1956 Chevy 3100 Pickup - Restored' Short Narrow on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Kurt Busch to shake and bake (again) in Ricky Bobby car at Talladega

Kurt Busch will channel Ricky Bobby for another NASCAR race, this time driving a Wonder-sponsored Chevrolet SS, in this weekend's Camping World RV Sales 500 at the Talladega Motor Speedway. Unlike past tie-ins, though, there's actually an element of sponsorship here (the "Me" car was done when Busch was running on a team without sponsorship).
It was arranged by Flower Foods, the new owner of the Wonder brand. Wonder was part of the bankrupt Hostess company, which temporarily exited the US market 2012, and set off the Great Twinkie Shortage.
Busch has made something of a habit of channeling characters from famous racing movies, most recently running Tom Cruise's City Chevrolet livery from Days of Thunder in a Nationwide Series race earlier this year. Busch kicked off his movie-inspired antics, though, at Talladega in 2012, when he raced El Diablo's ("It's like... Spanish for like a fighting chicken") "Me" car complete with a cougar on the hood. He even went so far as to channel the lovable idiot that is Ricky Bobby during the race, dropping a few catchphrases about macchiatos and slingshots.

Chevy Corvette gets Valet Mode with Performance Data Recorder [w/video]

For the 2015-model-year, Chevrolet introduces Valet Mode for the Corvette, an enhancement to the Performance Data Recorder (PDR) already available and to your peace of mind. The PDR already captures 720p HD video with a windshield-mounted camera, records interior audio with a cabin microphone and gathers telemetry data using GPS, saving the data to an SD card in the glovebox. You can then watch your track-day antics with various information overlays on the center console screen.
Valet Mode will let you hit 'Replay' when your car gets pulled up front smelling vaguely of fricasseed clutch. Turned on by entering a four-digit code, it also locks the interior storage spaces and turns off the infotainment system. It can't be turned off until the code is re-entered. There's a press release below with more information as well as a video that explains how it works, with the obligatory dig at the 'Vette's biggest foe.

GM investing $167m in Spring Hill for new midsize vehicles

General Motors has announced a large investment in its Spring Hill, Tennessee facility. The former home of Saturn production will be getting a $167 million addition to a previously announced $183 million, to cover a pair of new midsize vehicles. The investment is expected to create 1,800 jobs at the factory.
That $350 million is being divvied up for a pair of programs at Spring Hill. The first will take the bulk of the money ($223 million) and create 1,000 of the 1,800 jobs, while the other will take the remaining $127 million and generate the leftover 800 positions. But GM says the investment will cover "midsize vehicle programs." So what could they be?
The leading candidate in our minds is a new crossover for Buick, called the Anthem, that will slot between the Encore and Enclave, but will be slightly smaller than the Equinox and Terrain. As we've explained, the new model will likely be the first product to sport GM's new D2UX platform, which will eventually replace both the Delta and Theta platforms. Spring Hill is already building the Equinox, so there could be some credence to this theory.