AutoWeek articles from April 2008

AutoWeek archives from April 2008

rhett's duesey.(News)
April 7, 2008... Clark Gable might give a damn to know that the 1935 Duesenberg J Roadster that his wife, Carole Lombard, once gave him (now owned by Sam and Emily Mann) shared Best of Show honors at this year's Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. (See more from...

PERFECT HIT, WRONG TARGET; 1964 Corvair Monza Spyder.(Escape Roads)
April 7, 2008... Byline: BOB TOMAINE Whether the Corvair suffered more from a loss of interest on the part of its builder or its customers is a tough question to answer. Introduced for 1960 to compete with compact imports, the Chevrolet Corvair used an...

ACCIDENTAL CUSTODIAN; The best car in the world . . . make that 25 of the best.(Revs)
April 7, 2008... Byline: PHIL BERG These days, Harry Yeaggy acts like a lottery winner, as if he's still trying to figure out why he's the lucky guy who wound up with the best car in the world. He seems embarrassed that fate chose him as the keeper of the...

L + S = MF.(Column)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Steve Thompson Each of us has a personal portfolio of fun, things we like to do more than anything else, just because of their grin factor. Some of those things seem pretty stupid as we grow older (and maybe wiser), but others...

SEXY AT 50.(Column)
April 7, 2008... Byline: KC Crain The more I think about our 50th anniversary, the more excited I get. We've had a lot of meetings talking about what to put in the issue, thinking about everything that has happened in the automotive world in the last 50...

TV: April 11 - 13.(Competition)
April 7, 2008... Friday, April 11 Setup, 8 a.m., Speed 2005 NHRA from Brainerd, Minn., 11 a.m., ESPN Classic American Muscle Car, 3 p.m., Speed Truck U, 3:30 p.m., Speed NASCAR Now, 4 p.m., ESPN2 (L) Trackside, 4 p.m., Speed ...

TWO-WHEEL LOWDOWN; 2008 YAMAHA STAR RAIDER S.(Revs)
April 7, 2008... Byline: GEORGE P. BLUMBERG Inspired by the custom-chopper movement, this new factory custom has smooth styling. 1854-cc, 85.9-hp, air-cooled, 48-degree pushrod V-twin; 692-lb dry weight; quarter-mile in 12.09 sec @ 108.14 mph ...

BETTING THE RANCH; Eccentric Florida RV salesman fights for fleet of half-buried Airstreams.(News)
April 7, 2008... Byline: STEVEN COLE SMITH Along Florida's Interstate 4, the clogged artery that connects Tampa to Orlando, sits Bates RV, a recreational-vehicle dealership owned by Frank Bates, who is regarded as a minor eccentric in the business. For...

TURN THE PAG(E); Ford sells Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billion.(News)
April 7, 2008... Byline: @@Text: As anticipated, Ford has agreed to sell British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian automaker Tata Motors. The price: $2.3 billion. The deal calls for Ford to contribute about $600 million to the Jaguar and Land...

CONCEPTS NO MORE.(News)
April 7, 2008... Cadillac had a pair of eye-catching concepts at the Detroit auto show in January: the head-turning CTS coupe-AutoWeek's Best Concept from Detroit-and a small crossover named the Provoq. Based on these spy shots of running prototypes, it is...

EXTRA.(Briefs)(Brief article)
April 7, 2008... ZEV Mandate Lives The California Air Resources Board still will require automakers to offer zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs) starting in 2012 but not as many as originally required when the board first mandated ZEVs 18 years ago. The...

1993.(50th Anniversary countdown)
April 7, 2008... Ayrton Senna wins five Formula One races for McLaren, including his fifth straight at Monaco. Two-seaters featured at the Detroit auto show: Porsche Boxster and Plymouth Prowler concepts and the dramatically redesigned Dodge Ram pickup....

DON'T SWEAT IT; Denny Hamlin recovers from a mistake to win at Martinsville.(Competition)
April 7, 2008... Byline: AL PEARCE Denny Hamlin worked harder to win the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway than he needed to. He spent half the race overcoming a pit-road mistake that very nearly dealt him another heartbreaking loss....

BAR FIGHT.(Competition)(National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing )
April 7, 2008... Don't expect a $100 million fine or a scandalous trial. Don't look for daily dispatches with "insider'' quotes. There won't be any penalties or threats from the sanctioning body, and it's unlikely that the law will show up. Careers won't be...

