And, to the surprise of some of his friends, it doesn’t belong to his parents.

Steven started with an old cell phone and eventually traded up to his impressive ride.

It [...]]]>

FROM SAN GABRIEL TRIBUNE:  Seventeen-year-old Steven Ortiz is fairly sure he is the only student at Charter Oak High School who drives a convertible Porsche to school.

And, to the surprise of some of his friends, it doesn’t belong to his parents.

Steven started with an old cell phone and eventually traded up to his impressive ride.

It didn’t happen overnight, but with the help of the Craigslist website and a lot of patience, Steven made 14 online swaps over two years to get his 2000 Porsche Boxster S. MORE»

Cars were strictly verboten.

“Attention on the A40,” a radio [...]]]> FROM THE AP:  Germany’s autobahns are renowned for average speeds well in excess of 80 miles (130 kilometers) an hour. But the average dropped near zero Sunday as tens of thousands of people sat at a 37-mile table for a cultural celebration titled, appropriately enough, “Still Life.”

Cars were strictly verboten.

“Attention on the A40,” a radio traffic report warned. “There is a 60-kilometer (37-mile) closure between Duisburg and Dortmund due to the longest table in the world.”  MORE»

  Both were dusted off when authorities told Voelker they had found the vehicle in Modesto — 38 years after it went missing.

“I go to car shows all [...]]]> FROM THE AP:  Harold Voelker tucked away the ownership title and memories of his prized 1956 Ford F-100 pickup after it was stolen in 1972 in Los Angeles.

  Both were dusted off when authorities told Voelker they had found the vehicle in Modesto — 38 years after it went missing.

“I go to car shows all the time, and I thought, I’m going to see it one of these days,” Voelker, 63, said Thursday. “That was my baby.”

Voelker retrieved the car Tuesday after it was discovered last week.

The California Highway Patrol said officials noticed a discrepancy in the vehicle identification number when a Modesto couple tried to register the truck after getting it from a relative in Texas who didn’t know it had been stolen.  MORE»

“I heard what I thought was my truck start up” at 5 a.m. Tuesday, said Alex Hansen, 27, who lives in the 600 block of 24th Avenue in Longview. Clad only in shorts, barefoot, he ran [...]]]> FROM THE DAILY NEWS:  A man whose truck was stolen just followed the noise, grateful he didn’t fix the muffler.

“I heard what I thought was my truck start up” at 5 a.m. Tuesday, said Alex Hansen, 27, who lives in the 600 block of 24th Avenue in Longview. Clad only in shorts, barefoot, he ran outside.

“Sure enough, it was gone,” he said. “I grabbed my girlfriend’s keys. My truck’s loud enough I could hear where it was going.”

Driving his girlfriend’s BMW, he soon spotted two vehicles on 26th Avenue, including his 1996 Toyota T-100. The vehicles were obviously traveling together, he said.

“I caught up about the time they got to Alabama,” he said. “I chased them eight minutes or so down alleyways and streets. … He just locked the truck up, jumped out and took off running.”   MORE»

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem sued GM in U.S. District Court in California on May 19 for more than $75,000, accusing the [...]]]>

 FROM THE DETROIT NEWS:  A Jewish university that owns Albert Einstein’s publicity rights is suing General Motors Co. for the unauthorized use of the dead physicist’s image in an ad for its GMC Terrain.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem sued GM in U.S. District Court in California on May 19 for more than $75,000, accusing the automaker of fraudulently using Einstein’s image. Einstein willed his publicity rights to the university before he died in 1955.

