Standard Motor Products A35-4d Battery Cable on 2040-parts.com

Mark Vaughn: We’ll always have Vegas

There were a few bare spots on the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show this year, spots that in previous years had been jammed sardine-like with myriad Taiwanese makers of Hello Kitty knockoff cell phone cozies and electronic barking dogs, but the show this year was nonetheless pretty well attended. Besides, for those working their way upstream through the aisles like so many digitally trained trout, the empty spots left by exhibitors that pulled out were like refreshing mountain meadows or little piazzas in crowded Italian cities. Show management stocked the open spots with cushy couches, too, on which many a jet-lagged showgoer snoozed.

New Porsche 911 Speedster reportedly in the works

When European-car importer Max Hoffman suggested to Porsche that the American audience might like a cheaper, open-top version of the company's 356, Stuttgart responded with the Speedster. And while every Porsche partisan is a special snowflake -- some love road-going racers like the 904, others can't imagine life without a roof-rack-equipped 912, others go gaga for anything with a legit, lift-off Targa top, and some folks just really, really, really love 924s -- the Speedster's the light, lovable kid brother for which any fan of the marque has a measure of affection. Porsche knows it, and as such, they've introduced limited Speedster models of every 911 series since the 3.2 Carrera -- except for the oft-maligned 996 (which is still loved by its proponents, IMS-bearing issues aside).

Carmel kicks off concours craziness

Consider the Monterey car week begun! The Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours-on-the-Avenue launched with its best-ever crowd and what many were calling the best-ever show for the free-to-the-public event held every Tuesday before the Pebble Beach Concours on Ocean Avenue in Carmel. Eighteen blocks total were shut to traffic and jammed with collector cars, everything from classic 911s celebrating that car's 50th anniversary to Ferraris, Trans Am racers and a whole block of Shelby Cobras.