INEVITABLE OUTCOME; Loeb reclaims WRC points lead in Argentina.(Competition)
April 7, 2008... Byline: ANTHONY PEACOCK Frenchman Sebastien Loeb became the most successful driver in the history of the Rally Argentina by winning the event for the fourth-straight time, racking up his 39th career victory. Loeb also reclaimed the...

Director's Cut; amg takes control.(News)
April 7, 2008... Byline: MARK VAUGHN The news with the Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG is not simply that AMG planted another of its monster-good 6.3-liter V8s into yet another fine Benz. No, that has been done many a time to many a fine Benz already. Here, it's...

Market.(Escape Roads)(Brief article)
April 7, 2008... Byline: DAVE KINNEY 1958 Fiat 1100 TV Voiture Especiale Cabriolet RM Auctions Amelia Island, Fla. March 8 1089-cc, four-cylinder engine, 43 hp, four-speed manual transmission. Red with tan- and-red vinyl interior....

UP AND RUNNING; Scott Dixon wins the new-look IndyCar Series opener.(Competition)
April 7, 2008... Byline: CURT CAVIN Indy Racing League boss Tony George hoped that the first unified IndyCar Series race in more than 12 years would be "memorable and historic'' and, of course, safe. In the end, the season opener at Homestead-Miami...

IN THE ZONE; Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas score another Grand-Am win.(Competition)
April 7, 2008... Byline: CURT CAVIN You might wonder if Scott Pruett will lose another Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series race. Yes, his win at Homestead-Miami Speedway was only his second in succession, but he is undefeated this season and shows every...

BROWN MAKES NHRA HISTORY.(Competition)
April 7, 2008... Antron Brown became the first driver in NHRA history to win races in both Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel, when he collected the Top Fuel trophy at Houston Raceway Park. Brown made the rare crossover from bikes to dragsters this past...

MORE CHANGES ON THE HORIZON.(Competition)
April 7, 2008... Byline: CURT CAVIN Tony George is extending the olive branch to unify open-wheel racing on and off the track. The Indy Racing League founder acknowledged at Homestead-Miami Speedway that "Indy Racing League'' remains a politically...

EXTRA.(Briefs)(Obituary)
April 7, 2008... WILLIAM NEELY DIES William Neely, 77, a prolific writer who chronicled the lives of Richard Petty and A.J. Foyt, died on March 25 in North Carolina after complications from heart surgery. Neely was most famous for the 1974 classic Stand on...

Meanwhile, outside our car world . . .(News)
April 7, 2008... Vaclav Havel is elected Czech president. China breaks a nuclear test moratorium. Federal agents besiege the Texas Branch Davidian religious cult after four agents and six Davidians are killed in a raid; fire kills about 80 cult members as the...

GROWING UP; Acura's entry-level TSX gets bigger and offers more features for '09.(News)
April 7, 2008... Byline: ROGER HART Complaints are often logged in these pages about how customers in the United States are given short shrift when it comes to models sold elsewhere, primarily in Europe. We whine and moan about the Europeans getting all of...

On the Block.(Revs)
April 7, 2008... Byline: KEN GROSS The RM Auction, which preceded the concours, was a barnburner, selling 96 of 105 lots for $16.7 million. High-lights were $2.64 million for a 1931 Duesenberg Model J disappearing-top roadster by Walter M. Murphy and Co....

But Wait, There's More...(BWTM)(Brief article)
April 7, 2008... HE SAID IT "We met in NASCAR. We had about the same success.'' -IndyCar Series driver A.J. Foyt IV, on former Champ Car driver Paul Tracy. Foyt has 11 Nationwide (formerly Busch) Series starts, with an average finish of 35th. Tracy has...

MARCH (Old Car) Madness; Mixing it up at the 13th annual Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.(Revs)
April 7, 2008... Byline: KEN GROSS Chaired by photographer, vintage racer and all-around good guy Bill Warner and benefiting Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance has a split personality. Some of the finest antiques...

RUF RIDER; The best of Stuttgart und Pfaffenhausen.(News)
April 7, 2008... Byline: MARK VAUGHN Is this the world's best Porsche? It's not the all-out-performance best, as that honorific goes to the GT3. And it's not the fastest, a title that belongs to the Turbo. But for everyday driving that is still loads of...

