Good oil: What the bad guys drove

Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen and his Mustang will forever be synonymous with the movie Bullit, to the expense of the less remembered but sexy black Dodge Charger driven by the baddies. Memories of the spectacular chase along the streets of San Francisco may be stirred when Dodge returns to New Zealand next month with its Caliber hatch, successor to the Neon, which was once sold here as a Chrysler.

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The 21-inch alloy rims on Rolls-Royce's showcase Phantom Black saloon have centre caps with RR badges that stay upright, even at speed. Well, of course they would. Rolls-Royce has built 25 Phantom Blacks to demonstrate the best in design, engineering and craftsmanship. They're sprayed metallic Diamond Black with silver coachlines and the 6.75-litre V12 engine even has gloss black inlet manifolds. Sorry, they're already all sold.

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In other Roller news, a 1982 Corniche Mulliner Park Ward coupe once owned by Kenny Baker, the man inside Star Wars robot R2D2, goes under the hammer in England in just over a week. The blue Corniche has just over 63,000 miles on its odometer and is expected to fetch £11,000 to £13,000 ($33,000 to $39,000). Baker is the only actor to have featured in all six Star Wars films.

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It's just over 50 years ago that President Eisenhower signed into law the US Federal Aid Highway Act, bringing the Interstate network into existence. To help sell the expensive project it was billed as a security blanket for Cold War jitters. Which is why Interstate bridges had to be tall enough for a mobile Minuteman missile launcher. Perhaps one of the best descriptions of the network was by author John Steinbeck who said the great highway project would make it possible to travel from New York to California without seeing a single thing.

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Aston Martin will build some 300 road versions of 007's next supercar, the DBS, to be driven by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. The consumer version, based on an uprated DB9, gets a wider track and lower ground clearance, bold scoops and air intakes. About $450,000 should put you in the ejection seat.

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Nissan has marked the 20th anniversary of production at its Sunderland plant in Britain. The white Bluebird was driven off the line on July 8, 1986 and donated to the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, where it can still be seen. More than 4.3 million cars have been produced for 55 countries. New Zealand imported Sunderland's Pulsar hatch between May 2001 and the end of last year.

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Land Rover boss Phil Popham reacts to news that the latest J.D. Power initial quality scores placed Land Rover in last place: "I will be meeting with the J.D. Power executives, along with the Jaguar-Land Rover product development director and the Jaguar-Land Rover CEO to find out whether the problems are a matter of quality, expectations, ergonomics or design. Finishing 37th is nothing to be proud of."