The downward spiral began last winter and was quite noticeable at the January Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Barrett-Jackson auction is famous among the general public as the most televised collector car auction, but its meat and potatoes has been the cars of the 1950s and '60s.

In last winter's auction, there were a lot of unhappy owners whose cars did not achieve the high prices that were rampant a year earlier. A recent Barrett-Jackson auction held in Las Vegas had even worse results.

Cars sold, but, as there are no reserves allowed at a Barrett-Jackson auction, that is not surprising.Calgary Herald...

Collector Cars

"My uncle works on the Volt as an engineer. He's getting laid off Friday because apparantly the project (aka VOLT) is on hold indefinitely."

We've put in a call to GM PR to ask them about the veracity of our tipsters claim, but we've yet to receive a response. We'll let you know when we've got more to tell you — but in terms of reliability, it would mean yesterday's Reuters report claiming GM was expanding R&D spend on hybrid electrics was total baloney. I hate baloney. Even when it's fried. Jalopnik

He’s calling the project Linc Volt and he picked that Lincoln from his collection because it was his “favorite of the craziest and most out-there designs that American automobile manufacturers had come up with,” Mr. Young said. “I thought it would be a good poster child for the latest in technology.”

Mr. Young, 62, is a longtime tinkerer. He holds several patents, mostly having to do with model trains, and he once owned part of the model train maker Lionel. “I’m a transportation freak,” he said. “I like transportation devices. I like mechanical devices.”...New York Times

The talks between GM and Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm that owns Chrysler, began more than a month ago, and the negotiations are not certain to produce a deal. Two people close to the process said the chances of a merger were "50-50" as of Friday and most likely would still take weeks to work out.

The Wall Street Journal, citing people it described as familiar with the discussions, says Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm that owns 80.1 percent of Chrysler and 51 percent of GMAC Financial Services, proposed trading Chrysler's automotive operations to GM. The Journal says Cerberus would receive GM's remaining 49 percent stake in GMAC.

The New York Times, also citing people familiar with the talks, says the automakers were discussing a merger. The Times did not mention GMAC, a traditional auto lender hit hard by the housing market downturn...The Jackson Citizen Patriot - MLive.com, MI 

Automakers aren't entirely sold on CNG cars largely because there is no infrastructure in place to support it. There are only 800 to 1,000 natural gas filling stations located around the U.S., compared with 175,000 regular stations...Forbes

This is not the same as prototype future cars is the strictest sense, but using water as a fuel source has long been a dream, and now the dream has come true. It is reasonable to assume that someone will take up the idea and produce prototype future cars that don't use kits, but that have all they need to burn water built into their production.

In today's atmosphere of keeping the environment pollution-free, the idea of powering a car on air is an attractive one. It may therefore interest you to learn that there are prototype future cars that can do just that! The MDI City-CAT (compressed air technology) uses air as its motive force and rightly claims to be the cleanest car around...Best Syndication

AutoTrader Classics tracks the buying and selling of cars around the world and compiled a list of the 12 most valuable cars sold at auction between July 2007 and July 2008. The list does not include vehicles sold in private auctions, data that is impossible to track, says Rob Huting, general manager of AutoTrader Classics.

Huting says he is aware of a private sale that may well be the most expensive car ever purchased, an historic Mercedes race car that went for $20 million. "The Bugatti Atlantic that was owned by Ralph Lauren is also rumored to be worth" a similar amount, he notes, but "more trackable and objective are the cars sold at auction," and therefore they are the ones that make up our list.

However, it might not be long before the list gets a shaken up a bit. The Oprah Winfrey charity car collection, among other cars, is for sale to the highest bidders at the prestigious Pebble Beach, Calif., automobile auction to be held Aug. 16 to Aug. 17. All proceeds will go to Winfrey's Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa....CTV.ca

On the other hand, the carmaker is struggling to meet demand for its four-cylinder engines and is even considering phasing out production of its six-cylinder engines at its main Munich plant as well. This would allow BMW to build up to 500,000 four-cylinder engines a year, Schoch explained.

Shoch also called for the company to develop an all-electric vehicle, an option that BMW is currently exploring under its ‘Project i’ umbrella. The first Project i model is expected to be a small city car designed for just two people, which you can see a preview of by clicking here. ...Motor Authority

The zero-emissions vehicles will be integrated into the utility companies' fleets to gauge the viability of utilizing all-electric vehicles in its operations and further understand the impact of charging electric vehicles on the electric grid. Similar testing has taken place with seven of Japan's major utility companies, resulting in Mitsubishi's decision to sell the i MiEV to the Japanese public in 2009.

Perhaps if PG&E's and SCE's testing yields good results, we'll see the i MiEV on Mitsubishi showroom floors sooner than we think...CNET News