It is the latest advertising controversy facing GM, which has struggled to perfect its marketing pitch since emerging last summer from bankruptcy court. Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Whitacre has been accused of stretching the truth in a recent commercial saying the automaker had repaid its federal loans, and its marketing team has undergone a management and creative agency shakeup in recent weeks. This month, GM has hired a new marketing guru and a new ad agency for its largest brand, Chevrolet.  MORE»

The Body shop estimate for the 2010 Porsche Turbo was $11,000 plus taxes. Porsche’s deductible on the car was $10,000. THE GLOBE AND MAIL

FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL:  Some moments are lived backwards. The great ones run through your mind like a favourite movie. Then there are the [...]]]>

The Body shop estimate for the 2010 Porsche Turbo was $11,000 plus taxes. Porsche’s deductible on the car was $10,000. THE GLOBE AND MAIL

FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL:  Some moments are lived backwards. The great ones run through your mind like a favourite movie. Then there are the other kind, where you try to roll back the clock – like the afternoon my teenage son launched a brand new Porsche Turbo through our garage door.

So far, I have not managed to invent a time machine, go back, and snatch the key from his hands (and in case you were wondering, the car goes for $180,000, not including freight, tax or a new garage).  MORE»

Matthew Van McDaniel, 25, of Los Alamitos was sentenced in a Newport Beach courtroom Friday to nine years in state prison for driving recklessly while under the influence of alcohol [...]]]> FROM THE AP:  A man who crashed his Mercedes through the gates of a California jail while driving drunk will spend some serious time behind bars.

Matthew Van McDaniel, 25, of Los Alamitos was sentenced in a Newport Beach courtroom Friday to nine years in state prison for driving recklessly while under the influence of alcohol and assaulting an officer, the Orange County District Attorney’s office said.

Early on Jan. 10, McDaniel was driving in his Mercedes S550 with a blood alcohol level of 0.14 percent, nearly twice the legal limit. He lost control and crashed through the gates of the James Musick Correctional Facility in Irvine. McDaniel then punched and broke the nose of a sheriff’s deputy from the jail who was trying to restrain him.

Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said at the time it was “the first time somebody tried to break into the jail.”  MORE»

The new five-gear vehicle, which has a top speed of 20mph, cost over £1,000, has full Hampshire Constabulary livery and a roll bar to protect the driver [...]]]>  FROM DAILYMAIL:  Police today unveiled what appeared to be their latest weapon in the fight against crime – a pedal-powered patrol car complete with siren and blue flashing light.

The new five-gear vehicle, which has a top speed of 20mph, cost over £1,000, has full Hampshire Constabulary livery and a roll bar to protect the driver in the event of a crash.

However, police admit that even if they are pedalling furiously the 6ft-long vehicle is unlikely to be able to apprehend anyone other than ‘those with a zimmer frame’.

Before anyone starts thinking this is the latest example of budget cuts on the police frontline, it should be pointed out that the pedal car is actually the result of a community project organised by local bobby Keith Waller. And it won’t actually be used on patrols.  MORE»

The Clubs are available to owners of 1991-1998 Honda Accords and Civics. It’s part of a state initiative to reduce to motor vehicle thefts.

The Washington Auto [...]]]>  FROM THE SEATTLE TIMES:  With a recent spike in thefts of older Honda passenger cars, local police in South King County are giving away the auto-theft prevention tool, the Club.

The Clubs are available to owners of 1991-1998 Honda Accords and Civics. It’s part of a state initiative to reduce to motor vehicle thefts.

The Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority, created by the Legislature in 2007, funds regional auto theft prevention projects through grants. Among other things, the initiative provides for steering wheel locking devices such as The Club to the public for free.  MORE»

The 47-year-old man from Hittfeld in northern Germany has been charged with false imprisonment, police said, after he bundled the terrified prankster into his car, furious at what [...]]]>  FROM AFP:  An outraged German Porsche driver hand-delivered an eight-year-old boy to the police after he and a friend pelted his beloved car with dandelions, authorities said Tuesday.

The 47-year-old man from Hittfeld in northern Germany has been charged with false imprisonment, police said, after he bundled the terrified prankster into his car, furious at what he said was a “dangerous stunt”.

Authorities praised the swift action of an eagle-eyed pedestrian who called police when she saw the boy being forced into the car against his will.

The boys were later picked up at the police station by their parents. MORE»