1967 Plymouth Sport Fury Bucket Seat Release on 2040-parts.com

Mercedes launch new 9G-Tronic gearbox on E350 BlueTec

New Mercedes E350 BlueTec (pictured) gets 9-speed 9G-TRONIC auto It’s not exactly a million years ago that automatic gearboxes offered poorer performance and economy than manual gearboxes, and came as standard with just three gears. But now, automatic gearboxes are so good they can  change quicker than any driver and, with the proliferation of eight-speed auto ‘boxes, offer improved economy and performance too. The next logical step is even more ratios in an auto ‘box, and Land Rover has already revealed they’ll be fitting the Evoque with a 9-speed ZF ‘box from 2014, and the new Jeep Grand Cherokee gets a nine-speed auto ‘box too.

Land Rover Discovery facelift (2013) tweaked looks, engines and specs

While the long-wheelbase Range Rover and impressive new Range Sport hog the headlines, Land Rover has lavished a bit of TLC on its second-oldest model: the Discovery. New for this iteration are redesigned lights, a more economical engine, and a handful of extra techie options. Certainly doesn’t look like a nine-year old car, the Discovery… Strictly, this is an updated Discovery 4, which has only been on sale since 2009, but the 4 is essentially a heavily facelifted version of 2004’s Discovery 3: it retains the dual chassis unibody/body-on-frame construction responsible for the 2570kg kerb weight.

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante revealed at Pebble Beach

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante revealed at Pebble Beach (Photo credit: Kimball Studios, courtesy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance) 2013 is a big year for Aston Martin – its 100th Anniversary – so Aston Martin at Pebble Beach this year is more than worth a look as Aston seeks to make a suitavly impressive spectacle at North America’s most prestigious car weekend. Top of the list of goodies – perhaps – for Pebble is the reveal this weekend of the convertible version of the new Vanquish – the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante – which gets a world public debut in front of the appreciative, and knowledgeable, crowd at Pebble. They’ll appreciate how clever Aston has been with the new Vanquish Volante which, despite using technology that’s really now past its sell-by date, they’ve managed to produce a convertible that’s incredibly stiff (certainly in comparison to the DBS Volante), beautiful to look at and performs as well as the Coupe.