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One Lap of the Web: Mini challenges Porsche; kit cars; and brand loyalty

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. Mini wished the Porsche 911 a happy 50th anniversary.

One Lap of the Web: The Weird World of Wheels

-- Introducing the greatest television show you've never heard of: "Operation: Mystery!" Imagine if the "X-Files" took place in 1960s Japan, and had its own cool custom car the heroes rolled around in: the Tortoise, a pudgy little thing that resembled the unholy combination of an Opel GT and a Dustbuster. It was bulletproof (not really), had gullwing doors (really) and was based on a Subaru 360 (really!). Sadly, its whereabouts are unknown, and it might have disappeared into the ether along with the UFOs its heroes probably investigated.

Mercedes Vision S500 Plug In Hybrid (2009)

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 11 September 2009 09:55 This is Mercedes’ latest Vision concept car, the S500 Plug-in Hybrid, and it will be unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show next week alongside an electric version of the company's new SLS supercar. Based on the current-gen but pre-facelift S-class the S500 Plug-in Hybrid achieves over 88mpg but only emits 74g/km, and the company claims the car demonstrates 'the future of Mercedes' modular set of hybrid systems.' All next-gen S-classes are expected to get stop/start technology as standard, while full hybrid and plug-in hybrids will also be offered. Merc is claiming that its S500 Plug-in Hybrid is the world’s first 'three-litre' limo, offering 88.3mpg (or 3.2l/100km), figures that shame the Lexus LS600h (30.4mpg), BMW’s 7 ActiveHybrid (29.1) and even the company’s own S400 Hybrid (35.8).