Quicksilver/mercruiser Sea Water Pump Seal 26-806930 on 2040-parts.com

'Dalek' taking on charity challenge

A GROUP of Doctor Who die-hards from Warwickshire have transformed a battered old car into a Dalek for a charity rally across Europe. Four friends have spent months turning the seven-year-old Fiat people carrier into a four-wheeled likeness of The Doctor's arch-nemesis for the Wacky Rally, starting Friday. Clare Brookes, a funeral director by trade, is hoping the eye-catching car - which has a loud hailer jammed in the sun-roof that emits "exterminate" on demand - will help them raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Alfa Romeo 4C (2012) more official pictures

Yes, yes - it's only a new paint job on the Alfa Romeo 4C concept car. But the 4C remains one of our favourite show cars in recent years, so we're only too happy to show off its new Fluid Metal colour scheme. The 4C will be shown again at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show on 13 September.

Essay: Variable Degrees of Translucency

Car door panels and fenders are generally made of steel, sometimes of aluminum or plastic composites, and you can't see through them. Car windows, on the other hand, are made of a transparent sandwich of glass and plastic - and you can see through them. But in the future there will be variable degrees of transparency: translucent elements where once there were none, traditional window areas that will have opaque elements and graduated progressions from opaque to see-through.