Vintage Pontiac Hydra Matic With A Drag Machine Adapter Fits A 361 "b" Block on 2040-parts.com

One Lap of the Web: Peking to Paris Rally, classic car inspection guide and pointless cars

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. -- Join the Hooniverse debate as they ask: What's the dumbest car sold on the market today?

Maserati Levante SUV won't be imported from Detroit after all

For years, we've been hearing that the upcoming Maserati Levante SUV -- which debuted as the Maserati Kubang -- would be built at Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. The prospect of a high-dollar luxury crossover coming out of the gritty Motor City was intriguing, but the scheme made a certain sense -- the Levante is built on the same platform as the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Unfortunately, it's not gonna happen.

Toyota hands over small-car development to its European unit

Toyota Motor Corp.'s European division next month will take charge of global product planning for small cars as the Japanese automaker expands model research and development in the region. The change, announced Dec. 17, means that Toyota will count on Europe to develop future products in the minicar, subcompact and compact segments, something that Ford Motor Co.