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One Lap of the Web: Remembering the dearly departed

-- With news that Toyota is leaving the great state of California for the greater (by landmass, anyway; your own opinion may vary) state of Texas, it's worth reminding ourselves that Toyota in America started as one lonely building on 6000 Hollywood Blvd., having taken over a former Rambler dealership. (The site is still a successful Toyota dealership.) That first year of sales in 1958 saw 287 Toyopet Crowns and one Land Cruiser sold -- more as curiosities than as practical transportation, we'd wager. -- At any rate, Toyota's move from California to Texas is moving from "one of the most eco-friendly states in the union," according to Ward's Auto, "to the U.S.’s equivalent of China." -- Ten years ago today, the last Oldsmobile rolled off the line at Lansing Car Assembly.

One Lap of the Web: A 1,000 hp hearse, behind the Jean Claude Van Damme Volvo shoot and a secret Argentinian racetrack

-- We've said it before, and we'll say it again: There's something a little bit different about "professional car" people. Not bad, mind you, just different -- it takes a special sort of person to rock a vintage ambulance or hearse. But a blown Caprice corpsewagon kicking out 1,000 hp?

Nissan Titan still has a future

Even without a deal to team up with Chrysler Group on a new pickup, Nissan Motor Co. plans to keep the Titan truck in its lineup and develop a new range of models on its own. "We will do the next-generation Titan in-house," Larry Dominique, Nissan North America Inc.'s vice president for product planning, told Automotive News last week at the Detroit auto show.