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Syd Mead exhibition opens in New York

A selection of the work of Syd Mead – the designer behind some of the most iconic vehicles in films such as Blade Runner and Aliens – has gone on display at the BravinLee Gallery in New York. The exhibition of the works, which span the forty years of his career to date, is sure to excite fans of the visionary designer, who continues to inspire designers young and old. Daniel Simon, the concept designer behind such films as Marvel's Captain America and TRON Legacy, for example has worked closely with Mead.

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.

General Motors EN-V to be branded Chevrolet

Chevrolet was gifted a centennial birthday present today, with parent company GM announcing that its 2030 Vision concept would carry the bow-tie badge. The youthful orientation and entry level positioning of Chevrolet within the GM portfolio subtly earmarks the intended audience for the EN-V, with the device being billed as an inexpensive and attainable urban mobility vehicle. "The EN-V has the potential to reinvent transportation in key markets by creating a new vehicle DNA through the convergence of electrification and connectivity," said Chris Borroni-Bird, GM's director of Advanced Technology Vehicle Concepts.