Stuff We Use: Compressors

On our never-ending quest to improve this place by listening to feedback from the B&B, we are taking a new tack with these product posts, choosing instead to focus on items we have actually used or purchased with our own meagre income. After all, if we’re giving you the truth about cars, we ought to give you the truth about car accessories.
Pairing well with last week’s missives in Stuff We Use, in which we talked about impact wrenches, are air compressors. While we know this typ

Can the average person spot an original from a replica, asks PriorIn a car park sits the oldest Porsche in the UK, just the 32nd ever made, worth the best part of £2.7 million. It’s a creamy yellow 356, from 1950, back when Porsches were still made in Gmünd, Austria.
It has a brilliantly detailed history, has never been restored, would make a terrific bookend to a billionaire’s expansive Porsche collection and could easily be entered into those concours events where they v

These five home-made heroes show why the UK remains a key volume car makerIt’s all bad news these days, isn’t it? Or it certainly feels like it if you dare to pay attention to global politics. Step away from the doom-mongering, though and you’ll find good news aplenty when it comes to UK automotive manufacturing.
And much of that hinges on the eclectic crew of cars assembled here.
These cars play a key role in the success of the UK automotive industry – an industry t

I chatted with Robby DeGraff about it on our podcast, and now it's your turn.What does Donald Trump's election back to the White House mean for the car business? I have lots of thoughts, and you can hear them on the podcast. So I will turn the floor over to you.With the usual caveats, of course. Play nice, don't sling mud, don't insult each other, don't be racist/sexist/bigoted, etc. Be ready to have comments moderated and/or be banned should you break those rules. I realize politics is emotiona

The U.S. presidential election has been decided in favor of Donald Trump.We discuss how his administration will affect the automotive industry with Robby DeGraff from AutoPacific.Matthew Guy pops by to discuss work gloves and the controversy at Martinsville, as well.Find us at TTAC.com and wherever you get your podcasts -- and also by clickinghere. We thank Robby and Matthew for their time and Matt Posky for editing. Most of all, we thank you for listening![Image: Tesla]Become a TTAC inside

As we learned in ourprevious installment, 1965 saw a revamp in Cadillac’s lineup: The “Series” naming scheme that began in the Thirties ended as Calais became the entry-level model, all models (excepting Seventy-Five) received stacked quad headlamps for a new visage, and the Eldorado was elevated to Fleetwood Eldorado status. Cadillac also made some engineering changes, in hopes to quiet some pesky customers and lawyers who kept bringing up safety.
General Motors bet on a novel

Here's an interesting one -- a 2001 Chevrolet Blazer that has had a manual transmission swapped in for an automatic. Oh, and it has been used for storm chasing. It's hard to tell if it's actually for sale yet -- the owner lists an asking price of $1,234 and then queries the forum to see what a fair price would be. Still, I feel confident that it will be for sale soon.In addition to the transmission swap, it's had a full tuneup and the suspension and brakes have been replaced with new parts.Sorry

At first, Tesla loved to tout its Cybertruck order numbers, but it now seems like the list of hopeful buyers might not be so hefty. A short while ago, we reported that the lead time for a new Cybertruck had shrunk considerably. Now, we’re learning that Tesla is implementing a new lease program designed to draw in potential buyers for the ultra-polarizing pickup truck. Tesla’s new lease program starts at $999 per month. Dual-Motor variants can be had for that price on a 36-month lease

Many have wondered which direction Mazda would take with future powertrain development, as the automaker has talked about rotary range-extending engines, plug-in hybrids, and more. We’re now starting to get a clearer picture of how Mazda’s propulsion systems may look going forward, as it recently snuck some significant news into its latest financial report.Mazda’s new four-cylinder engine is named Skyactiv-Z, a somewhat familiar title for enthusiasts. It will replace the automa

On our never-ending quest to improve this place by listening to feedback from the B&B, we are taking a new tack with these product posts, choosing instead to focus on items we have actually used or purchased with our own meagre income. After all, if we’re giving you the truth about cars, we ought to give you the truth about car accessories.
This instalment of Stuff We Use takes us back out into the garage again, cutting away rust and grinding down those welds which looks a heckuva lot

GM has announced it will end production of the Cadillac XT4 early next year in a shift towards EVs, namely the next-gen Chevy Bolt, at its Fairfax plant in Kansas.
This wasn’t the original plan. Those of you with long memories may recall the company said earlier this year it would build the XT4 and new Bolt on the same assembly line. Apparently, someone with access to a PowerPoint slide deck had a change of heart. The company is plowing about $390 million into Fairfax for retooling and oth

Autocar understands this JLR test car is a prototype of the next Velar
JLR has confirmed plans to launch the first EMA-based electric Land Rover model in around 18 months' timeLand Rover will launch the first electric SUV based atop its new EMA platform in spring 2026 - and it's expected to be the replacement for the Range Rover Velar. 
The marque's first EV will be the Range Rover Electric due next year. That flagship model – and the Range Rover Sport Electric due shortly a

Porsche has issued a recall for 1,851 vehicles due to defective center-locking wheel nuts that may fracture, posing a serious safety risk.Affected models include the 2024 Porsche 911, 718 Spyder RS, and 718 Cayman GT4 RS. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that the issue arises from a batch of nuts "manufactured out of specification," which could result in wheel detachment.Such a failure could lead to a loss of control and potential crashes. Porsche has acknowledg

