Pull It Corporation 900 Large Panel Puller on 2040-parts.com

Ford to open Silicon Valley lab

Ford Motor Co., aiming to keep ahead of technology trends, will establish a research lab in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. The automaker said Friday the lab will open near Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in the first few months of this year. Ford wants the lab to take on a start-up feel and expand beyond the traditional automaker mindset to encourage innovation and improve mobility and safety.

Cheap mods: Adventures In Aspect Ratios

Seven years ago, I bought a rough-looking-but-good-running 1992 Honda Civic DX hatchback, for use as a gas-sipping alternative to my daily-driver P71 Crown Victoria. These days, it's the car I drive when it snows in Denver, and it's a reliable all-around beater. The EG Civic (as the 1992-95 Civic hatchback was designated by the factory) has become a much-sought-after classic in recent years, sort of the '55 Chevy of the early 21st century, and there's such a vast array of factory and aftermarket performance hardware available that I haven't been able to resist the idea of doing some power and suspension upgrades.

Driven: Renault Fluence Z.E.

Just over two years ago, Carlos Ghosn shocked the world at the Frankfurt motor show by unveiling four fully electric Renault concepts and committing the company to being a leader in EVs. ‘Drive the Change' has been the slogan used since then and the Fluence Z.E. is an important first step in what many see as a risky strategy by Renault.