Champ/champion Labs Af3138 Air Filter on 2040-parts.com

The no-show cars: a reader rant on mad concepts

Instigated by Harley Earl at General Motors in the late 30s with the quaintly named Buick Y-Job, show cars, or concept cars, were presented to an excited public eager for new things. As the world recovered from a depression and then a war, these vehicles pointed to a better future that many people believed in, including the people who produced them. And, although many of the concept cars of the 50s, with their Jetsons plexiglass roofs and notional nuclear powered engines seem ludicrous now, in their time they weren’t that cynical.

Pulsar Bursts Onto Family Hatch Scene

IT’S GOING to get ugly in the fiercely competitive family hatchback market soon, as Nissan has decided to rejoin the fray with its newly launched Pulsar model. Clearly aiming at the likes of Volkswagen’s Golf and Ford’s Focus, Nissan bosses are already talking up their new challenger ahead of the car’s autumn debut. Styled to complement the popular Qashqai, the Pulsar promises to major on quality, refinement and cabin space plus boast a raft of hi-tech kit to make the ownership experience safer and more enjoyable.

Monterey Motorsports Reunion 2013 at Laguna Seca

The air is full of dust and hydrocarbons, the noise is ear-splitting and there are more V8s on the grid than you can shake a con-rod at. It must be the Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca, the most action-packed portion of Pebble Beach and Monterey car week. For three days every August some of the most historic racing cars gather to take to one of the world’s most challenging racing circuits, in the hills above Monterey.