If you own or drive a vehicle on a regular basis, no doubt you've noticed that gas prices are falling lately. In fact, many states expect to see gas prices dip below $2 per gallon for the first Thanksgiving holiday stretch in years. As a result, the pundits at AAA say traffic will surge to the highest levels in nearly a decade starting Wednesday afternoon and running through Sunday. While we're all about lower fuel costs, more drivers on the road means more risk for accidents. That's a tough pill to swallow considering that Thanksgiving already is among the most dangerous times of the year to be on the roadways. An average 400 to 500 people die and some 46,000 more are injured each year during this time. It's particularly rough on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, known to...

The 2015 LA Auto Show is underway at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Among the head turners you'll see are five seriously cool concepts… Aston Martin DB10: This sleek, silver two-door coupe tops our list in large part because it was created specifically for the newest James Bond film, Spectre, which hit theaters nationwide earlier this month. It features a 6-speed manual transmission used on the British carmaker's V8-engined rides and a chassis based on a modified version of the VH Platform that underpins the V8 Vantage, but with a longer wheelbase. Scion C-HR Concept SUV: A four-door, hatchback crossover with an edgy style and huge 21-inch wheels, ergo the "C-HR" which stands for "compact" and "high ride." Interestingly, its look is inspired by sleek chopsticks...

If you're anxiously awaiting next months' release of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Fiat's got a treat for you. The Italian luxury carmaker this week debuted a Stormtrooper-inspired concept car at the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show. Dubbed the First Order Stormtrooper 2015 Fiat 500e, the ride was created by Garage Italia Customs. It looks a bit like a Mini Cooper disguised as a Stormtrooper helmet, complete with white and black lacquer paint job. Star Wars purists will be the first to point out that car was not modeled after the classic armor design of the Empire's Imperial foot soldier that first appeared in the iconic 1977 original. Instead, inspiration likely was taken from recent designs, most notably that of the armor donned by bounty hunter Bobba Fett's father,...

Despite the plethora of optional features in today's new cars, there are a few items one simply takes for granted when plunking down the first payment for a chosen ride. You know, a steering wheel, spark plugs, a spare tire - the basics. But according to multiple major automakers, one of these items is no longer a given, and it's got us a bit stumped. A new study by the AAA shows that a full 36 percent of 2015 model year cars sold lacked a spare tire, instead gifting buyers with a tire inflator kits. That figure is a far cry from the five percent of 2006 model cars sold without the trusty spare in the trunk's wheel well, and it adds up to some 29 million rides on America's roadways lacking this crucial piece of safety equipment. So what gives? It turns out that automakers are...

The nation's newest automobile museum is slated for Jacksonville, Florida - and we here at E3 Spark Plugs couldn't be more excited. That's because it's just a stone's throw from our Ponte Vedra Beach headquarters. Slated for opening in January, the Jacksonville Automotive Museum will be housed at the Regency Mall in an expansive space that formerly was a Montgomery Ward. It will feature more than 100 classic and modern cars and motorcycles, a 200-seat auditorium, an art gallery and four iRacing simulators lining a side wall in a simulated pit lane, Executive Director Bruce Marble told reporters recently. Planned events and programs include car shows, after-hours concerts and automotive restoration education courses. Locals recently spotted workers maneuvering a gorgeous...

Multiple movies, TV shows, comic books and storybooks have been playfully immortalized in Lego sets, created for kids, but often hoarded by moms nostalgic dads and moms, too. Such will most certainly be the case if one online crusader gets his way. Posting on the Lego Ideas website, a guy (or gal, who knows?) who goes by "B. Rick" is pushing the toymaker to offer a set that includes features from the original 1966 Batman TV series, including the iconic Batmobile by late car customizer George Barris. The proposed Lego Batmobile car, which began life in the TV world as a 1955 Lincoln Futura before undergoing a massive transformation, includes many of the same features you'll remember coveting as a kid, including the atomic turbine engine, Bat radar, rocket launchers, Bat-chutes, the...

Today's rides increasingly are becoming infused with the kind of artificial intelligence that once was the stuff only of comic books and James Bond movies. Now, Toyota is ramping up for an even more futuristic automotive scene by pumping $1 billion into a research and development laboratory in California's Silicon Valley. Dubbed the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), the initiative will hire hundreds of engineers to staff a main facility in Palo Alto, Calif., near Stanford University, and a second located near MIT in Cambridge, Mass. Heading the TRI is former DARPA program manager Dr. Gill Pratt, an executive technical advisor at Toyota. As CEO, he'll rev up operations in January. At a recent press conference, Toyota president Akio Toyoda told members of the media that the company...

It's perhaps the cheesiest yet most cult-tastic horror film ever made - 1981's The Evil Dead. Meant to be a truly frightening flick, it proved hilarious. Rather than get offended, director Sam Raimi came back with the seminal Evil Dead II, adding slapstick humor to the over-the-top horror (a nod to the Three Stooges) and solidifying the franchise as a horror/comedy hybrid cinematic favorite. Though the last of the trilogy, Evil Dead III, renamed Army of Darkness proved a box office flop, it remains a cult favorite. Among the stars of the trilogy is that 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale that main character Ash (Bruce Campbell) drives in all three films. It was Raimi's personal ride during his high school days. Boasting a quad-eyed death stare, the car brought Ash and his unwitting...

As lovers of all things automotive, nothing much bewilders, angers or saddens us here at E3 Spark Plugs quite like a case road rage. Recent research reveals that over a seven year period, 218 murders and 12,610 injuries were attributed to road rage. Some 66 percent of traffic fatalities are caused by aggressive driving and 37 percent of aggressive driving incidents involve a firearm. But a new invention dubbed the "road rage detector seat" just may help change that, developers say. Nanterre, France-based Faurecia, the world's 6th largest auto parts manufacturer, is developing what they call the Active Wellness seat. It's designed to monitor the emotions of drivers via built-in stress or fatigue sensors and to quickly offer up a customized response option when those emotions run...

The Tokyo Motor Show 2015 is officially underway and as always, it's a virtual wonderland of impractical, implausible, likely impossible yet absolutely desirable. Produced by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, the 44th annual event is known for its unveiling of futuristic concept vehicles and this year's theme, "Your heart will race," is proving appropriate. Some 160 exhibitors from 11 countries are participating this year, bringing with them 76 world premieres and 68 Japan premieres all bound to wow some 900,000 visitors. But the show stoppers always are the crazy creative concept rides, most of which will never make the mass production line. Here are three of our favorites from this year's show. Nissan 2020 Vision Gran Turismo: The idea was borne of collaboration...