Corvette Crankcase Vent Tube, 396ci, 1965 on 2040-parts.com

MPs call for parking charge reports

COUNCILS should publish annual parking-charge reports to show where revenue comes from and where it is being used, MPs said today. The use of parking charges and fines specifically to raise revenue was "neither acceptable nor legal" said Louise Ellman, chairman of the House of Commons Transport Committee. Launching a report by her committee into local authority parking enforcement in England, Mrs Ellman said: "There is a deep-rooted public perception that parking enforcement is used as a cash cow, so it's essential that local authorities apply stringent transparency." The committee said local authorities in England had a collective parking surplus in the hundreds of millions of pounds, but that the exact amount was subject to debate.

BMW Zagato Roadster

BMW and Zagato turned heads at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance with its latest collaboration: The BMW Zagato roadster, just months after the unveil of the unveil of their coupé at Villa d'Este. The car, developed in just six months, features a low-set kidney grille – complete with tiny matt-sheen Zagato 'Z' letters – and circular headlamps on a sharply lined contoured hood, while Zagato's signature double-bubble design is seen again on the car and serves to extend the lines of the hood to the rear. Like the coupé version it is again the work of Norihiko Harada, Zagato's Chief Designer.

Cars, Culture and the City

When you think of American cities associated with the car it is Los Angeles of course that leaps first to mind, thanks mostly to Hollywood, and Detroit second. But New York turns out to have been vital in the history of car design, as I found researching an exhibition Cars, Culture and the City at the Museum of the City of New York as guest curator over the last few months, working with the museums curator architecture and design, Donald Albrecht. The show has just opened, on March 25.