Porsche’s secret stash
It's not a regular car part, though. Ah, got it, it's the front clamp from an old wire ski binding - don't ask me how I know this, but I'm fairly sure no one else here can identify it.
"Do you know what this is?" comes a voice at my shoulder. I stand up, ready to reveal my disturbingly in-depth knowledge of ancient ski equipment, but before I can fix my features to smug, he continues, "It's from an old ski binding. The engineers were having difficulty holding the engine cover of the 910 down safely, and, over dinner one night, Mr Piëch spoke about this to his good friend Mr Geze, whose firm made these bindings, and this was the solution."
Dieter Landenberger is manager of Porsche's archives and a man who probably knows more about Porsche's history and heritage than the Porsche family themselves. This is fortuitous, as I'm currently in a warehouse containing many curious Porsches, most of which I'm struggling to identify. There is a reason I'm here. Porsche has a museum (if you haven't been and happen to find yourself in Stuttgart, go. It's amazing. Especially the escalator) but the 80 cars there are just the tip of a 500-strong iceberg. All of which have to be stored somewhere.
This is the somewhere. It's not far from the museum, just another industrial building in an industrial corner of an industrial city. It used to house a production line, but will soon store an entire back catalogue of automotive greatness (and not-so-greatness). I say soon because the ink on the lease is still wet. That's right, TopGear is here to help Porsche move its family jewels into a new home. Let's hope its insurance policy is up to date.
Big shiny trucks arrive, doors are opened, glimpses of cars appear and ramps are lowered. A man jumps on to a bright red Porsche tractor of considerable vintage and concours condition. There's a typically agricultural noise accompanied by a localised and particularly noxious fog cloud. When it clears, the tractor is revealed to be towing a totally see-through Cayenne Hybrid out from the transporter's interior. If Porsche were really concerned about CO2 emissions, this would surely be happening the other way round...
I lend a hand and loosen the ratchet strap on a Type 597 Jagdwagen military jeep. It lurches backwards, at which point some German expletives occur and I realise that old cars don't necessarily have effective handbrakes. Nor are they in perfect nick. Some are decidedly moth-eaten in fact, like the battered 906 that seems to have crashed headlong through each and every one of the 46 intervening years.
It looks properly battle scarred, all peeling bonnet badge, shagged upholstery and rotting composite panels. It's possibly my favourite car in the whole place, a story behind each ding and wrinkle. Dieter looks it over sympathetically and says: "It would be a shame to over-restore this car, we want to keep the authenticity of these cars alive. That, for us, is a big challenge."
I'm glad to hear him say it. Glad, too, that most of these cars are in less than pristine condition. The majority smell musty inside, dust is evident, they look like they've lived a bit. Or at least been in storage for a while. They jar with the polished floor and fresh paint that's been daubed around here. But this facility is evidence of how seriously Porsche takes its back catalogue. This, surprisingly, is a relatively recent phenomenon. The firm only started keeping the first and last cars from each production run a few years back. It's now making up for lost time by going on the open market and buying important cars back. It recently got hold of a 993 Cabrio. From Julio Iglesias. Yeah.
The new Mercedes CLA250 borrows from the familiar
Apparently Mercedes-Benz product planners see this as a salient strategy for growth, as the company's flashy new CLA rips a page right out of its larger CLS's book. The CLS, the original "four-door coupe”, has spawned so many imitators since its 2004 debut that it is only fair, Mercedes should be permitted to copy it, too.
On the eve of the 2013 Detroit auto show, Mercedes revealed its plan for recruiting a new generation of customers to the three-pointed star, and it took the form of a racy, nominally affordable compact sedan.
The CLA, like the CLS, features a low, sloping roofline and four doors with frameless windows in the manner of a coupe. But as anyone who has viewed the CLS from the back seat, the design invites rear passengers to bang their heads on the doorframe during ingress and egress.
Those lines do look slippery; according to Mercedes, the CLA's 0.23 coefficient of drag, a measure of aerodynamics, is the lowest number ever for a production model.
The car also breaks ground as Mercedes' first front-wheel-drive model for the US market. In an interview after its introduction on 13 January, Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler, the Mercedes parent, told BBC Autos that the CLA was based on the same front-drive platform used by the diminutive A-Class and B-Class hatchbacks in other markets.
"The US market isn't very fond of hatchbacks, as we are in Europe, so this car should be well-received", he surmised.
