Three cars were set on fire outside a home early Wednesday morning and Hickory police are searching for the person who did it.According to Libby Grigg, spokesperson for the Hickory Police Department, Peter Sanders heard banging on the door of his home on Seventeenth Street, SW, at about 2:30 a.m.

Sanders looked out the front door, but didn’t see anything, she said, so he looked out the windows.

Grigg said Sanders saw one of the vehicles in his driveway, a Saturn, on fire.

Sanders went to get something to extinguish the fire, and by the time he went outside to the vehicles, two other cars in the driveway, a Toyota Camry and a Honda Civic, also  were on fire.

The fires caused a total of $4,000 in damage to the vehicles, and Hickory police are calling it arson, Grigg said.

Havana is a potent mixture of the old and the new. Modern office buildings punctuate the skyline alongside deteriorating Eastern European residential towers.Ancient vehicles, some with more rust than paint, share the road with newer, shinier models, while horse-drawn carts mingle with motorcycles. Flea markets display Cuba holiday mementos - wooden models of cars built in the 1950s, which are still seen on Cuban streets. “Yank tank,” “máquina” “cacharro” ans “bartavia” are all words used to describe the American classic cars in Cuba. It is the only place where history and circumstance have combined to enable a whole society to preserve these amazing vehicles and turn them into a national treasure.

About 150,000 classic cars existed at the time of the 1959 Cuban Revolution when the U.S. imposed a trade embargo on Cuba. After this, international trade was made very difficult, so the cars that were present at the time have been nurtured and cared for ever since.

Of the 60,000 classic cars in Cuba, about half are from the 50s, another 25 percent from the 40s and a similar number from the 30s. Brands include Chevrolet, Ford, Buick, Plymouth, Chrysler, Dodge, Willy’s, Oldsmobile and De Soto – vintage models of all of these can be seen on Cuba’s roads today.

 Care & Attention

While classic cars are still used for daily transportation , often as taxis, they have also become cherished heirlooms handed down from generation to generation within families, in some cases going all the way back to the 30s.

Most owners of classic cars spend hours applying waxes and polishes and basking in the praise and admiration of passers-by. Some even reminisce about a time when their cars were new, and life itself seemed brighter and as inviting as an open highway.

To own one of these vintages defines who you are, how you spend your time and how you wish to be known, and Cubans will go to incredible lengths to keep their classic cars running. 1950’s bumpers and  tailpipes are recreated and myriad other parts are adapted. Steering wheels carved from wood, hub cabs made from aluminum cans and plastic sheets for windows are common. While such shortcuts would be frowned upon in the United States, classic car lovers admire the Cubans’ ingenuity and their ability to keep the cars running.

 

The Future for Classic Cars in Cuba

Each day these cars get closer to extinction. They are now outnumbered by boxy Russian Ladas, Volga sedans and more recent Eastern European and Japanese imports. But the biggest threats to Cuba’s classic cars are the scarcity of parts and lack of original factory literature to maintain them with uniform standards.

Hopefully they will still be preserved for years to come, even if they become increasingly temperamental with all the alterations they go through. If you’re thinking of hiring a classic car on your Cuba holiday make sure to make a ceremonial splash of rum on the car’s floorboard for good luck!

One man was killed and four people were injured in related accidents involving five vehicles on Interstate 10 that snarled traffic near Sierra Blanca in both directions for more than three hours Wednesday.

The man who died is a resident of Mesa, Ariz. His identity and the names of the people injured were not released.

Four of the victims, including a man who suffered life-threatening injuries, were hospitalized, officials said.

Two men were rushed by ambulance to Thomason Hospital in El Paso, and a woman and an infant were taken by ambulance to medical center in Culberson County, where they were treated and released.

Trooper Harry Hoelscher of the Texas Department of Public Safety said the pileup was a result of two separate but related accidents about eight miles west of the Border Patrol checkpoint near Sierra Blanca.

A preliminary investigation revealed that around 7:30 a.m., a pickup driven by the Arizona man was traveling east on I-10 about 13 miles west of Sierra Blanca when it was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer.

The impact launched the pickup into the median, where it rolled several times, then came to rest on its roof in the westbound lanes, Hoelscher said.

Occupants of two vehicles traveling on I-10 West stopped to help. While the good Samaritans
were at the scene, they were involved in a second collision.

“There was a third vehicle that came along and struck the other two vehicles and the people that were stopping to render aid,” Hoelscher said.

Hoelscher described the third vehicle as westbound tractor-trailer.

He said that in addition to striking the vehicles and people who had stopped to help, the tractor-trailer slammed into the already-mangled pickup before coming to rest on its right side in the median.

Hoelscher said the investigation into the pileup continued Wednesday afternoon.

Responding to the accidents were the Border Patrol, Sierra Blanca Fire Department, Texas Department of Transportation and Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Arvin West of Hudspeth County said the pileup was one of the worst he’s seen since five people, including two children, were killed in July 2003. In that pileup, a tractor-trailer slammed into a car, causing a chain-reaction wreck in the line approaching the Border Patrol checkpoint.

