Ford Motor Company Shift Knob Henry on 2040-parts.com

Renault Alpine A110-50

As we reported earlier this week, the Renault Alpine A110-50 prototype will be shown at the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix this weekend. Designed by Yann Jarsalle and Concept and Show Car Director Axel Breun the A110-50 effectively relaunches the historic Alpine brand despite being essentially a reworked version of the Renault-branded DeZir concept unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. As well as the addition of various Alpine design cues – the stylized yellow spot lamp pods, central hood flute and blue and orange colorway – the car is built on the platform of the RenaultSport Megane Trophy racecar and so therefore requires cooling provisions for its mid-mounted engine.

NHTSA probes shattering liftgate glass on Ford SUVs

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating about 200,000 copies of the 2010 and 2011 Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner SUVs for liftgate glass that reportedly shatters. There have been 18 complaints of the liftgate window breaking, four resulting in injuries. The models involved were built on or before Oct.

The Petersen Museum isn't going belly up

I hate writing columns like this, the kind where one media outlet calls out another's mistakes. There but for the grace of God go I and all that… But the shrieking and hysteria over the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles going to hell in a handbasket -- that's what the LA Times reported -- is over the top, and it's turned into a fiasco. Here's the background.