F-Pace can now be bought only from dealer stock in the UK
SUV was pulled from the UK market last month but will survive elsewhere until first quarter of 2026The Jaguar F-Pace will be axed globally in early 2026, JLR CEO Adrian Mardell has confirmed, after it was pulled from sale in the UK.
Jaguar no longer sells any new cars in its home market and won’t until its all-new four-door electric GT arrives in summer 2026.
“We've reviewed all of the Jaguar nameplates,” said

Radical Jaguar concept – here imagined by Autocar's artist – is just weeks away
“Next stage in Jaguar’s transformation” is confirmed for debut during Miami Art WeekJaguar is set to enter its next era with the unveiling of a new concept car previewing its long-awaited electric GT on 2 December.
Autocar previously reported that the radical concept is due next month, and the brand has now said that the “next stage in Jaguar’s transf

Lotus Elise S1 owners with a spare six figures are offered the most stratospheric restomod makeover you can think ofYou can understand why it happens. You’ve been developing an extra-special, old-car-made-new restomod sports car, resplendent with engine and suspension componentry exotic enough to salivate over. Countless workshop man hours will be poured into the painstaking renovation of every example.And then, one day, you realise what you’re going to have to charge for it. The va

We visit Mission Motorsport as it looks to give a Subaru BRZ a new life, as well as its beneficiariesIn a workshop in deepest Oxfordshire, a Subaru BRZ is being restored to life.
It’s a write-off – a Category N, which means it has sustained non-structural damage and can be repaired and returned to the road. So far, so ordinary, except the people putting this Subaru back on the road are veterans of the armed services with the scars – some physical, some mental – to prove i

It has been a turbulent few years for the Blue Oval, but the brand is finally profitable in the UKLisa Brankin took the top job at Ford of Britain in late 2020 just as the brand was about to execute plans to willingly give up a market-leading volume position for its car business in pursuit of the profitability that had always eluded it.
While Brankin’s observation that “timing is everything, and I think probably my timing isn't as good as it could have been…” was said la

Nissan is still struggling, even with a much-improved Kicks on the market and other new product on the way. So, I ask of you, if you woke up tomorrow as CEO of Nissan, how would you fix the brand? It's a question we've explored before, but not for some time.Personally I think I'd invest resources into new platforms instead of using heavily massaged older platforms, as the brand did with the Z. I think the Kicks is a step in the right direction -- the brand is offering a solid content mix for not

Rotary-electric powertrain is said to enable a classic sports coupé shape
Mazda plans to build 370bhp, rotary-electric MX-5 successor "in the not so distant future"Mazda has confirmed plans to put its striking Iconic SP rotary-powered sports car concept into production in the near future.
Revealed at last year’s Tokyo motor show, the Iconic SP is a tightly packaged, 370bhp vision of a future sports car in the vein of the MX-5, equipped with an innovative hybrid powertrain that uses

To be completely up front, this one is a non-running project car. But it's an intriguing one.It's a make and model we don't see often here -- a 1984 Dodge Rampage 2.2T. This one doesn't run -- the 2.2 needs a complete rebuild. It appears that the suspension needs to be done, too. You can also get a 2.5-liter engine thrown into the deal.There are some new pieces such as the clutch, brakes, tires, ball joints, struts, and more.There's more over at the listing. This one's in Farmington, New Mexico

AUDI E concept shows off Audi's new design approach for Chinese-market EVs
Striking new look, 435-mile range, 745bhp and not a single four-ring badge. Welcome to Audi's Chinese EV brand: AUDIAudi has launched a new electric vehicle (EV) sub-brand for China, called simply 'AUDI', as part of an expanded joint venture operation with long-time partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC).
The new brand, which targets younger, tech-oriented Chinese EV buyers, was reveal

After quite a bit of speculation, Stellantis confirmed on Wednesday that it would be cutting roughly 1,100 employees from the Jeep plant located in Toledo, Ohio. Due to slowing Jeep sales and rising vehicle inventories, the automaker had decided to eliminate a production shift in January.Stellantis, which has an oversupply problem for more than just its Jeep brand, has signaled that it’ll take proactive steps to remedy the issue. However, its only near-term solution is to eliminate shifts

Toyota has already moved to a hybrid setup in the Tacoma, Sequoia, and Tundra, but it’s not done electrifying its truck and SUV catalog.Autoguide recently reported that the automaker is considering its powertrain offerings in those vehicles to include plug-in hybrid variants.David Crist, Toyota’s group VP and GM of Toyota Motor North America, said, “We’re looking across the lineup to see where plug-in hybrid electric vehicles make sense. We do have plans to add the plug-i

There are plenty of impressive performance EVs on sale today, but even the ones that attempt to appeal to enthusiasts with fake engine sounds and special effects often fail to resonate. Mercedes-AMG thinks it knows better, and it recently announced a new dedicated EV platform called AMG.EA, which will start life underpinning an electric SUV for the brand. The performance automaker knows how skeptical people can be, saying that the new vehicle will be an “AMG first, all-electric second.&rdq

Nissan has been in trouble for a while now. Dealers have sounded the alarm multiple times over the last few years, noting their troubles selling the brand’s aging vehicle catalog, but now, the situation appears to have reached a point of no return, so to speak. Nissan’s CEO Makoto Uchida recently said the automaker is in an “extremely tough situation,” noting that it would shed thousands of jobs and sell off some assets to stem the tide. Nissan said it would cut up to 9,0