Drivers Log.(News)(Product/service evaluation)
April 7, 2008... RAYNAL: I'm sure that if it hasn't happened already, it will very soon: All 7700 Mustang Bullitts will be sold. Recall that it took only a couple of months to sell all 5000 of the '01 Bullitts. I like Mustang GTs, and I like this new...

RACY VETTE.(News)( Pratt & Miller revealed the convertible version of the Corvette C6RS)(Brief article)
April 7, 2008... In mid-March at Sebring, Pratt & Miller revealed the convertible version of the Corvette C6RS, a street-legal drop-top based on the company's Corvette C6.R race car. Like the $225,000 C6RS coupe ("Black Magic,'' AW, Nov. 5, 2007), the...

1994.(50th Anniversary countdown)
April 14, 2008... Even a 10-inch blizzard can't bury a big Detroit auto show. The Volkswagen Concept 1 (prototype of the New Beetle) bows, the first North American Car and Truck of the Year awards are given (Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Dodge Ram), and the...

The son also rises.(News)
April 14, 2008... There are few more prideful moments for a man than when his son performs to excellence in his professional life. Former Indy 500 champion Bobby Rahal enjoys such a moment as he, himself a second-generation racer, gives his son Graham a...

Correction.(Correction notice)
April 14, 2008... Our "50 Years of Automotive Passion'' for 1991 (March 24) should have said that General Motors electric-vehicle production was at the Lansing Craft Center; headquarters for GM Electric Vehicles were in Warren, Michigan, and later in Troy,...

GOOD FOR THE LONG HAUL; 1947 Chevrolet Fleetmaster Special Deluxe Wagon.(Escape Roads)
April 14, 2008... Byline: BOB TOMAINE Station wagons have ferried passengers to railroad stations, carried campers and worked for tradesmen. In 1948, one covered the length of Africa. Henry Donner was a professor of astronomy and geology at what was...

TOUGH ENOUGH? Bigger, more powerful Tundra raids the last American stronghold.(Auto File)
April 14, 2008... After two tries at the full-size-pickup market with undersized and underpowered products, Toyota has finally built what looks to be a worthy entry with the second-generation Tundra. As one editor points out, complaints of being too small...

TV: April 18 - 20.(Competition)
April 14, 2008... Friday, April 18 Monster Jam, 7 a.m., Speed Monster Jam, 8 a.m., Speed Barrett-Jackson: The Auctions, noon, Speed Barrett-Jackson: The Auctions, 1 p.m., Speed American Muscle Car, 3 p.m., Speed NASCAR Nationwide...

CHRYSLER TECH, CERBERUS-STYLE.(News)
April 14, 2008... Byline: BOB GRITZINGER Bad news aside, we haven't heard much from privately held Chrysler since it was acquired by Cerberus Capital Management in 2007. CEO Robert Nardelli seems ready to change that, starting by marshaling the Auburn...

EXTRA.(Briefs)
April 14, 2008... Alfa design chief steps down The United States has lost its influence at the head of Alfa Romeo's design team, just months ahead of the Italian brand's official return to North America. Frank Stephenson, the American who has guided...

AUDI REBOUNDS AFTER SEBRING.(Competition)
April 14, 2008... Audi's Lucas Luhr passed Penske Porsche RS Spyder driver Romain Dumas on a restart with three minutes remaining in the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg, giving Audi its first overall American Le Mans Series win of the season. Luhr...

Supply and the Man.(Column)
April 14, 2008... Byline: Dutch Mandel Without sounding too much like an Earth Liberation Front soldier, the last time I wrote of automobility and the planet, you virtually clubbed me like a baby harp seal in the spring hunt. The e-mails and...

EXTRA.(Briefs)(IndyCar Series officials penalizing Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan)(Andretti Green Promotions signing a deal to continue staging street-course races)(Scott Speed driving a fourth Bill Davis Racing entry in select NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races this season)
April 14, 2008... KANAAN PENALIZED IndyCar Series officials penalized Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan 30 minutes of practice time at St. Petersburg for failing to adhere to race control's orders at the end of the Homestead race. Series competition boss...

SPRING BREAKOUT; Carl Edwards wins again, this time at Texas.(Competition)
April 14, 2008... Byline: AL PEARCE We should have seen this one coming. Given their record this spring, it was obvious that Carl Edwards and team owner Jack Roush would win the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The signs were all there. Edwards won...

DEVASTATING DEBUT; Graham Rahal serves notice that another star is alight.(Competition)
April 14, 2008... Byline: CURT CAVIN If this is what we should come to expect from a unified IndyCar Series, there's much to like. From Graham Rahal's stirring win in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to the competitiveness of the 26-car field, the...

