Suzuki Lt250r Lt 250r Front Wheel Hub B #11 1987 on 2040-parts.com

The Mini is 50 years old today

  Today - 08/05/2009 - is the 50th anniversary of the first Mini rolling off the production line. To celebrate, and for a bit of free publicity (see, we’re playing the game) BMW has shipped the first Mini to roll of the production line back to Cowley to celebrate (picture at the bottom). 621 AOK, a Mini Minor, in Old English White, looks as fresh as the day it rolled off the production line half a century ago (although I wouldn’t mind betting it doesn’t have it’s original sills – they always rusted through – or copes with its original distributor and leads – one splash of rain and the car ground to a halt!).

Ford B-Max (2012) goes into the great wide open

Ford hopes a less-is-more approach will lure punters to its new B-max MPV, unique in the supermini segment for having a big hole in the central cockpit instead of a structural pillar. The result is a flexible people mover that's a doddle to load with kids or cargo, Ford claims, thanks to its pillarless opening and sliding rear door. The novel doors landed the £12,500 people mover in the same must-see company as Bentley's grotesque SUV concept and Ferrari's beautiful F12.

2013 Porsche Panamera facelift caught on video

The facelift for the Porsche Panamera is due to arrive later in 2012 (or early 2013) and has been caught on video in Stuttgart. It’s three years since the Porsche Panamera was revealed at the 2009 Shanghai Motor Show and it’s time for Porsche’s big saloon car to get an overhaul. The 2013 Panamera, complete with cosmetic tweaks and oily updates, is something we expected to see at the Geneva Motor Show in 2013, but with what looks like almost complete cars popping up in Stuttgart perhaps the tweaked Panamera is going to bow in at Paris in September instead?