Stewart Warner Tachometer 820620 Phipps And Bird on 2040-parts.com

'Flip-Top' Shelby Cobra headed for auction block

Bidders who make the trip to RM Auctions' Arizona sale in January will have the chance to buy the "Flip-Top" 1964 Shelby Cobra 427 prototype. The car is noted for its forward-hinged hood and rear-hinged deck. Race driver Ken Miles led the design, build and development of the unique car, which carries serial number CSX 2196.

Jaguar C-X75 supercar program halted

Jaguar has dropped plans to put the C-X75 hybrid-powered supercar into production, according to a report Tuesday by Autocar magazine in the UK. The reason is struggling economies around the world, the magazine said, citing Jaguar brand director Adrian Hallmark. Jaguar planned to launch the C-X75 next year and had partnered with the Williams Formula One team to help develop it.

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.