Car News: Week of November 5, 2012

Here are some news stories, automotive related and not, that I found interesting or funny this past week.

I've been in love with James Bond and his modified sports cars since I was a little girl in the 1970s. Last week, I found this article and associated photo gallery on the LA Times website. Swoon. 


Here is another slideshow with photos from Skyfall. It shows some of the special camera set-ups required to film the movie. I went to Skyfall this weekend and really enjoyed it (but I'm enough of a flake/fan to enjoy Moonraker). I appreciated the many references to older Bond stories, and the villan is an awesome, so-calm-he's-extra-scary type that we don't usually see in Bond films.



One of the best birthday gifts I've ever received from my husband was the entire James Bond Collection on DVD. Unfortunately, that same husband left th "Goldfinger" and "Goldeneye" DVDs on an airplane soon after, so my collection is no longer complete. However the stars seemed to be aligned this year: our son also loves James Bond movies; my birthday is this week; and Costco has a new Bond DVD collection in stock. Perfect gift as we head into winter with more time to watch movies.


Women have passion for cars just like men. CBS had this little story on women and their cars: Women are blazing a trail in the auto industry.

Beautiful Ferrari F12 Berlinetta/Ferrari North America

Ferrari is joining many other auto makers in donating to the American Red Cross and Hurricane Sandy relief: the first Ferrari F12 Berlinetta to be sold in the US will be auctioned off in Austin Texas on November 17 at the Formula One US Grand Prix. If you want a shot at winning but won't be at the event in Austin, visit your local Ferrari dealer and put in a bid.

The New York Times Wheels blog has a nice list of which companies have donated what. I hope the generosity continues to grow.

"Ferrari joins a long list of automakers that have contributed to hurricane relief. Among them: 

• BMW of North America donated $1 million to the American Red Cross. 

• Chrysler‘s Ram brand gave $100,000 and 20 Ram 1500 Tradesman trucks to the American Red Cross. 

• Ford has donated $50,000 to the American Red Cross through its Red Cross Disaster Responder Program. 

• General Motors gave 50 Chevy Silverado full-size pickups and Express cargo vans to the Red Cross and the GM Foundation contributed $250,000 to the Red Cross Disaster Responder Program. 

• Hyundai is giving $500,000 to the American Red Cross. 

• Mazda contributed $100,000 to the Red Cross and made $5,000 grants to two food banks. 

• Mercedes-Benz donated $1 million to the Red Cross. 

• Toyota gave $1 million to the Red Cross. 

• Volkswagen contributed $500,000 to the Red Cross through its Volkswagen of America Foundation."

Air bag issues prompt Chrysler to recall nearly 750,000 Jeeps this past week. That's a lot of airbags. 

2013 Range Rover/Land Rover

One of my favorite auto journalists, Dan Neil, reviews the new Range Rover. And a review of the 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish that requires most of us to suspend reality and just go along for the ride.  (I thought it fitting to include both since I'm creating a bit of a James Bond theme here.) 


I know there was more car news this week than this, but I had a busy week being grumpy about turning a year older. Birthdays used to be a fun anticipation. And then I turned 40 and something clicked inside and now I get grumpy. Oh well, nothing I can do about it. The positives: I am the owner of that new 50th Anniversary James Bond DVD collection, and copper Moscow Mule mugs. 007 and Moscow Mules is how I celebrated my birthday. Not so bad after all. 

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