A FINE MASSA; As F1 roils over a sex scandal, Felipe Massa wins in Bahrain.(Competition)
April 14, 2008... Byline: ADAM COOPER The way most saw it, Felipe Massa came to Bahrain looking like a deer caught in the headlights. On top of disappointing outings in Australia and Malaysia, if he were to experience a third disaster, his hopes of a world...

ROAD WARRIORS.(News)
April 14, 2008... Byline: DINO DALLE CARBONARE Thunder toward the corner, and grab the left shift paddle under hard braking. In the blink of an eye, the eight-speed transmission blips the throttle and lands in third gear. Feed power to the Lexus IS-F's...

Market.(Escape Roads)
April 14, 2008... Byline: DAVE KINNEY 1971 BMW 2002 two-door RM Auctions Amelia Island, Fla. March 8 1990-cc inline four-cylinder, four-speed. Desert tan with saddle vinyl interior. A nice presentation but could easily have been improved....

Drivers Log.(News)(Product/service evaluation)
April 14, 2008... WONG: I still appreciate Nissan's workhorse V6, which is both smooth and powerful. The transmission is also a slick unit with a respectable manual-shift mode that matches revs on downshifts. The suspension is definitely on the firmer side...

More of 2008's scale-model offerings.(Revs)
April 14, 2008... GMP 1:18 scale, one-of-one 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Hemi Convertible, $130, www.gmpdiecast.com CMC 1:18 scale, 1934 Mercedes-Benz W25, Limited Edition (above), $232; 1964 Porsche 901 series (the very first 911), in no fewer than four...

But Wait, There's More...(BWTM)
April 14, 2008... This Week's Sign the Automotive Apocalypse Is Nigh . . . Or Something Like That "As the Americans say, `if it ain't bust, don't mend it''' -MV Agusta motorcycles website Hyperventilating Hyperlink www.carhenge.com ...

Meanwhile, outside our car world . . .(50th Anniversary countdown)
April 14, 2008... Thousands die in Rwanda massacre. South Africa holds its first interracial national election; Nelson Mandela is elected president. Israel signs an accord with the Palestinians. The White House launches a web page, the first business websites...

UNDER THE HOOD.(Briefs)
April 14, 2008... On the menu The automotive media gets its look at the Beijing motor show on April 20. The lineup includes Buick's Invicta concept, Audi's Q5 crossover and maybe something new from Nissan and Jaguar, according to Internet buzz. Visit...

BARGAIN BARNBURNER; Pontiac's sweet G8 GT sedan sells itself.(News)
April 14, 2008... Byline: MARK VAUGHN When we first drove an engineering prototype of the Pontiac G8 GT ("Scary Sedan!'' AW, Nov. 26, 2007), we were thrilled with it, and for good reason. It is certainly the best four-door five-seater you can buy for less...

TOUR DE FORCE; Danbury Mint's 1:12 scale 1930 Cadillac V16 Roadster is a work of art.(Revs)
April 14, 2008... Byline: JAY ENGEL The first quarter of the year is traditionally quiet when it comes to new offerings from the world of scale models. Chinese New Year and the Nuremberg and New York toy fairs-major first-quarter events in the toy and...

That's What Friends Are For.(Revs)
April 14, 2008... Byline: DON KLEIN Last October, 90-year-old war hero and racing legend John Fitch suspected that the heating-oil tanks buried under the lawn of his old farmhouse in Lime Rock, Connecticut, might be leaking. Eager to do the right thing, he...

THE FRIENDLY GIANT; He's a firm giant, too, and Dan Gurney is making sure more than his name goes into Saleen's new Mustang.(News)
April 14, 2008... Byline: PETE LYONS "If my name's on it, I want a very user-friendly automobile. It should be able to withstand a certain amount of abuse and still not work up a lot of perspiration. It's an elusive thing, but it's well worth reaching...

EXTRA.(Briefs)
April 21, 2008... Safe for now The Airstream Ranch (This Week, April 7), a display of half-buried Airstream trailers in Hillsborough County, Florida, is still standing, pending an appeal by owner Frank Bates that the exhibit represents constitutionally...

