Trick Flow Specialties 16886-1 on 2040-parts.com

Mini factory celebrates its 100th birthday

A bastion of the British car-building industry, Mini’s ‘Plant Oxford’ in Cowley, Oxford celebrates 100 years of building cars today (28 March 2013). Currently responsible for producing the second-gen BMW Mini range, Plant Oxford has been the birthplace more than just trendy city cars: it’s stamped out over 11.5 million cars since 1913, including legend like the Morris Minor and Frogeye Sprite, and clunkers like the Morris Marina. It also contributed to the war effort by repairing damaged RAF fighter aircraft during the Second World War.

Crucified cassette, Hindi BMW remix CD and other junkyard musical finds

In addition to holiday-themed displays assembled by junkyard employees and the occasional sad, flood-victim Volvo Amazon, I frequently find homemade mix CDs and cassette tapes while prowling through wrecking yards. In fact, it would be possible to go into just about any high-inventory-turnover self-service wrecking yard in North America and come away with several dozen such discs and tapes, if anybody ever felt motivated to do such a thing. I haven't, yet.

CAR interviews Ian Callum (2013) at Frankfurt motor show

With XK, XF, XJ and F-type, design boss Ian Callum has transformed Jaguar from a brand unable to shake off its retro past into something edgier, cooler and altogether more modern. Now his C-X17 concept promises to take things a step further, breaking Jaguar into the crossover SUV market for the first time ever. CAR caught up with Callum ahead of the concept’s official unveil for an in-depth Q&A session.