1958 Chevy Crome Strip, Front on 2040-parts.com

Exclusive: Derek Jenkins to become Design Director at Mazda

Derek Jenkins, former chief designer at the Volkswagen Group design studio in Santa Monica, will become the new Director of Design at Mazda's R&D Design Center in Irvine, CA. Jenkins, who resigned from Volkswagen on March 17th, will be filling the position previously held by Franz von Holzhausen, who left Mazda in August last year to become Design Director at Tesla Motors. "I'm excited to take on something new," Jenkins told CDN.

Bonhams' Greenwich auction will show Italian rarities

The biggest star of Bonhams' seventh annual Greenwich auction will be the 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400 Periscopica shown above, a pristine early example of the legendary wedge with a single owner and less than 10,500 miles -- its roof carried a groove cut into the sheetmetal that allowed light to hit the rearview mirror, providing a still-laughable semblance of rearward visibility. Of course, the door is always preferable. Just 158 LP400 Countachs were ever produced, before the firm moved on in 1978 to the outrageously styled LP400S.

Mini launches 'Inspired by Goodwood'

Mini has just held a launch party in Germany for the new ‘Mini inspired by Goodwood'. Unveiled at Pavillon 21 Mini Opera Space, a temporary mobile performance venue located on the Marstallplatz in Munich, the new trim level was developed by designers working in both the Mini and Rolls-Royce design studios. Finished in a cornsilk beige hue (a color typical of Roll-Royce interiors), the Mini Inspired by Goodwood's cabin exudes an air of sophistication found on premium, luxury products – right down to the lamb's wool carpeting.