9-3. Saab dealers will receive the latest 9-3 in 2012, Spyker founder and Saab Automobile AB Chairman Victor Muller said Thursday at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich. The dealers, who have been starved for product as former owner General Motors attempted to sell or liquidate the brand, also will obtain a Cadillac-based 9-4X crossover when it goes into production in April 2011 in Mexico.

Buick Encore gets innovative all-wheel drive system

Buick is touting the Active On-Demand all-wheel drive system in the new Encore SUV. Instead of a traditional AWD system that directs torque to wheels only when slip is detected, the Buick system sends motive force to the rear on every launch. Then, if no slip is detected, a computer disengages torque to the clutch, returning the car to front wheel drive.

One Lap of the Web: Nine cars you'll drive in hell, airbag watermelon destruction and luxury, Soviet-style

-- After carefully weighing the options, Motor Authority has arrived at a list of the nine cars you'll drive in hell. The Aztek is an easy (if misunderstood) target, and the Renault Fuego makes sense on the basis of its name alone but there are a few unexpected additions, too -- like the Tesla Model S, which won't be easy to keep running because “… Hell is a lot like the San Francisco airport--roughly five thousand people and their 25,000 battery-powered devices, all fighting for a pull off Hell's only functional power outlet.” -- Don't ask us why, but we're fascinated with old Soviet steel, from the no-nonsense heavy duty trucks the crappy Cars of the People. The supposedly luxurious, Packard-inspired Chaika M-13 limousine sits somewhere between the two, and you can read a Special Interest Auto article on the car at Hemmings.