IT'S TOUGH BEING GREEN; Behind the hype, ALMS has given itself a difficult task.(Competition)
April 21, 2008... Byline: J.P. VETTRAINO When the American Le Mans Series announced its green-racing initiative at the Detroit auto show in January, it was a public-relations coup. Cable networks, newspapers and general-interest media bit hard. The...

LEAN, GREEN AND REQUIRING SUNSCREEN.(News)
April 21, 2008... Yes, you can be eco-conscious and get a suntan at the same time. Newport Convertibles, of Placentia, California, has dropped the top on many a fine ride, from Bentleys to Chrysler 300Cs. But since the Toyota Prius became popular, "Everybody's...

CABBAGE SAVER; Chevy's Malibu Hybrid is a first-rate contender.(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: BOB GRITZINGER, WES RAYNAL Want to go green for not a lot of green? You could do a lot worse than a Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid. It starts with a 2.4-liter, 164-hp, 159-lb-ft four-cylinder, teamed with General Motors'...

1995.(50th Anniversary countdown)
April 21, 2008... Scotsman Colin McRae, in a Subaru WRX, is the youngest-ever World Rally champion. BMW and Rolls-Royce agree to put BMW engines in R-R cars, surprising Rolls chairman Peter Ward, who resigns. He'd been negotiating with Mercedes-Benz. ...

APTERA READY FOR TAKEOFF.(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: PATRICK C. PATERNIE Unlike Red Bull, the Aptera (Greek for "wingless flight'') doesn't offer you wings. But the promise of 300 mpg from a sub-$30,000 vehicle is creating quite a buzz among energy- conscious California commuters....

A MORE SOPHISTICATED, IF SLOWER, STEAMER; 1918 STANLEY 735.(Escape Roads)
April 21, 2008... Byline: JOHN F. KATZ Stanley was losing steam by 1910, as internal-combustion cars advanced not only in performance but also (as Kit Foster notes in The Stanley Steamer: America's Legendary Steam Car) in the techniques of mass production....

BRITISH PIONEER; Diesel engines have powered race cars since the 1930s.(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: BROOKS BRIERLEY The recent prominence of diesel-powered racing sports cars from Audi and Peugeot remind us that the list of oil-burning achievements is a long one. Diesel engines date back to the 19th century, but it took the...

EXTRA.(Briefs)(Tony Georges view on Formula One returning to Indy in 2009)(Ferrari running its Formula One cars without Marlboro cigarette logos in the Grand Prix)(Bridgeston evaluating ways to allow fans to distinguish between hard and soft compounds in anticipation of the return of slick tires )
April 21, 2008... DIFFERENT LOOKS Indianapolis Motor Speedway boss Tony George has not decided if Formula One will return to Indy in 2009, but if it does, the road course it uses won't look the same as the new MotoGP layout ("Indy Riders,'' AW, March 3)....

BACK TO THE FRONT; Jimmie Johnson scores Hendrick's first win of the year.(Competition)
April 21, 2008... Byline: AL PEARCE The team that deserved to win the Subway 500 at Phoenix International Raceway did just that. But Jimmie Johnson might not have taken Hendrick Motorsports to victory lane without unintended help from Mark Martin's team....

OH, SO CLOSE; Ashley Force misses first win but makes history in Las Vegas.(Competition)
April 21, 2008... Byline: ROB GEIGER Second-generation Funny Car driver Ashley Force scored her second consecutive runner-up finish to move into first place in the championship points standings after the NHRA's Las Vegas stop. Force became the first woman...

DRIVING THE FUTURE; Are we headed for hell in a hydrocarbon?(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: MARK VAUGHN The restored muscle car you keep in storage and drive on the occasional weekend isn't the problem. The problem is 6 billion people, all of them wanting BMWs. If you take the situation today and extrapolate a...

ANOTHER KIND OF TOWN; To New York and back in a GMC Hybrid.(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: wes raynal We've had plenty of experience in GM's new lineup of full-size hybrid SUVs. Just before the AW staff took four SUVs to Chicago (see page 38), a less scientific but just as important trip was taken to New York City to...

Drivers Log.(News)(Product/service evaluation)
April 21, 2008... MORRISON: Even five minutes is enough to tell you that BMW has once again captured thunder and lightning on wheels. The previous model (E46) was-and remains-one of the most entertaining cars on the planet, and the new E92 version retains its...

HOW GREEN IS YOUR RIDE? `Environmentally friendly' means different things to different people.(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: J.P. VETTRAINO Some car folk have asserted, with a hint of sincerity, that the greenest car ever sold is the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. Of 38,000 Silver Shadow variants built between 1965 and 1980, some 90 percent are still...

