If this isn’t one of the peak moments in car culture, we’ll eat our official Boz Bros. motocross cap with a dollop of Hollandaise. The BBC’s Top Gear aired its “Polar Challenge” in stunning 1080p high-definition TV this past evening. We have no idea where one might procure a viewable of the entire program, but teaser clips are available online. It looks absolutely brilliant. Now if only we could get a video card that could handle the full version on our Briggs and Stratton laptop. Thanks to Trevor for the tip.

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Some of the more observant readers noticed the old Pontiac in the background when the DOTS car was the ‘70 Ford LTD, a couple weeks back. Well, here’s that Pontiac, a beater ‘75 Grand LeMans.

Parked on the Estuary waterfront (just around the corner from the Econoline pickup), this car isn’t just rough around the edges.

It’s rough all the way through. But still, it looks pretty good.

Carrie Fisher’s character drove one of these cars in The Blues Brothers; here she is in her LeMans blowing up Jake and Elwood’s hot-sheet flophouse.

Detroit was still making cars with some quirky design elements back then. For example, these taillights that wrap around vertically onto the horizontal rear body surface.

And those taillights actually look pretty nice installed.

Of course, the vinyl top has seen better days- it’s peeling a bit around the back window…

…and peeling a lot on the roof!

For ‘75, the California version of the Grand LeMans (by then, you had “49-state” cars and California cars, due to stricter smog standards in the Golden State) came with a 175-horse 350 engine with a Quadrajet; you could pay extra for the 185-horse 400.

The fiberglass nose piece on these cars usually looked pretty bad after just a few years; they weren’t made for the long haul.

But the lack of power didn’t stop Pontiac designers from laying on a thick coat of decoration and weird trim items. Imagine this car with a built 455 and a 4-speed. Hmm… it could be done…

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According to the Detroit News Wolfgang Bernhard’s about to become the Chrysler chairman. People “familiar with the situation” claim current CEO Tom LaSorda will remain Chief Executive Officer of Chrysler and will also be president in the new organization after the Chrysler sale is completed. If you’re wondering why he’ll be chairman of the board and not CEO, you may want to check out our workaround theory about the Tomahawk-riding former Chrysler exec we hypothesized about back in June. And if you’re wondering, yes, our theory still stands as he wouldn’t be an executive of the company, just a board member. We’re of the opinion this situation will be kind of like how Bill Ford and Alan Mulally share control of FoMoCo, except the Chairman won’t like to live on the Edge-uh!

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Well, since the embargo’s already been slightly broken on the new five-door 2008 Mini Clubman, Autocar’s decided to finish the job. And we guess since all the other kids are doing it, and you know, we want to be part of the “in” crowd too — here’s the rest of the hot load of photos from BMW’s tiny brand. Enjoy!

taken from jalopnik.com/cars

The boss of Japanese textile company Teijin says the company aims to cut the weight of automobiles in half. Their goal is to reduce the bulk of the average ton car by 1,000 pounds in five years. That, they say, by way of materials like bioplastics and carbon fiber (natch). As a showcase, the company unveiled its PU_PA concept, a small, lightweight car that could double as the grumpy bot neighbor on a Japanese sitcom. The PU_PA makes use of a bioplastic Teijin developed with Mazda, branded Biofront, which is heat resistant and smells like life itself, give or take.

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Dodge VP Frank Klegan just revealed the Ram boys first mid-size crossover, the Journey. Built off the same chassis as the Avenger and Sebring, this station wagon on stilts even sports the same engine/transmission options ranging from ho to hum. All the usual Chrysler bells and whistles are present, like MyGig, 4 power outlets and those heated/cooled cupholders. The killer app? Are you sitting down? You can store 24 cans of beer soda on ice under the back seats. We’re not being sarcastic. We really like that feature. As for the rest of the Journey? Let’s just say that like the Rubik’s Cube motif Dodge chose for the reveal, we’re puzzled.

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For seven thousand quid over the price of a Vauxhall VXR8 — that’s the UK version of the Aussie Holden HSV Clubsport R8 — muscle-headed Britons can get a kit that boosts horsepower from 412 to 540. By kit, we mean a supercharger and other nondisclosed hardware. It means a tarmac-smoking hooligan that can keep up with supercars is available on the isle for under £40,000. Over there, that’s a bargain.

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While speaking to Philipp Encz and Chad Thomas from Bloomberg News and other members of the Euro auto press today about the 25% uptick in sales at VW’s Lamborghini brand for the first eight months of the year, Lambo president Stephan Winkelmann confirmed that yes, the rumors we’ve been hearing about are in fact true. There will be a limited-edition sports car unveiling from the bull-brand at the Frankfurt Auto Show in two weeks. The rumored price of $1 million? That hasn’t yet been confirmed — but it also wasn’t denied. Our sources tell us his response to the question was:

The Lamborghini LP640 Coupe

“I can confirm those rumors, but at this stage I will have to make you wait until the Franfurt Auto Show, where we will release more details…I can’t confirm the price at this stage, but it will be very expensive indeed.”