For those who pull away from the pump with their gas tank caps on their trunk lids, Ford Motor Co. has begun to make good on a 2006 promise to get rid of the caps on its entire model lineup.Jettisoning the pesky caps will become most apparent in the new 2009 F-150 pickup truck, Ford’s top-selling vehicle, which was unveiled this week at the North American International Auto Show. It will hit showrooms in the fall.

The capless refueling system already is available on the 2008 Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle, and it is coming to the 2009 Flex crossover and Lincoln MKS luxury sedan, said Matt O’Leary, chief engineer on the pickup.

The system, which came from Ford’s NASCAR racing experience, first appeared on the 2003 Ford GT sports car.

It has two small spring-loaded tabs that pull back a flap inside the fuel filler neck as the nozzle hits them. When the nozzle is pulled out, the flap closes.

In addition to the convenience factor, the capless system also has environmental benefits, O’Leary said, by limiting the escape of gasoline vapors.

A car bomb damaged a US diplomatic car in Beirut yesterday, killing at least three people and wounding 16, and the US State Department said no Americans died in the blast.

The bomb sent a column of smoke into the sky, tore masonry from buildings and destroyed at least six cars in a Christian suburb north of Beirut, as well as damaging the armoured four-by-four embassy car.

The blast coincided with US President George W. Bush’s visit to Saudi Arabia as part of a week-long tour of US Middle East allies.

Mr Bush is not visiting Lebanon, though Washington has been a strong backer of the Beirut government in its power struggle with the Hizbollah-led opposition backed by Syria.

Lebanon has seen more than 30 explosions in the past three years, many hitting anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.

Members of the US-backed governing coalition who have blamed Damascus for previous attacks condemned the bombing but did not name any suspects.

Lebanon’s stability has also been rocked by attacks on UN peacekeepers in the south and an insurrection by al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants in the north last year.

An inquest has been opened after a man from Northampton was crushed to death by a forklift truck in an horrific accident.

Michael Whateley, a 28-year-old of Eastfield Road in Delapre, died instantly when the truck toppled onto his car at a housing development in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

The Health and Safety Executive launched a joint investigation with police to establish what had happened to cause the nine-tonne industrial vehicle to fall over.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police confirmed their coroner’s office had opened and adjourned an inquest following the accident, which took place on Friday.

He said: “Police were at the scene of an industrial incident that occurred at the Linden Homes building site on Broughton Road, Banbury. Three people were involved in the incident.

“A man was pronounced dead at the scene. Health and Safety Executive investigators will undertake a joint investigation with Thames Valley Police. It is understood that the accident happened after the car Mr Whateley was a passenger in had driven on to the building site.

“It was waiting for the truck to finish maneuvering when it toppled on its side and the arm of the truck fell onto the car.

A spokesman for Linden Homes, which is overseeing the development, added: “We can confirm that there was a fatality at the Linden Homes site in Banbury.

“The police are currently on site and the HSE has started an investigation but at this early stage we are not in a position to comment further.”

The site finally re-opened on Tuesday morning and work continued on the new development, which will consist of 18 new four-bedroom homes.

Meanwhile tributes to Mr Whateley have been set up on social networking site Facebook, where a number of his friends and family members have joined an on-line group in his memory.

One friend, Stephen Symons, emailed the Chronicle & Echo to say: “We were friends for several years at school and often bumped into each other in recent years.

“I was shocked at his death and very, very saddened. I liked him very much and always enjoyed his company. He was kind hearted and very easy to get along with.

“I’ll always remember him.”

Toyota is readying a low-cost vehicle for sale in emerging markets but rival General Motors Corp. says a $2,500 car such as the Nano model rolled out by Tata Motors of India last week is not in its immediate future.

“I wouldn’t say that right now we have been specifically enamored of the $2,500 price point,” GM chief executive Rick Wagoner said in an interview in Detroit Monday, adding “the magic” price for an ultra budget car is yet unknown.

GM’s strategy for the low end of the market will be to try to take costs out from existing vehicles such as the ones built by its GM Daewoo unit in Korea, Mr. Wagoner said.  GM has tried before to make a cheapo car from scratch, trying to cut costs by using coloured plastic panels, for example, instead of painting the cars later on. Overall, the effort hasn’t worked, he said.

“What we ended up with was not a very good looking car that wasn’t that cheap,” Mr. Wagoner said.

GM and Toyota are battling for the title of world’s biggest automaker by sales. Emerging markets are crucial for the automakers as growth in North America, Europe and Japan slows.

Geely Holdings Group Co, the Chinese maker of $5,000 compacts, will add five new models a year, including sedans, until 2010 because of faster-growing demand for larger cars in the world’s second largest auto market.

