Instead of a “screaming chicken”, the 1979 Firebird Trans Am should have a pterodactyl on the hood. This is truly a living dinosaur, the very last direct descendant of the the original big block/hi-po pony car. Once a thriving species during the golden performance car era, it was all but wiped out by that great natural calamity, the 1974 energy crisis. Challenger, Barracuda, Mustang, Javelin; even its stablemate the Camaro Z28; by 1975 they were all extinct or in deep hibernation. Only the Trans Am hung in there, and then just by a whisker, or a feather, in this case.

But Pontiac’s risky gamble to press on against the odds had a huge payoff: not only did Trans Am sales explode by the end of the decade, but it came to symbolize the whole genre. Rarely has one car so dominated the American public’s awareness: in the second half of the seventies, the Trans Am became the icon of the American performance car, for better or for worse. (Read More…)

The California state Senate last week gave preliminary approval to legislation giving local governments the green light to install automated ticketing machines on street sweepers to generate parking tickets. The measure, introduced by state Assemblyman Steven C. Bradford (D-Gardena), passed in the lower chamber in April by a 49 to 24 vote. It would go to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) upon a final vote by the Senate and an Assembly vote to approving the upper chamber’s amendments. On Friday, the full legislature sent a related measure cracking down on municipalities that have been using an unauthorized civil fine system to bypass state traffic laws for speeding and red light camera tickets.

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So you think when a big company gives you (and your lawyer)  a sizable sum to settle a lawsuit, the lawsuit is settled?  To their horror, Toyota just found out that it’s not over when it’s over. Toyota could find itself wide open. Possibly to hundreds of old lawsuits that were settled and could haunt them again. Five years ago, Pennie Green’s Camry rolled over. Of course, it was Toyota’s fault, why don’t they build roll-over proof Camrys.  The woman was paralyzed. The personal injury suit was settled for $1.5 million. That should be it.  Then Ms. Green and her lawyer had a change of mind that could change the world of jurisprudence. At least in America … (Read More…)

Sorry about the small photo, but I’m desperate to slow you guys down. The winner of the Celica Clue was tklockau, who’s guess of a “small bumper (pre-Fed bumper) Celica was close enough, since it appears that the same grille was used through the ’74 models.

Chrysler execs met with some 400 potential Fiat dealers today to discuss plans for a new network of Fiat and Alfa-Rome brand stores in the US, and as we have noted, a certain amount of overlap can be expected. Chrysler says that “as many as 200″ stores could be opened for the Italian brands, but the company has only identified 119 metropolitan markets in 38 US states where it projects sales growth in small car sales. Even with only “about 165″ stores planned for the initial rollout, quite a few markets could host dueling Fiat/Alfa stores. According to the NYT’s Nick Bunkley, Idaho, Iowa, Alaska, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, The Dakotas, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming will not receive Fiat/Alfa dealerships. Meanwhile, the AFP reports that Chrysler plans to sell 50,000 Fiat 500s in 2011 alone, meaning each of the 165 stores will sell an average of 303 units per year.

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NB: I stole the above photo from my own “The Truth About Stigs” article. Said article might be worth a brief glance if you’re really interested in this topic…

From Top Speed:

After a scandalous trip to the courtroom over a planned autobiography and a not-so-smooth release of official documents from the racer’s company, Collins Autosport, Ben Collins has been revealed and canned from playing the part of the world renowned Stig.

Who is Ben Collins? What does all this mean?
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BMW loves America, and to prove it, BMW is sending us a North American exclusive sports coupé and convertible. No, it is not some fabulous concept car turned production, its last year’s 335i cranked up a notch with some M3 parts and an exhaust system that’s too loud to be sold in the EU tossed [...]

The EPA, working with the Departments of Transportation and Energy, has come up with two potential fuel economy labels, aimed at addressing the challenges posed by new plug-in, and fuel cell vehicles. The EPA’s Gina McCarthy gives an overview on the two label styles in the video above, but the main difference appears to be that one label would give cars letter grades (from A+ to D) on their fuel efficiency and greenhouse as emissions, while the other… wouldn’t. Read more about the first label (with letter grades) here, and compare it to the second label here. Let us know what you think, and if you feel strongly enough, send your comments to the EPA here.

Despite the deep ties between his firm and Volkswagen, Ferry Porsche firmly believed that Porsches could only be Porsches if the company remained truly independent. “Independence,” he says in the video above, “has always been the attitude at Porsche.” But as the latest addition to the Volkswagen empire, tasked with developing mass-market architectures and planning Porsche-brand versions of the Audi Q5 and Volkswagen BlueSport, Porsche’s culture has little choice but to change. But will becoming a good team player within the VW-Audi-Seat-Skoda-Bentley-Lamborghini-Bugatti strategy kill off the spirit that made Porsche great? Or can cultural independence survive the VW takeover?

Michal writes:

Normally I can find answers for my friends, however this one has me baffled and Google is no help, maybe Piston Slap can help.

My friend is selling/getting rid of a 2006 Jeep Commander, 4.7L, towing package and ~43k miles. Normally a fairly easy thing to price, however the thing has a buyback note on the title, because of some issue or another, he says it was something to do with a starter, but given that info was probably from a dealer, I take it with a huge grain of salt.

Using the normal ‘quoting’ sources (Edmunds/KBB/etc) a clean title car is in the 14k price range. However this has that buyback/lemon not on it, and I have not found any guidelines as to how to price it. (just advice as to how to avoid getting one) He was given a CarMax quote of 8k. But that’s not enough to cover the note. I told him to be honest & put it up on Craiglist & eBay to see what happens, anything over 8k is extra money in the pocket. But after doing some research that really didn’t pan out, I’m not so sure the 8k was a bad offer.

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