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LA Design Challenge 2011: studios compete to design Hollywood car

This year's LA Design Challenge will see competitors from around the world battle to design Hollywood's next movie car. Participating design studios from General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz Germany (Smart), Mercedes-Benz Japan (Maybach) and Mercedes-Benz US will all be showcasing their creative talents in an effort to secure top honors. Automobiles in Hollywood films produced throughout the years have become some of the most iconic symbols of the films – perhaps as important as the movies themselves.

Bentley Blowers take on the 2013 Mille Miglia

The first is the No.2 Team Car raced by Tim Birkin – one of the Bentley Boys – at Le Mans and bought back by Bentley in 2000. Perhaps best known for its tussle with Mercedes’ awesome 7 litre Kompressor at Le Mans in 2013, the car has been regularly put to good use round the world since Bentley bought it back. The second Blower was originally a Bentley demonstrator, completed in 1930, and has a Vandan Plas Open Sports Four Seater body and after its life as a demonstrator was sold off but bought back in 1997 and it too has been carrying the historical banner for Bentley around the world ever since.

Breakeryard designs 'Woman-Proof' car

Breakeryard, the UK's network of national breakers, has designed a garish pink ‘Woman-Proof' concept car with the aim of making parking easier for ‘non-confident' female drivers. In an exercise with its tongue firmly in its cheek Breakeryard has not only designed, but also commissioned some mock-ups of a car to combat problems highlighted in a survey of 1,421 female drivers. ‘Peripheral visibility' was identified as a problem by 44 percent of respondents, so the concept has a bubble-top design to combat this, which would be framed by a reinforced structure for safety purposes.