We’re still going to be operating under the assumption it’ll follow our initial tip that the car’s going to cost upwards of $1.5 million and be like some kind of love child between a LP640 and a jet fighter. We’ve also learned that In addition to the news about the super-rare Lambo unveiling, we’re also told Winkelmann told the press folks enthusiasts shouldn’t expect an LM002 follow-up or four-door anytime soon. We guess we’ll be showing you some hot and expensive Lambo action for you in Frankfurt in a mere two weeks time.

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[On the occasion of this year's Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, we're catching up on the Detroit muscle we've driven in the past year. First up, the Corvette Z06.] It’s a tricky day for the Corvette Z06. In its short life, Chevrolet’s flagship Vette has topped more best-of lists than Arcade Fire, and won enough esteem to neutralize, or at least distract from, the inadequacies plaguing Chevy’s ‘07 car line. But the Z06 is approaching a crossroads, and fast. Papa bowtie has already sent the lowliest of C6 Vettes to boot camp, and it’s returned with Parris Island abs. And there’s even greater mechanical violence in Detroit yet to be born.

Chevrolet’s new LS3 V8, which powers the base 2008 Corvette, stacks three dozen horses atop the previous year’s 400. That’ll bring the entry point to 436 hp, should one choose the optional exhaust package — and I certainly think one should. For historical context, that’s 31 more than the last-gen Corvette Z06 got in 2004. Horsepower wars, indeed.

Topping the expanding Corvette line will be the SS model, expected by early next decade. Spied more frequently than Sasquatch, Carlos the Jackal and Britney’s redneck hoo-ha combined, the “blue devil,” as the prototype’s been known, will be blown to the tune of 700 horsepower, or so the legend goes. Chevrolet’s squeeze play means the Z06 might soon be its second banana. But what fine little banana it remains.

Little in the physical world, save a perfectly ripened Georgia peach or a first, frenzied roll in the hay, compares with putting foot to floor at 75 mph and watching numbers on the Z06’s heads-up screen compound like the national debt clock. Perhaps base-jumping off Thomas Jefferson’s Mount Rushmore schnoz might send a stouter charge through the adrenals, but the combination of that agreeable rumble from the engine room, the spectacular dash-top arithmetics and the sight of an overzealous RX-8 vanishing in the rear-view mirror releases more endorphins than a month at Six Flags.

There’s also the matter of gas mileage. You’ve probably heard stories of how, glogging along in top gear, the 7.0-liter LS7’s rev count drops to roughly the number of Starbucks outlets along the New Jersey Turnpike. That translates to a fantastical highway-mileage number - something like 26 mpg. Acts of hoonage at higher revs can easily reduce that figure by half, as we noted on a recent test drive, but in the age of the $54 fill-up, posting such a quantity on the sticker adds incalculable cachet.

Of course, the Z06 is not a perfect road car. For one thing, there’s the firm suspension, which makes for crisp handling on smooth tarmac. Arrive too hot at a decreasing-radius off-ramp bend riddled with expansion joints or a mafia-approved paving job, however, and you could easily skip sideways into the hedgerows, or worse.

What’s more, the Z06 has a fairly nasty, inherent craving to reverse its direction. This was once proved in flamboyant fashion by a guy with a wind-tunnel-tested haircut, who figured I - in a loaner Jag XKR - was being provocative at a stoplight (I was just enjoying the engine music). He loaded for elephant and fired a blast of torque that turned him about-face in the middle of a four-lane thoroughfare. (Psst, buddy; the traction control button is on the right.) The promise of a mid-engined Corvette has already churned through the rumor mill, and emerged debunked. That’s not to say engineers haven’t considered it, though to follow through would be to deviate awfully far from Harley Earl’s script.

The Z06 was surely a watershed moment for Chevrolet. But we, and other worrywarts like us, fret the company will overact the part. A 700-horsepower Corvette with carbon-fiber implants and software running the show could be a world beater, but just as easily could be the exact moment things went too far, got too inelegant, breached the tipping point of excess. Let’s hope Chevrolet doesn’t neglect the car that got them here, and assigns it a long-term project of fine-tuning.

taken from jalopnik.com

Last night the above commercial called “Das Auto” was shown here on German TV before an expected announcement today, one day before the Frankfurt Auto Show, of a new Smart-fighting concept car called the “Up!” Yes, that’s an exclamation point in the name of the concept car, and no, we’ve no idea why it’s there. While we know there’s been much talk of a tie-up between Apple and V-Dub, we’ve no idea if this is the car folks have been talking about — despite the vey Apple-like interior designs. What we do know is this concept’s one of those “gonna be made” concept cars and it’s set to go into production in two years with a fuel economy target of as close to 100 mpg as possible. Here’s a better screen cap of “Das Smart.” We’re expecting we’ll have more on dis auto throughout the day, so keep your eyes on our Frankfurt Auto Show tag for all the hottest action. UPDATE: Gallery below.

VW Stands Up With A Four-Seater

TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com