Aurelia Butler

Throughout the period of peak Station Wagon, the Ford Country Squire reigned supreme, while competitors such as the AMC Ambassador wagon played second (or third) fiddle. Which means that, today, cars like this 1971 Ambassador Brougham wagon are an even rarer sighting. For sale right now on Bring a Trailer, this suburban schooner is nonetheless a superb time machine.

Bring a Trailer

Chiefly, that’s because we haven’t seen one in this condition since the Nixon Administration. According to the listing, the car has had some paintwork and benefits from some re-chroming. The work appears to be to a high standard, and the condition overall is remarkable. From the woodgrain, to the interior, to the wheels and (yes!) whitewall tires, there’s nothing here that betrays the fact that it was 50 years ago when this bad boy rolled off the line as the pride of Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer

Then there’s the spec. Granted, Golden Lime Metallic is dangerously close to the Wagon Queen Family Truckster’s Metallic Pea, but it is also perfectly period-correct. So, too, is the green vinyl interior, even if the contrast between the two greens seems awkward to our modern, all-grayscale sensibilities. The sweeping woodgrain is another essential, and we’re digging the rally wheels, too. This deluxe wagon also comes with factory air conditioning—note the Desert Only max setting. The lazy V-8 under the hood is AMC’s 360-cubic-inch unit, hooked to a three-speed automatic, just as God intended.This AMC provides the same Wonder Years flashback as the Fords and Chevys of the era. And, at long last, Ambassador finally got its due; it sold on October 18, after 27 bids on the Bring a Trailer site, for $27,000.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a probe into Ram trucks with diesel engines, following up on reports of a problem with the high-pressure fuel pump. The problem could cause stalling and loss of power while traveling at speeds above 25 mph.The reported problem could affect 604,651 2019–2020 Ram 2500, 3500, 4500, and 5500 trucks with the 6.7-liter Cummins turbo-diesel engine.So far, NHTSA has received 22 complaints about the issue and two field reports. The agency has not yet issued a recall.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced today that it’s opening an investigation into the high-pressure fuel pump failure on some heavy-duty Ram trucks. The problem, described in 22 consumer complaints so far, is that the trucks could stall and become immobile while traveling at speeds over 25 mph. The problem, NHTSA’s report says, could lead to “permanent disablement of the vehicle.”The problem could affect an estimated 604,651 2019–2020 model Ram 2500, 3500, 4500, and 5500 series heavy-duty trucks with the Cummins 6.7-liter diesel engine. NHTSA could issue a recall as a result of the investigation. According to NHTSA and a report today by the Detroit News, Stellantis (then Fiat Chrysler) was aware of the issue much earlier and put out a warranty bulletin in November 2019 about the problem, asking dealers to “collect, monitor, and correct quality issues” with the trucks’ high-pressure fuel pumps.NHTSA said it is opening the investigation to “further assess the scope, frequency, root cause, and potential safety-related consequences of the alleged defect leading to stall/loss of motive power.” If a recall follows later, truck owners can expect to be notified and asked to bring their vehicle to a dealer for a fix. In the meantime, owners of potentially affected Ram heavy-duty trucks can check the NHTSA recall site for updates on the investigation.

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Tom Gidden ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Ferrari LaFerrari is a strange one. The defining Ferrai of the 2010s was a deserving halo car that ushered in the company’s hybrid era with an unforgettable look. It also failed to break away from its contemporaries, the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918, to stand alone as an immortal in the way the F40 did when this Ferrari halo line started in the late ’80s. It leaves something between an instant classic and just another collectible sports car, a car that belongs in a museum but not quite on the museum’s brochure. While that doesn’t necessarily leave the LaFerrari as an untouchable unicorn, it still makes just about every private sale newsworthy.

Tom Gidden ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

This particular LaFerrari is headed to auction in November. Every 1-of-499 LaFerrari is special, but this one adds the distinction of being the only car ordered in a shade of wine-like purple called Vinaccia. That shade and the complimenting Pelle Chiodi di Garofano (brown) interior both come from historic Ferraris in the original owner’s collection.

Like every LaFerrari, the whole thing is highlighted by a V-12 and an F1-derived hybrid system that combined to produce just under 950 horsepower. That helps the car to reach 60 mph in 2.4 seconds and a quarter-mile in under 10 seconds, both high watermarks for Ferrari’s stable at the time. That complicated hybrid system is expensive, though; CarBibles reports that the LaFerrari’s KERS energy recovery unit costs about $200,000. And that number is before what would be a very difficult installation.

Tom Gidden ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

LaFerraris were available new only to select high-level Ferrari buyers, so a car like this with under 1000 miles represents an incredibly rare chance for the open market to get their shot at an example. The few cars that have gone to auction already have sold in the $5 million to $10 million range, highlighted by the record-setting sale of the last LaFerrari Aptera in 2017. In the time since, the collector-car market has exploded at all levels. While this car could just as easily come in at the more modest $5 million, conditions are right for this like-new car with a one-of-one color and a story to break the LaFerrari’s own record for highest-ever sale at auction for a 21st-century car.The 2016 LaFerrari will sell at next month’s RM Sotheby’s auction in London. If you have seven to eight figures to spend on a collectible car, you may not find a better investment anytime soon.

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Honda released another teaser for the 2022 Civic Si and shared its reveal date: October 19.The sedan, seen here in orange, will likely have more power and a stiffer suspension setup than the standard Civic.Honda has already confirmed that it will have a manual transmission.After showing the upcoming Civic Si in race-car form recently, Honda has released yet another teaser for the sporty sedan ahead of its official unveiling on October 19. The latest photo shows the rear end of the Civic Si sedan in a vivid orange color. Its rear decklid spoiler is more subtle than the race car’s giant wing, but it does look to be a bit more aggressive than the standard Civic sedan.

