1972 Opel Gt on 2040-cars

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2016 April Fools' Day: Morgan digs at Tesla, Mini's scissor doors, more

Every year automakers go out of their way to come up with gags for April Fools' Day. Sometimes the jokes fall flat, but occasionally a company really nails it with an idea that we'd actually love to see. Rather than scouring the Web for all of these stunts, you can find some of our favorites right here. Morgan MOGrod The Morgan Motor Company's MOGrod is one of our favorite April Fools' jokes so far this year because it's a car we wish could be real. The company says on Twitter that the retro hot rod uses a 3.7-liter Ford V6, and there are already 250,000 preorders, which is a play on the huge number of reservations for the Tesla Model 3. Morgan took the joke even further by sketching a landspeed record version for the Bonneville Salt Flats. Mini Scissor Doors The people at Mini apparently have a lot of free time because the company has two gags this year. The first is the scissor door option. The idea cleverly plays on the myriad ways customers can customize their Mini, but this solution doesn't look like anyone could easily enter the car due to the way these doors open. Mini Hipster Hatch There's also the Hipster Mini, which is a much funnier idea. This fictional hatchback would be perfect for fashionable Millennials thanks to features like Instagram-filter windows and a fixed-gear drivetrain, which limits the top speed to 25 miles per hour. The interior uses stonewash denim upholstery and packs a twin-deck cassette player. Skoda Dog Umbrella People love dogs, and owners know that a wet canine can be a mess. Skoda is ready to tackle this problem with an umbrella for your mutt. Made from unobtainium, the gadget hides in the door when not in use, but when raindrops start falling, people can keep their pup dry. Skoda Snowman Skoda's Facebook page also teases us with a very cool vehicle. The Snowman is a 396-horsepower plug-in hybrid snow machine. With its tracks, the company's newest model would never have to worry about getting stuck in the winter. Opel Adam C Sure, electricity and hydrogen are cleaner forms of fuel than gasoline or diesel, but Opel has a way to make your car even more environmentally friendly – muscle power. Wind up the crank at the rear for 15 minutes, and the Opel Adam C is good for 125 miles. GM's European division also claims that owners get a great workout because a full winding session burns 400 calories. You wouldn't feel guilty about picking up that pizza after cranking up this hatchback.

Scrapyard Gem: 2005 Vauxhall Tigra TwinTop

DERBY, England — There was a time when American car shoppers could buy sporty little convertibles based on the platforms of econo-commuters, but that was back during the era of the 1991-1994 Mercury Capri and open-air versions of the Geo Metro and Yugo GV. Those good times continued in Europe, though, and Peugeot had a sales hit with the retracting-hardtop 206 CC starting with the 2000 model year. For today's Junkyard Scrapyard Find, we're heading across the Atlantic for a look at a discarded example of Vauxhall's 206 CC competitor. The main purpose of my four-day trip to England was to visit the scrapyards around York and Leeds, but I stopped at an old-school breaker's yard near Derby on the drive up from Heathrow. Albert Looms Ltd has a fascinating selection of European machinery plus the occasional American-made vehicle. Check in later to see many more Scrapyard Gems from England. (That's what they call junkyards over here). Vauxhall became part of the far-flung GM Empire back in 1925, and it remained there until being sold to the PSA Group in 2017. With the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA to form Stellantis in 2021, Vauxhall now gets its marching orders from Amsterdam. The General took a shot at selling new Vauxhalls in the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s, without much success (though I have managed to find a Victor Super Estate in a Colorado car graveyard). Starting in the early 1970s, most Vauxhall models were closely related to Opel counterparts; some of those cars also had U.S.-market cousins or siblings (with varying amounts of Isuzu and Daewoo DNA finding their way into the mix from time to time). In Australia, plenty of Vauxhall models were sold with Holden badging. The Opel/Vauxhall/Holden/Chevrolet Tigra was built in two generations, both based on the Opel Corsa (yes, I've found a Corsa in an American junkyard). The 1994-2000 generation was a coupe, while the 2004-2009 was a convertible with a hardtop that retracted into the boot. Being Corsas under the skin, these cars all had small engines and front-wheel-drive. Two gasoline engines were available (a 1.4-liter and a 1.8-liter) plus a 1.3-liter diesel. This one is the 1.4, rated at 90 horsepower and 92 pound-feet. With a curb weight of 2,557 pounds, this car would have been slow but not intolerably so. At least it has the five-speed manual. A fender-bender just bad enough to fire the airbags took it off the street.

2013 Opel Cascada

The Future Buick Verano Convertible?
I wasn't wearing a pedometer while in Germany covering the Frankfurt Motor Show this year, but it's safe to say I walked more than a few miles between press conferences, shooting cars and trekking back to the media center on the first day alone. For this reason, it didn't take much convincing from General Motors for me to duck out of the Messe a day early and drive some of its latest Opel models. No, this didn't include the all-new Country Tourer, but I was able to drive the Opel Mokka (our Buick Encore), the Opel Adam and the Opel Cascada.
I focused most of my driving time behind the wheel of the Cascada, which went on sale in Europe earlier this year, since rumors are swirling that a Buick version of this convertible "could happen soon." Buick hasn't had a convertible since the Reatta, and GM has been lacking a non-performance, budget-minded convertible since the Pontiac brand - and its G6 - was dropped, so adding the Cascada to Buick showrooms could further help the reemerging brand compete in the near-luxury segment. Although the weather was too chilly (and occasionally rainy) to enjoy the Cascada with its top down for very long, I was able to clock a fair bit of drive time behind the wheel on roads ranging from the autobahn to tight roads in small, quaint villages.