Snap On Pliers on 2040-parts.com

One Lap of the Web: 'Mad Men,' the Euro cars and the 2013 Trans Am

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- "Mad Men" aficionados are deep into a plot line that has the the fictional New York advertising agency beginning work with Chevrolet to create a campaign for the ill-fated Vega.

Ellesmere Port's bid to build Ampera hits snags

By Rob Golding Motor Industry 09 October 2009 15:02 Prime minister Gordon Brown’s personal crusade to get Vauxhall's version of the Chevrolet Volt petrol-electric plug-in hybrid – the Ampera – built in Britain's Ellesmere Port factory in 2012 is a dream delayed, CAR can disclose today.News that the UK Astra plant is the best in Europe, that the Astra's Delta platform will underpin the Ampera, and that Volt will be on US sale from 2010 had been taken to mean that Vauxhall would be churning out the cars in the north west within three years.But the prospect of an electric car industry growing up around the run-down Merseyside manufacturing site is not imminent, CAR has learned.'No Ampera to be built in Europe before 2015'Vauxhall insiders have made it clear that the car to be known as the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera in Europe will be an import from the US for at least five years. One senior planner told us: 'The US will be the sole source of Amperas until at least 2015.'Bob Lutz, GM's former product supremo who recently came out of retirement as a PR, said that the low value of the dollar made the US an ideal site for the manufacturing of export cars. And with forecast sticker prices of the range-extender electric car standing at a scary £35,000+, every price saving is vital to its marketability.The European market also needs time to get its electricity recharge infrastructure in place before it is worth making cars onshore in volume, GM high-ups point out.

Rennsport Reunion IV brings Porsches to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Porsche has confirmed that its Rennsport Reunion IV, sponsored by Porsche Cars North America, will feature three days of the German marque's historic race-cars at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. This is the first time the Rennsport reunion will be held on the West Coast, with Rennsport Reunion IV scheduled for Oct. 14-16, 2011.