A scene from the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The 2013 event happens in August. For over 60 years, the Concours d’Elegance has been thrilling automotive enthusiasts with beauty, power and technology. And one of the most anticipated Concours events is happening next month. Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance celebration starts its engines August 14, 2013 for both a memorable experience and a great cause. With more than $16 million already raised for charity, attending the event allows you to help worthwhile causes while you enjoy the ultimate vintage car lover’s experience. This one is definitely worthy of a road trip. Festivities begin on Wednesday, August 14 with participant arrivals and exhibits. The Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance, sponsored by...

Could terrorists take over your car? Government-hired hackers show it’s possible. Imagine driving down the highway when suddenly, your speedometer surges, your brakes fail and your steering wheel seemingly takes on a mind of its own. While it sounds like the stuff of a sci-fi thriller, government officials say it’s all too real a possibility. With funding from the Pentagon and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, two noted hackers are showing the feds just how easy it might be for terrorists, organized crime figures or super savvy pranksters to take control of your automobile. Experimenting on a 2010 Toyota Prius and 2010 Ford Escape, the hackers showed that while they cannot fully control the vehicles...

Ferris Bueller’s replica 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder hit the auction block next month. Here at E3 Spark Plugs, we love a great movie car auction or contest. If you’d like to get behind the wheel of a cinematic ride, we’ve got three chances coming up. Perhaps the most iconic of the three s the replica 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder trashed in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In the John Hughes-directed blockbuster, Matthew Broderick’s beloved character “borrows” his buddy’s dad’s vintage car to skip school and cruise around Chicago, taking his ever-suspicious Dean of Students Ed Rooney and frustrated sister, Jeannie for a ride of another kind. A “Save Ferris” donation campaign kicks off at...

Empty parking spot where you’re sure you left your ride? E3 Spark Plugs offers tips on what to do if your car is stolen. July and August are top months for taking the fam on a summer vacation, lounging at the beach and getting your car jacked. That’s right – According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau more cars are stolen in July and August than any other month of the year. Common sense moves can help protect your car from thieves in the first place – Park in a well-lit area, hide your valuables, keep your spare key with you, avoid leaving your car running and immobilize it if it will be parked for an extended period of time. But what happens when your car does disappear? E3 Spark Plugs offers a few tips: Make sure your car really is gone. Multi-level...

Shady mechanics are using fraudulent liens to sell unwitting customers’ cars. There’s a new racket in operation among some less-than-ethical auto mechanics, and it could cost you your ride, right down to the spark plugs. A recent report on Sacramento, CA’s CBS13 exposed the increasingly common, highly illegal practice of mechanics faking liens or actually filing bogus liens against customers’ vehicles and selling them right out from under them. The story featured Daniel James, who says Sacramento’s MK Auto held his 1986 Ford Mustang for three years, calling every few months to explain that they were struggling to find a new engine for the classic car. Finally fed up, James with the ridiculous delay, James demanded his car back. That’s when a...

Steve McQueen’s 1971 Husqvarna 400 Cross, identical to the one on which he famously rode shirtless on the cover of Sports Illustrated, is up for auction. Still feeling the rush of the Independence Day celebration? Nothing says “freedom” like hitting the open road on a vintage bike. And if you’ve got a little extra change (okay, a lot), you can take your next road trip on a motorcycle once owned by iconic actors Dennis Hopper or Steve McQueen. Mecum Auctions’ Celebrity Items Auction, set for July 26-27 at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, features an array of vintage motor cycles, cars and trucks – and one giant goat head on wheels – owned by famous celebs or used in feature films and classic TV shows. Among the items expected to draw the...

Many American auto owners show their patriotic pride with amazing paint jobs. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of a sweet ride.” Well, something like that, anyway. This week, E3 Spark Plugs joins the rest of the nation in celebrating 237 years of independence. “Believe me, dear Sir – there is not in the British Empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do,” said revolutionary badass Thomas Jefferson in a November 1775 sendoff to the British Crown. “But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America.” Eight months later, the new nation’s leaders would ratify the Declaration of...

Johnny Cash’s 1976 hit, “One Piece At a Time” is a favorite car song. Summertime means road trip time. Just the thought of hitting the highways and byways, your favorite tunes blaring from the radio, is enough to get your blood pumping. And we know you’ve got a few favorites that you love to sing along with. E3 Spark Plugs offers a few of our all-time favorite car songs to help pass away the hours behind the wheel: Cars by Gary Numan, 1979 Lowrider by War, 1975 One Piece at a Time by Johnny Cash, 1976 Drive” (Who’s Gonna Drive You Home?) by The Cars, 1984: Little Red Corvette by Prince, 1983 Drive my Car by the Beatles, 1965 Car Wash by Rose Royce, 1976 Kickstart my Heart by Mötley Crüe, 1989 Little Deuce Coupe by the Beach Boys,...

The original Mustang 1 concept car is making waves again. The first production Ford Mustang hit the streets in 1964. But a full two years earlier, a prototype that never made it to the factory line made an appearance at the 1962 Grand Prix, where test driver and contemporary Formula One race driver Dan Gurney lapped the track in a demonstration with lap times just slightly off the pace of the F1 race cars. Half a century later, Ford officials are taking another look at the Mustang I concept and asking muscle car fans which design elements they’d like to see in the next generation of ponies. The Mustang I’s look was radically different from the first production model of the car that originally was named for World War II P51 Mustang fighter jet and proved Ford’s most...

Mechanic Audra Fordin calls bluff on her male counterparts in an undercover TV segment that shows shady treatment of women in mechanics shops. Women – What could they possibly know about cars? While the question makes us here at E3 Spark Plugs cringe, it’s one that guy-centric auto shops everywhere ask every day. And the answer often is an infuriating one. Producers with ABC’s new investigative consumer journalism show, The Lookout, focused their hidden cameras on reportedly shady mechanics in New York and New Jersey. If you’re a female car owner who may or may not know a spark plug from a shock absorber, what they uncovered is really gonna rev you up. The Lookout‘s Undercover Mechanics segment features real-life mechanic Audra Fordin, who just happens...