08 Ducati 848 Motor Engine 41c on 2040-parts.com

The no-show cars: a reader rant on mad concepts

Instigated by Harley Earl at General Motors in the late 30s with the quaintly named Buick Y-Job, show cars, or concept cars, were presented to an excited public eager for new things. As the world recovered from a depression and then a war, these vehicles pointed to a better future that many people believed in, including the people who produced them. And, although many of the concept cars of the 50s, with their Jetsons plexiglass roofs and notional nuclear powered engines seem ludicrous now, in their time they weren’t that cynical.

Volkswagen Neeza concept

By Phil McNamara/Georg Kacher First Official Pictures 20 November 2006 09:00 VW Neeza concept: the lowdown Volkswagen is developing a Ford S-Max rival – and this Neeza concept gives a clue to its thinking. Designed in China and unveiled at the Beijing motor show, the Neeza is a five-seat crossover MPV. And that's the exact concept that's under development by Volkswagen's R&D team, with a launch target of 2009.

Autoweek in review: We drive the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, Olympian Kim Rhode builds a Shelby and a missing Corvette is found

Autoweek gets behind the wheel of the new Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. The impression? Brilliant.