Lister Motor Co. is back in business, apparently

This summer has been a big one for fans of limited-production British automakers. First, we heard that TVR has returned, or is at least planning to return, with production expected to resume in 2015. Now we're getting word that Lister Motor Co., which built the remarkable Lister “Knobbly” Jaguar cars, is getting a new lease on life.

Big Willie Robinson: 1942-2012

Big Willie Robinson was as much legend and myth as flesh and bone, and at six feet, six inches and weighing 300 pounds, with 21-inch biceps and a 58-inch chest, there was a lot of flesh and bone. Robinson was more than a drag racer, promoter and sanctioning-body president. He was the man who used the power of horsepower to unite people of all colors and creeds under the banner of drag racing, once saying at a race, “Ain't no colors here, it's all just engines.” As the founder and president of the National and International Brotherhood of Street Racers, he used racing to bring the races together.

New CAFE proposal would add $5,000 to sticker price, dealer group says

An Obama administration proposal to nearly double today's fuel economy standards could end up tacking on $5,000 to the sticker price of a new vehicle, a top official with the National Automobile Dealers Association said Tuesday. The proposal, which seeks to raise the corporate average fuel economy to 54.5 mpg by the 2025 model year, would force automakers to adopt costly fuel-saving technologies that could eventually price some buyers out of the new-car market, said Don Chalmers, chairman of NADA's government relations committee. NADA, a dealer trade association, represents 16,000 new-vehicle dealers who operate 32,500 franchises.