The carmaker will also raise its annual production capacity in China to 1.7 million vehicles by 2015, Vice-President Zhao Fuquan said at the Detroit motor show yesterday. China’s largest privately controlled carmaker can currently make 300,000 cars a year, according to its website.

Geely plans to add larger models and to boost sales overseas as Chinese drivers, enriched by stock market gains, shun compacts in favor of more expensive cars. The company’s Hong Kong-listed unit missed its vehicle sales target in 2007 for at least the second year in a row.

The carmaker is planning to open plants in Europe and southern Africa, Zhao said at the North American International Automobile Show. He declined to provide more details. Earlier this week, the company said it will set up an assembly venture in Mexico to serve markets in the Americas, including the US.

Geely’s new models this year will include a five-door hatchback KingKong compact and a 1.8-liter China Dragon sports car based on its Beauty Leopard model. It will also add a 1-liter compact named the Panda in the local market.

The company’s Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd unit sold 186,000 vehicles last year, an increase of more than 20 percent, Geely Chairman Li Shufu said earlier this week. The unit cut its sales target to 190,000 in September. It aims to boost vehicle sales 18 percent this year to 220,000, Li added.

Geely expects to export 1.3 million vehicles a year by 2015 compared with about 30,000 last year. The company now operates factories in Russia, Ukraine and Indonesia, assembling vehicles from component kits.

The automaker and unidentified partners will make an initial investment of $500 million in the Mexican plant, which will eventually have a capacity of 300,000 vehicles a year.

The Detroit Motor Show has put a spotlight on the looming battle for supremacy in the fast-growing market for green cars, especially between US and Asian auto makers.With a rise in worldwide concern over global warming and soaring oil prices, carmakers from every country have accelerated their investments into producing cars with improved fuel efficiency and reduced harmful emissions.

The whole range of new green car technologies is on show at the annual Detroit exposition, the world’s biggest auto show: standard hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric motors, fuel cell vehicles, and flex-fuel engines that will burn biofuels like ethanol and even fuel made from urban waste.

New green car technologies are a “business necessity and an obligation for society,” said General Motors chief Rick Wagoner during previews of the show, which opens to the public from January 19 to January 27.

“The demand for energy around the world is growing faster than supply,” he said. “We need to develop alternative sources of propulsion.” Wagoner called for the US government to accelerate construction of the infrastructure necessary to support an entire new generation of environmentally-sensitive vehicles.

Among the US auto manufacturers, GM has launched an offensive in the green car market — even as it has joined the others in resisting tighter regulations on emissions.

In Detroit, GM announced that it would launch a plug-in hybrid as soon as 2010 — the Saturn Vue sports utility vehicle — and also by the same date offer a fully electric car, the Chevy Volt, after an abortive first try in 2003.

Chrysler, slow to get on the green bandwagon, has presented three prototype green cars in Detroit. And Ford announced two hybrids for the end of 2008 and the accelerated development of cars with better fuel economy by 2012.

But all of them face the formidable Japanese giant Toyota — now the number two auto-seller in the US market, after GM and ahead of Ford.

Toyota has stolen a strong lead in the green car market with its hybrid Prius, now on the market for ten years.

In Detroit, Toyota presented its new rechargeable hybrid, and announced projects to develop other clean-auto technologies.

Still up for grabs is the half of the US market that is dominated by inefficient, polluting SUVs and pick-up trucks — segments which have proven extremely profitable for US carmakers.

The Detroit show made clear that all carmakers, especially Asian companies, are working on clean diesel, hybrid and flex-fuel versions of their SUVs and trucks.

Even China, with its ambition to get a foothold in the US auto market, has introduced sedan and SUV models, developed by their own research teams with the backing of Japanese or other foreign partners.

The promise and challenge of the green market comes as US manufacturers struggle to get back on their feet after sweeping losses and retrenchments.

Ford announced that its plan to return to profitability in 2009 was progressing well, while GM said it would reap the benefits of its efforts, and Chrysler talked up its own progress.

But all the excitement about the US market pales in the face of the looming economic slowdown and possibly recession in 2008, a result of higher oil costs, the crash of the real estate market and the resulting fallout in the banking sector.

Both US and Japanese automakers said 2008 would be difficult with contracting demand.

But European builders remained relatively optimistic for 2008 in the United States, with attractive new models in both the mini-car and luxury segments, and a rising demand for their diesel cars.

Chicago woman who used a stolen identity to buy a house and an SUV has been sentenced to eight years in prison.Thirty-seven-year-old Denise Williams was accused of stealing the personal information of a woman whose wallet was stolen during a trip to Chicago. Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of identity theft.

Cook County state’s attorney spokesman Andy Conklin says Williams was not accused of stealing the wallet, but she used its contents, including the victim’s Social Security card, to buy a $173,000 house and $24,000 SUV.

Conklin says it’s unclear how Williams obtained the wallet.

Authorities became aware of Williams’ activities after the mortgage company and the car dealership became suspicious and informed police.