Engine Camshaft Seal National 320595 on 2040-parts.com

Watch the sad, final moments of a crusher-bound heap

Automotive wrecking yards are good places to reflect on the real-world values of heavily depreciated vehicles versus global current scrap-metal prices, and to see which cars have suddenly had the fix-it-versus-total-it line moved by insurance companies (the early-21st-century Subaru Legacy Outback, for example, appeared in large numbers in high-turnover wrecking yards just during the last year, as fairly minor collision damage on these cars is no longer worth fixing). You'll see the things that a car's last owner does in a desperate attempt to sell (or at least live with) an increasingly decrepit heap (as we learned in "Repo Man," you really will find a Little Tree in every car). During a recent trip to a San Jose, Calif., yard, I encountered this sad yet strangely compelling scene.

Students build Caterham, test it on Top Gear track

Extra-curricular activities. Great for the CV, but not exactly fun. That is, unless, you’re a pupil at Millfield School in Somerset – where students have built a Caterham Seven and tested it out on the Top Gear track.

McLaren MP4-12C (2011): the first official P11 story

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 08 September 2009 23:59 The two-seater MP4-12C doesn’t go on sale until early 2011, when it'll wade into what McLaren Automotive calls the ‘core sports car market’ spanning from £125,000-£175,000. Expect a pricetag around £160,000, pitching it a notch above Ferrari’s new 458 Italia. Why so expensive?