Vintage Arctic Cat Tachometer on 2040-parts.com

Hyundai drops out of shrinking Tokyo auto show

The incredibly shrinking Tokyo auto show just got even smaller. Hyundai Motor Co., the last major foreign automaker which was scheduled to participate in next month's show, has decided to pull out with just weeks to go, organizers say. “Hyundai called last week and orally confirmed their intent to cancel,” said Toyokazu Ishida, who administers the international exhibition for the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Watch the sad, final moments of a crusher-bound heap

Automotive wrecking yards are good places to reflect on the real-world values of heavily depreciated vehicles versus global current scrap-metal prices, and to see which cars have suddenly had the fix-it-versus-total-it line moved by insurance companies (the early-21st-century Subaru Legacy Outback, for example, appeared in large numbers in high-turnover wrecking yards just during the last year, as fairly minor collision damage on these cars is no longer worth fixing). You'll see the things that a car's last owner does in a desperate attempt to sell (or at least live with) an increasingly decrepit heap (as we learned in "Repo Man," you really will find a Little Tree in every car). During a recent trip to a San Jose, Calif., yard, I encountered this sad yet strangely compelling scene.

MINI John Cooper Works GP II revealed

MINI John Cooper Works GP II MINI has revealed what they say is the fastest MINI ever – the MINI John Cooper Works GP II. Just 2,000 will be built. Last month we reported that MINI were planning a John Cooper Works GP II as a swansong for the current generation of MINI, and today it’s been revealed.