Plvmb 1/2" Extension, 5463, 9-3/4". Usa 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.

SMART ForTwo & SMART ForFour teased with what it’s NOT (Video)

The new SMART City Car will be a giant – apparently It’s a bit of a cliche, but we’re not entirely sure Germans should use humour to promote their products. But SMART seem to have decided the way to go to tease the upcoming 2015 models of the SMART ForTwo and SMART ForFour is to try and convince that they’ve decided a small City Car is wrong and what we really need is a giant City Car. So we get two videos purporting to show what the new SMART City Cars offer – basically a SMART the size of a lorry – and set about convincing us, and gullible members of the public on camera, that this is indeed the route they’re going for the new SMART.

Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type UK

By Ben Pulman Motor Shows 05 December 2007 10:30 Come on, I’ve seen the new Impreza before… You have, but not this one. Subaru chose the Bologna Motor Show for the debut of the UK-spec WRX STi, which unlike the 2.0-litre Japanese model we’ve driven, uses a 2.5-litre engine. It’s still a flat-four ‘boxer’, but emission regulations, and some premium pride, mean the larger capacity engine continues in the UK.