We all knew this was coming. As many expected, the person who entered the winning bid of $9,900,500 for John Schneider’s personal 1969 Dodge “General Lee” Charger on eBay Motors last week has withdrawn it. Or at least, that’s what we’re led to believe by negative feedback left by Schneider, who on eBay goes by johnsebiz, on the profile of fellow eBay user fishbashr1. Continue reading Winner of General Lee auction backs out on $10 million bid
It may not look like anything revolutionary to the untrained eye, but to hear DaimlerChrysler tell it, the all-new Freightliner Cascadia is very much a big deal. It’s built on a new platform that readily accepts EPA ’07-compliant engines and is ready to play home to powerplants built off DCX’s Global Heavy Duty Engine Platform, the first of which are set to arrive later this year from Detroit Diesel. It also incorporates a new, common Electric/Electronic Architecture, and many features and systems were designed from the outset to be easily accessible, repairable, and/or replaceable to ensure that the rig’s able to maximize its on-road time. Continue reading Freightliner announces new big rig: the Cascadia
A little over a year ago Volkswagen introduced their TSI engine range in 138 hp and 168 hp flavors. Those two engines both had displacements of 1.4L with the output of something considerably larger. They achieved this by combining gasoline direct fuel injection with what they call twin charging. Both engines had both a turbocharger and mechanical supercharger. Continue reading VW brings new TSI engine, along with 7-speed DSG
Power has come to the people. A year ago I filled a four-cylinder Toyota Tarago people mover with six people and their luggage for an interstate family holiday. This year I had a chance to take the same people to the same place in the new six-cylinder Tarago to provide a rare back-to-back comparison. Continue reading Toyota Tarago GLX V6: voyages in space and time
Automotive News has a quick blurb about a new model set to debut from the folks at Toyota during this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. According to AN, Toyota’s 3000mm-long microcar will be known as the Endo and will slot in below the Aygo, the smallest vehicle in the automaker’s European lineup. Continue reading Toyota set to unveil microcar in Frankfurt
We’ve begged for Ford to begin selling some of its perceived-to-be excellent international wares in the U.S. and today we’ve learned our wait is over. Motor Trend is reporting that the next generation Ford Fiesta will be sold in the U.S. by late 2008, about a year after it’s introduced in Europe. The new Ford Fiesta is based on the same platform as the Mazda2 that was officially introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in March. We lamented at the time neither the Mazda or its Ford counterpart would ever be sold on U.S. shores, but apparently Ford had decided before the Geneva show that the Fiesta would be bound for the U.S. Continue reading Next-gen Ford Fiesta will arrive in U.S. by late 2009
At the Detroit Auto Show in January, Lexus showed a re-styled version of the LF-A concept that originally appeared on the show circuit in 2005 and has turned up periodically running around the Nurburgring in Germany. Until now, the LF-A has been powered by a 500hp 5.0L V-10 driving the rear wheels. At the same show, Toyota also showed a sports car concept called FT-HS that had a hybrid drivetrain. Continue reading Hybrid version of LF-A supercar confirmed by Lexus
The Nissan Skyline’s 50th Anniversary exhibit opened Tuesday, April 24th at Tokyo Midtown, and that means that the new Skyline Coupe (a.k.a. Infiniti G37 here in the States) has made its first official appearance. The exhibit in Tokyo features examples from each generation of the Skyline, and the opening event was attended by luminaries including Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe. Continue reading In Japan, the G37 gets its Skyline on as birthday bash commences
Toyota just announced that Kenji Fukuta will be replacing Hidehiko “TJ” Tajima as president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc. (TMMTX) come May 1, 2007. Despite the misleading headline, Toyota does not have the authorization to name a new Texas president. In fact, we’re not sure who does. Continue reading Toyota Names New Texas President
It looks like the dual-clutch preselector transmission is emerging as the leader in automated manuals. Volkswagen’s DSG has been around a while and offers fewer compromises than less purpose-built manuals. Ford’s champing at the bit to get their own trick DSG-like transmission into production, and it looks like we’ll see such a unit drop soon with the PowerShift moniker. Gearbox maker Getrag has several different variations on the theme, and word is they’ll start off in PAG brand like Volvo first and then trickle down to other Fords as a premium option. Volvo is a logical entry point, as the marque’s S40 T5 can be mentioned in the same breath as the A3 without the entire room snickering. Continue reading Update on Ford’s aspiration for a dual-clutch transmission
We’ve been trying to avoid reporting on the rampant rumor mongering that seems to take place every month in some of the European buff books. One month you’ll have tales of a new rear-engined V-Dub, while on the other end of the newsstand you can read all about the supposed new flagship from Skoda. Don’t get us wrong, there are a few mags from across the pond that we devour, but some are the automotive equivalent of the Weekly World News. Autocar isn’t one of them. Continue reading BMW 1-series cute ‘ute still planned
As if there hasn’t been enough Paris Hilton in our lives, now she’s going to be competing in this year’s Bullrun behind the wheel of a Spyker C8 Spyder. Bullrun, an eight-day rally and traveling fiesta,, will be running from Montreal to Key West starting on May 11. Paris was part of the 2004 rally (which, of course, she did not win) so she does have some experience with how the competition works. Continue reading Paris Hilton running a Spyker C8 Spyder in Bullrun