The good oil: Muscles from Detroit

Middle-age spread - Camaro turns 45 this year and offers extras. Photo / Supplied

They may be right

General Motors is commemorating the Chevrolet Camaro's 45th anniversary with a special edition coupe and convertible featuring a grey and red rally stripe over the bonnet, dark silver alloys and black leather seats stitched in all-American red, white and blue. The multicolour stitching will be on the steering wheel, gear knob and armrests, too. The car will also carry special 45th badging. The 3.6-litre V6 under the bonnet has been lightened by around 10kg, while new cylinder heads and inlet valves take power up to around 240kW.

There is talk in GM circles that the milestone model will be available in right-hand drive.

My little Pony

Ford is offering US buyers of its 2012 Mustang Boss 302 custom prints of the car, complete with a mock chassis tag sporting their name, vehicle number and the car's VIN. The two exclusive prints are available online from Ford Images and only to Boss 302 owners. They are signed by Parnelli Jones, who won the 1970 Trans Am Championship in a Boss 302. For Ford fans who can't stump up for a Boss 302, the Blue Oval is offering a 30 per cent discount on other Boss-related pictures, prints and posters through Ford Images.

When the flying burrito brothers don't want to be taken out...

Mexican businessmen reportedly spend upwards of $100 million a year on armoured vehicles, mostly heavyweight 4WDs from north of the border. But for those on a budget, Volkswagen has the "Bora Protect,"
an armoured version of the mid-sized Jetta sedan.

It costs around $100,000 to fit out, comes covered in bullet-proof Kevlar, uses tyres that won't puncture, and is powered by the 155kW turbocharged 2-litre engine from the Golf GTi. The armoured car isn't as brisk as the Golf GTi, because of the extra weight.

But VW spiel says the Bora Protect is about stopping bullets, not driving like one.

High-class motor

Up for auction in Britain on May 21 is an Aston Martin DB4 convertible, one of only 70 built between 1962-63. The two-owner example was found in a barn with 100,000km on the clock but without the original 3.7-litre straight-six engine. It had been replaced in the 1970s with a 4-litre unit from the factory. Auction house Bonhams expects the car to fetch around $300,000. A 1958 Aston Martin DB2/4 MkIII once owned by Sir David Brown sold for $405,000. David Brown was running his grandfather's engineering and tractor business when he spotted a newspaper ad in 1947 for a "High Class Motor Business." He bought Aston Martin for 20,500 ($42,000) and thereafter lent his initials to the legendary series of cars. He was knighted in 1968 and died in 1993.

Motormouth

US talk show host Jay Leno has added a rare 1963 Chrysler Turbine to his car collection. It featured in the latest online instalment of his show, Jay Leno's Garage. Chrysler built only 55 examples of the gas turbine car. The bodies were built in Italy and shipped to the US, where the turbine engine was installed. The owner's manual said the engine ran at up to 44,500rpm - on either diesel, petrol, kerosene, jet fuel, or vegetable oil. Mexcio's President ran one on tequila. The air/fuel mix could be adjusted to suit the particular fuel. The only evidence of what the engine was burning came from the odour of the exhaust. Most of the cars were scrapped after a trial in the early 1960s and only a handful remain in museums and private collections.

Cherrypicking

A Los Angeles jury has awarded $2.5 million to two police officers after they refused to comply with a traffic ticket quota system. The cops sued the LA Police Department, alleging their captain instructed them to write at least 18 tickets a day. They said they were told the tickets had to be for major offences that could each generate revenue of several hundred dollars. The officers testified that they were assigned to specific "laser-certified" streets from regular
traffic patrols to increase their ticket output. These were referred to as "orchard" or "cherry patches". The civil court jury sided with the officers by an 11-1 vote. "We're hopeful that this will put an end to fleecing motorists on the West side of Los Angeles," said attorney Gregory Smith. "Quotas are a direct violation of the vehicle code and this case was about these officers being asked to break the law." The LAPD's lawyer argued the department had broad goals
rather than specific quotas and the intent was to reduce road injuries and fatalities.

Transit of Genius

The last souped-up Transit van Ford of Britain did as a concept come with 18-inch alloys, white stripes over red paint - and a wheezy 104kW turbodiesel engine. The one pictured here is another beast entirely. It's a one-off called the Transit SuperSport Van (SSV), based on a short wheelbase version of the carry-all. Under the bonnet is a turbocharged, 3.2-litre, oil-burner packing 170kW and mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox. SSV gets an upgraded aerodynamic
package along with a blue and white paint job. The concept follows a long line of hot panel wagons from Ford of Britain going back to the 1971 GT40-based Transit Supervan, the Cosworth V8-powered Supervan II of 1984, the '95 Supervan III with its 485kW Formula One engine and the Y2k Ford World Rally Transit complete with Martini racing stripes.