52mm Digital Turbo Boost & Oil Pressure Psi Combo Gauge on 2040-parts.com

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.

Volkswagen Up!

By Ben Barry First Official Pictures 11 September 2007 09:54 Volkswagen Up!: the lowdown Volkswagen today unveiled what it hoped will be the modern-day successor to the Beetle: the Up! concept, a small city car targeted at the young, the cash-poor, and the environmentally aware. Available with either a rear-mounted two- or three-cylinder engine, a production, rear-wheel drive Up!

2013 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT gets more letters, power

Two additional letters will spell more power for the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The supercar will be named the SLS AMG GT for the next model year, which is meant to call attention to the light freshening that the glamorous two-seater will receive when it goes on sale in mid-November. Output grows to 583 hp from the naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8, up from 563 hp in today's car.