GT fuels $800,000 bid

The first Ford GT sold to the public was a whopping US$500,000 ($804,000) at an auction in California. The final bid at the Christie's charity event was significantly more than the the $180,000 ($289,000) auctioneers figured the bidding might reach. Interest in the GT, which will go on sale in America next year, was fuelled by a parade of original GT40 race cars. The Ford GT is the spiritual successor to the GT40. Ford will start building the 300km/h GT soon. Production will likely be limited to 1500 models a year.

On the ball

Peugeot has released a limited-edition sedan called the RWC Peugeot 406 ST, so named because the French carmaker is a sponsor of this year's Rugby World Cup. Only 20 RWC models will be available, each with more than $5000 of extras, including a black leather interior, heated front seats, rear spoiler, sports alloys and chrome exhaust extension. The car, priced at $46,990, will also carry the Rugby World Cup 2003 logo. A chance to win a trip for two to the November 22 final in Sydney is also up for grabs.

Last orders

The last rites for the American carmaker Oldsmobile are less than a year away. Production of the last Oldsmobile models in the United States will phase out early next year. The decision to wind down the 106-year-old brand was made by General Motors' chief Richard Wagoner in December, 2000. Since then about half of Oldsmobile owners have stayed with GM, of which about one-fifth have gone to Chevrolet, one out of 10 have stayed true to Oldsmobile, and one out of 12 have switched to Buick. Oldsmobile began business in 1897. It introduced the automatic transmission and the Rocket V8 engine. Its founder, Ransom Eli Olds, gave his initials to the Reo truck line.

Car chase captured

The French car-chase film C'etait un Rendezvous, the object of much desire among rev-heads, judging by emails to this column, is available from Techbooks in Newmarket, Auckland. Cost is $64.95 for either VHS or DVD. The film was made in 1976 by French director Claude Lelouch, who mounted a camera on a V12 Ferrari and took off at dawn on a high-speed drive through Paris. He was arrested the first time he publicly showed the film and it went underground for 25 years.

Roll back windows

A coalition of consumer groups in America is asking Detroit's carmakers to improve the safety of power windows. Both Kids and Cars and the Consumer Federation of America are asking the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to make mandatory power windows that roll back when they touch an object such as a child's hand or neck. They also want safer window switches similar to those in Europe. The Kids and Cars group estimates power windows have claimed 23 young lives in the past decade.

We are the world

Two mortuary workers in the Zimbabwe capital of Harare have been arrested and charged with renting out corpses to motorists. They were cashing in on a law that allows vehicles transporting the dead to go to the front of queues at petrol stations.