Attention, Readers!(News)
April 21, 2008... This Green Issue is a special double issue of AutoWeek for the weeks of April 21 and April 28. The next issue you receive will have a May 5 cover date. Look to autoweek.com for daily news, information and racing updates.

The Believer; With no shortage of idealists who'd like to reinvent the car, Larry Burns is in a position to do it.(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: KEVIN A. WILSON Next month, it will be a decade since General Motors' Richard Wagoner made Larry Burns the company's vice president for research and development and gave him one standing order: Reinvent the car. Burns rolled...

IMPRESSIVE COMPRESSION; Driving Audi's R8 diesel.(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: WES RAYNAL Okay, so it was only a couple of laps on an old airport runway (near the famed Sebring track in Florida) in a one-of-a-kind concept car that would get us fired or killed-or worse-if we wrecked it. But driving Audi's...

Market.(Escape Roads)
April 21, 2008... Byline: DAVE KINNEY 1958 Lancia Aurelia B-20 GT Coupe RM Auctions Amelia Island, Fla. March 8 112-hp, 2.4-liter engine, four-speed manual. Drum brakes, independent coil springs front, rear independent coils with diagonal...

FUEL SIPPER; The diesel in Honda's Civic is smooth and powerful, and it gets us excited about a diesel Acura TSX.(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: DALE JEWETT Around these parts, the notion of a "desirable Civic'' usually involves the high-zoot Si variants of Honda's small car. That will change if we get a diesel-powered Civic like the one our friends in Europe can buy....

C'EST MAGNIFIQUE.(News)
April 21, 2008... Vintage cars line up at the Grand Palais museum in Paris on April 14, on the eve of France's annual Tour Auto. More than 230 vintage cars took part in this four-day race, which ended in Marseille in southern France. CAPTION(S): photo

Meanwhile, outside our car world . . .(50th Anniversary countdown)
April 21, 2008... The United States pumps $20 billion in aid into Mexico's economy. A nerve-gas attack in a Tokyo subway kills eight and injures thousands; the Aum Shinrikyo cult is blamed. In Oklahoma City, 168 are killed as a bomb blows up the federal...

THE EVIDENCE OF WEIGHT; What happened to 50 mpg?(News)(Honda Civic Hybrid having the highest EPA combined mileage)
April 21, 2008... Byline: KEVIN A. WILSON According to www.fueleconomy.gov, the Honda Civic Hybrid has the highest EPA combined mileage for a 2008 small car, at 42 mpg. (The 46-mpg Toyota Prius is classified as a midsize car.) Past champions in the federal...

the green issue, Earth Day 2008.(News)
April 21, 2008... Oil tankers sailing from the OPEC states to America filled with $100 barrels of petroleum are doing what decades of screeching environmentalists failed to do, bringing the virtues of fuel economy and efficiency home to consumers in the world's...

Yesterday's Road to Tomorrow.(Column)
April 21, 2008... Byline: Kevin A. Wilson Eighteen years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the first Earth Day, AutoWeek published its first issue devoted entirely to "green'' concerns related to the automobile. In calling the 1990s a "green decade,'' we got...

Meanwhile, outside our car world . . .(50th Anniversary countdown)
April 21, 2008... Republicans nominate Bob Dole and Jack Kemp; Democrats nominate Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who win the presidential election. Britain is alarmed by mad-cow disease. Israel elects Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister. A TWA 747 airliner crashes...

New ZR1 Bubble.(Column)
April 21, 2008... Byline: Sal DiFonzo The new 2009 Corvette ZR1 will be the fastest Corvette ever produced. Auto writers prophesy that GM will never make a more powerful Corvette. A Chevrolet dealership in Scottsdale, Arizona, says that it will sell its...

ACO JUNKS NEW PROTOTYPES.(Competition)(Automobile Club de l'Ouest)
April 21, 2008... France-based Automobile Club de l'Ouest, organizer of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has abandoned plans to introduce a new generation of prototype racers styled after road-going sports cars and will instead stick with what it described as "real...

PLUG-IN HYBRIDS; They Keep Going and Going and Going.(News)
April 21, 2008... Byline: MARK VAUGHN With the California Air Resources Board's recent vote to require plug-in hybrids in the state by 2012, a decision likely to be followed by as many as 12 other states, this little corner of the green-car world is about...