Like the previous-generation Si, we’re expecting the Civic Si to offer more power than the standard Civic Si’s upgrade engine, a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four with 180 hp. The last Si made 205 hp from this engine and paired it with a six-speed manual transmission, and we’d expect similar specs for the new model. It’ll also have an upgraded suspension and brakes for improved handling and sharper responses.We’ll get all the info tomorrow, but we know that the Si will be available only as a sedan. The Civic coupe was discontinued for this generation, while the upcoming Civic Type R will serve as the hatchback body style’s performance model.
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Stellantis and battery maker LG Energy Solution are teaming up to build a lithium-ion-battery manufacturing plant in North America that will start operations in early 2024, the automaker announced this morning. Separately, Toyota announced today that it will spend $3.4 billion to develop battery production and build hybrid and electric vehicles in the U.S. Toyota will be pairing with Toyota Tsusho on a lithium-ion-battery plant to open by 2025.Both moves are another sign of how seriously mainstream automakers are taking the move toward electric vehicles, following recent announcements from Ford and GM about similar investment plans.Stellantis, parent company of Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, announced this morning that it’s teaming with battery maker LG to produce lithium-ion battery cells and modules in a North American plant. The location was not announced, but the target start date is early 2024, according to the automaker’s statement. The batteries will be used in hybrid and electric vehicles built in North America. Stellantis has previously stated it intends to have 40 percent of its U.S. sales come from EVs by 2030 and has earmarked a total of $35 billion toward meeting that goal. In July, Jeep revealed its 2022 Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrid and vowed to have a zero-emission vehicle in every SUV segment by 2025.

2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe.
Jeep

Separately, Toyota Motor North America announced it will spend $1.3 billion, part of a larger $3.4 billion, nine-year investment plan, to set up a U.S. lithium-ion-battery plant to supply U.S.-market hybrid and electric vehicles. That plant is set to start production in 2025, Toyota said. The automaker had previously announced it will spend $13.5 billion worldwide to produce its own batteries and to develop a solid-state battery by 2025 as well. In September, a Toyota executive told Automotive News that the company is already testing a “working prototype.” Although Toyota has been slower than some companies to express enthusiasm for EVs, focusing more attention on hybrids, its announcement today was titled “Toyota charges into electrified future in the U.S.” The automaker says it will build “about 70” hybrid or electric models by 2025, of which 15 will be fully electric.The news from Stellantis and Toyota follows closely on Ford and General Motors’ statements that they are investing in new U.S. facilities for EV production. Ford’s Blue Oval City will produce batteries and electric vehicles in Tennessee, with a separate facility in Kentucky, and its Ion Park will develop batteries in Michigan. GM has two joint-venture battery plants, also with LG, in Ohio and Tennessee. The first of these should start producing battery cells in the second half of 2022.
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Numbers released by the National Insurance Crime Bureau show there was an 11 percent increase in the number of vehicles stolen in the U.S. last year, with the two most popular targets being Ford and Chevrolet half-ton pickups.The Honda Civic and Accord were the next most popular cars to steal, in part because late-1990s versions of these vehicles still on the road are unlikely to have anti-theft devices built in.The FBI, which uses different methods to calculate crime statistics, found that motor vehicle thefts in the U.S. jumped 16.6 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. The year 2020 was tough for most everyone on the planet, but the hundreds of thousands of people who had their vehicle stolen last year got to deal with an extra helping of “Seriously, this too?” amid the pandemic. Thanks to numbers released by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), drivers of Ford and Chevy full-size pickups were most likely to have to deal with having their vehicle disappear unexpectedly than anyone else.

In its annual “hot wheels” list (get it?), the NICB found that, overall, vehicle thefts were up 11 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. The top ten most stolen makes and models add up to just over 231,000 vehicles, led by full-size Ford pickups with 44,014 units stolen and full-size Chevy trucks in second place at 40,968. Coming in third and fourth places last year, respectively, were the Honda Civic and Accord. Late-1990s versions of these vehicles are popular targets for thieves because they were some of the last models built without anti-theft technology, NCIB said.

NICB

For the most part, thieves tend to pick older vehicles, the NICB found. For the Ford trucks, for example, the most common model year stolen was 2006, while the 2004 was the most common Chevy truck stolen. There are some surprises in the bottom half of the Top 10 most stolen vehicle list, though, with the Toyota Camry (fifth place overall), Nissan Altima (sixth), and Toyota Corolla (eighth) having their most common model year stolen being either 2020 or 2019. Rounding out the top 10 are the GMC full-size pickups at number seven, the Honda CR-V in ninth place, and the full-size Dodge pick-ups in tenth.”Auto thefts saw a dramatic increase in 2020 versus 2019 in part due to the pandemic, an economic downturn, law enforcement realignment, depleted social and schooling programs, and, in still too many cases, owner complacency,” said David Glawe, NICB president and CEO, in a statement. The FBI, which uses different data collection methods than the NICB, found that, overall, there were around 407,000 motor-vehicle-theft incidents in 2020, a 16.6 percent increase over the 315,000 such incidents in 2019 and the 270,000 incidents that were reported in 2018. The real numbers of vehicles stolen in the U.S. are higher, as the FBI collects its data through the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which relies on numbers submitted by local law enforcement, and not all local agencies share their information with the Bureau. In 2020, for example, the FBI estimated national crime statistics based on data received from 15,875 of 18,623 law enforcement agencies that year.However many vehicle thefts actually happened last year, the NICB offers some common-sense tips on how not to add to the statistics next year. The super-easy ones: always lock your car, park in well-lit areas, and don’t leave your keys in the car. Installing a warning device or something that will immobilize or track your car will take a bit more effort, but it is worth considering if you think your vehicle is at risk.

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