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Concept Car of the Week: Toyota EX-1 (1969)

Back in the 60s, Toyota launched a few iconic sports cars such as the 800 and the gorgeous 2000 GT. Not happy to have created automotive perfection with the latter, the Japanese brand went on to explore even more extravagant shapes and unveiled the first of the EX concepts series in 1969. While its bold lines are truly Japanese, the EX-1 looked like the missing link between the fast silhouette of a 1967 Maserati Ghibli and the hairy-chested heft of a Dodge Challenger.

McLaren F1 sells for $8.47 million at Gooding & Co’s Pebble Beach Auction

McLaren F1 chassis #66 (pictured) has sold for $8.47 million There’s been an inexorable rise in the price of classic cars in recent years as rich men realise that certain classic cars not only have huge appeal, but appear to be going only one way in price. Add to that – certainly in the UK – that any profits made on the sale of a classic car you’ve bought for your own enjoyment are tax free, and it’s no shock that values keep rising, and the rarer the car the more they rise. So with only 64 road cars made, the McLaren F1 can be considered a sound investment, with values rising since it first sold in the 1990s for around £640,000 to a new world record auction price set last night of £8.47 million (around £5.42m).

Fisker to buy former GM Solstice/Sky plant in Delaware for $18 million

The old General Motors plant in Delaware that until July cranked out sports cars for Pontiac, Saturn and Opel will be sold and retooled to build plug-in hybrids with UAW workers. Fisker Automotive said Tuesday that it will buy the plant, located in Wilmington, Del., from Motors Liquidation Co.--the old General Motors Corp.--for $18 million. If Fisker's plans come to fruition, production at the plant could start in late 2012.