2001 Cadillac Eldorado 96215 Miles Automatic Transmission 2627487 on 2040-parts.com

Check out British classic cars from The Queen's English

Some years, they get real English weather at The Queen's English car show, a gathering of the Empire's best (and few still running) British cars. Even though it's held in Van Nuys, in sunny Southern California, it has been rained out three of the last six or so years, with only a handful of hearty Land Rovers showing up and peeping out of their SUVs beneath bumbershoots. But this year was all glorious sunshine, the likes of which might never have been seen back in Jolly Old.

No sign of global auto meltdown at Tokyo Auto Salon

With more than 600 cars on display and a record number of exhibitors, nothing at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon tuner show hinted at the global economic downturn. As always, there was a great mix of styles, from hard-core, 1,000-hp, supertuned machinery to weird customized scooter tricycles. Auto manufacturers tried hard to capture the minds--if not the wallets--of the younger-than-30 crowd with customized versions of production cars, while tuners were busy persuading power junkies to choose them for their next engine modification.

Why we love Maximum Bob: A column by Dutch Mandel

In announcing that he will leave General Motors at the end of this year, product czar Bob Lutz bows out gracefully and elegantly and does it in the style that forged his legend. It's also a move made none too soon and if not hastened by Beltway functionaries, then punctuated by it. But make no mistake: Bob Lutz is not running from the fight engulfing Detroit and the rest of the automaking world.