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Parade celebrates astronauts and Corvettes

After Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into outer space in 1961, General Motors executive Ed Cole presented the astronaut with a new 1962 Chevrolet Corvette, customized with a space-age interior. Shepard had brought along his own 1957 Corvette when he reported for the space-training program in 1959. Thanks to a special lease arrangement between the space men and a Melbourne, Fla., Chevy dealership, six of the Mercury Seven astronauts were Corvette owners.

Ram 2500 HD gets six-speed transmission

Chrysler's Ram truck brand announced today that it is adding a six-speed automatic transmission to its 2012 2500 Heavy Duty trucks. The Ram 2500 HD and 3500 HD will be available with diesel and gasoline engines. The six-speed transmission replaces the five-speed 545RFE transmission in the 2500 HD, the automaker said in a statement.

Mercedes-Benz CLS shooting brake sparkles at Goodwood

Mercedes-Benz used the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed as the backdrop for the premiere of the definitive production version of its stylish new CLS shooting brake in Sussex, England. Set to go on sale across Europe in October, the new sporting wagon was given a production go-ahead by Mercedes boss Dieter Zetsche following positive reaction to the earlier E-class-based ConceptFascination prototype car unveiled at the 2008 Paris motor show and the subsequent CLS shooting brake show car wheeled out at the 2010 Beijing motor show. Sadly, though, there are no plans to sell the new Mercedes-Benz model in North America, owing to what one official described to Autoweek as "the continued aversion to wagons by U.S.