The result is very close to the Acura TSX in size and specification, and it is young drivers who grew up with front drive that the company is targeting with the CLA, which will start for less that $30,000 when it goes on sale in September. An all-wheel-drive 4Matic version will follow in 2014, as will a more powerful twin-turbocharged engine.
While the CLA has an entry-level luxury price, all of the expected Mercedes technology is present. A collision-alert radar system is standard equipment, along with a 5.8-inch infotainment display.
Power is from a 208 horsepower, 2-litre 4-cylinder engine driving the front wheels through a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. A 2.2-litre diesel engine is available for Europe, but is a long shot for the US, Zetsche said. The car's base engine in Europe will be a smaller-displacement gasoline engine developed in partnership with Renault and Nissan, he added.
Whether the CLS can, like Bowie, top the charts recycling old ideas remains to be seen, but Zetsche is undaunted. "We never talk about future volume," he said, "but we are very confident this car will be a success.”
Car-spotting: London, 1963
This image, from a summer day in 1963, appears to show nothing more than a packed car park at London Airport (renamed Heathrow in 1966, after the hamlet – Heath Row – that was demolished in 1944 to build it). But to aficionados of vintage European cars of the less-than-exotic variety, it is pure gold. A keen eye will spot a Ford Consul, a Riley 1.5s, a Hillman Minx, a Triumph Herald, a Morris Oxford, a Singer Vogue and a very grand Jaguar Mark IX. What other tin treasures can you identify?
Mobiles: Phony Chargers Spark Safety Concerns
By Rhiannon Mills, Sky News Reporter
Mobile phone users are being warned about the serious risks of buying fake chargers as safety experts fear a growing number are ending up in UK homes.
The Electrical Safety Council (ESC) says the counterfeit chargers are now one of the main fake electrical products entering the UK and have given some people electric shocks or even started fires.
"There is possibly going to be an increase in the problem due to them agreeing to sell mobile phones without the chargers in the box and that's to comply with European mandate to reduce electrical waste," Steve Curtler, from the ESC, told Sky News.
"This is why we're working with the mobile phone operators and doing as much as we can to raise awareness of the situation to ensure that people aren't lured into purchasing substandard and counterfeited products."
New mum Katie Vines, from Bristol, paid less then £5 for a phone charger online.
It was plugged in close to her baby's cot when it exploded. The seller sent her a replacement but the second charger was also faulty and blew up.
She told Sky News: "I plugged it into my socket in my bedroom, I went off to the bathroom, my boyfriend was changing the baby at the time and I heard a loud bang and went to see what it was and unfortunately the phone charger had exploded into the socket."
According to the ESC, more than four million counterfeit goods were seized in the UK last year - with mobile phone chargers now one of the top electrical fakes.
Figures from Intellectual Property show just under 10,000 phone accessories were taken in by Trading Standards but it's suspected there are many more being sold and used.
Some have damaged expensive gadgets, electrocuted people and even started fires.
Bristol Trading Standards has been dealing with a growing number of these cases over the past 12 months, but said that because many of the products come from abroad it isn't easy to stop the trade.
Spokeswoman Sarah Saunders said: "It is very frustrating for Trading Standards to see these on the market. It’s worrying for us also. There is legislation that controls plugs and sockets and that’s there for a reason.
"It’s there to protect the UK consumers and those that are in the EU. When these products are bought from outside of the EU it makes it very difficult for the regulatory authorities to do much about it."
This week Apple announced plans to run a type of amnesty reducing the price of their chargers if shoppers hand in a fake.
It comes after a woman in China was electrocuted and died using her phone while it was plugged in to a counterfeit charger.
The ESC has produced a 'Safe Shopping' guide which gives advice on what to look for when buying third party electrical goods. They advise checking the voltage and the packaging of the item.
Diego would 'love' Atletico return
Wolfsburg playmaker Diego has confessed that he would love to return to Atletico Madrid before the close of the summer transfer window.
The 28-year-old Brazilian has been repeatedly linked with a return to the Vicente Calderon, having enjoyed a season-long loan in the Spanish capital two years ago.
The Rojiblancos have yet to make a move for their former attacker but Diego admits he would relish the opportunity to team up with coach Diego Simeone once more.
The former Juventus man told COPE: "Everybody knows that Simeone and I have a special relationship. He is one of the best coaches in the world and it was a true pleasure working with him.
"Everybody knows the love I have for Atletico. I have a valuation and if they are not willing to pay that I must accept it.
"But at the moment I am only thinking about Wolfsburg and doing well for them."
Diego, whose current deal expires next summer, netted three times in 30 appearances throughout his year-long stay with the capital club.
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