1981 Corvette Fuel Gas Door Emblem New 81 on 2040-parts.com

Porsche 960 & Porsche Pajun on the way

A Porsche source has confirmed that Porsche are working on a smaller Panamera – the ‘Pajun’ – and a mid-engined Porsche 960. Now that Porsche has finally become part of VW, it can move forward with its plans to fill every supercar niche in the same way Audi is in a mission to fill – and create – every premium car niche. With two new models already officially confirmed as on the way – the Porsche Macan (a smaller Cayenne) and the Porsche 918 – Porsche’s minds are now firmly focused on the next two new models from Stuttgart – the eighth and ninth models in the range.

Nissan teams up with Williams for sporty Nismo cars from 2014

Nissan’s performance car skunkworks arm Nismo (short for Nissan Motorsports) has agreed a deal with Williams Advanced Engineering to co-develop faster versions of Nissan’s road cars from 2014. It doesn’t mean the Williams F1 team will be developing the forthcoming Nismo version of the GT-R, but the Formula One team and Williams Advanced Engineering are part of the same group founded by Sir Frank Williams. Sir Frank said: ‘Williams Advanced Engineering has a history of developing world class, high-performance products and this agreement is particularly exciting because of the ambition and potential of the Nismo brand.

Happy 80th Birthday, Syd Mead!

Take a poll among car designers to name their greatest influence, and one name is sure to appear at the top of the list: Syd Mead. The car designer, illustrator and futurist has inspired generations of the men and women who shape the cars we drive or admire. Syd has created the designs for the movies Blade Runner and Tron, while the illustrations published in his books such as Oblagon and Sentury (sought-after collector items today) depict the vision of a future dominated by superior technology and aesthetics.