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Trump to meet with CEOs from Ford, GM, and FCA

In the wake of his inauguration, President Donald Trump is set to meet with the CEOs of Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Tuesday morning to discuss jobs, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and potential tax cuts. Trump has been highly critical of American automakers for shipping jobs to Mexico and has threatened to impose heavy import fees on foreign-made vehicles. Trump has threatened to dissolve NAFTA in order to encourage automakers to manufacture cars in the US. Automotive News and Crain's Detroit Business are reporting that the group is set to discuss how to bring more auto industry jobs back to the US. Under NAFTA, many automakers, both foreign and domestic, have moved vehicle production out of the States to Mexico in order to cut costs. White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said Trump is looking forward to the meeting and discussing how to bring jobs back to America. Dismantling NAFTA would be a major blow to automakers. Trump blasted Ford during his campaign for manufacturing in Mexico, but FCA and GM also have factories south of the border. Earlier this month, Ford nixed plans for a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico, instead investing $700 million into an existing facility. At this year's Detroit Auto Show, the unspoken theme was America and American manufacturing. Expect the automakers to fight to keep NAFTA alive. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News - sub. req., Twitter Government/Legal Plants/Manufacturing Fiat Ford GM FCA Mexico NAFTA

Fiat Panda by M-Sport a one-of-a-kind rally car

English racing and engineering firm M-Sport is probably best known for the Bentley Continental GT3 endurance racer and the Ford Fiesta R5 customer rally car. Since building the first of 294 Fiesta R5 Mk. I cars in 2013, the fleet of pint-sized competitors has won a total of more than 950 races. So when a longstanding M-Sport customer asked the company to do something special with a clapped-out, 1990s-era Fiat Panda that would retain the car's Panda-ness but also make it a stonking rally car, M-Sport decided to combine the Italian with the Anglo-American. The result is the Panda by M-Sport, a widened Panda bodyshell lowered atop a Fiesta R5 chassis and engine. Otherwise known as Panda'monium. Or Pandiesta, if you're tipsy. Just fitting the skinny Fiat over the tube-frame chassis meant widening the Panda's body shell by 14.2 inches; that slick grille is actually made of two Panda grilles to gain the required width. That surgery helps maintain the original Panda's silhouette, but more was needed to slide the Fiesta's wider track underneath. More latitudinal stretch was provided by the box-section wheel arches that, up front, flow into a front bumper that is half snowplow. In the longitudinal direction, the Pandiesta's wheelbase is 12.6 inches longer than that of the stock Panda. The Ford's 1.6-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder lives under the hood. It sends nearly 300 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque to four Pirelli P Zeros through a five-speed sequential transmission and two custom differentials. The new rear diffuser and single, central exhaust convey the seriousness of the endeavor. Hand-embossed lettering spells "PANDA 4x4" on the rear hatch in case anyone has questions about this having as much capability as the standard Panda 4x4. The interior is all Fiesta R5 save for the Panda-mimicking instrument panel and the co-driver's footrest. The latter is also inscribed with the word "PANDA." Despite the license plate, there's no question of street legality here, or rather illegality. M-Sport says the Panda'monium is ready to do any special stage on tarmac or gravel. Seems this is also the car that launches a new division for customer creations called MS-SV, which is M-Sport Special Vehicles. You can watch M-Sport owner Malcom Wilson take you on tour of the Panda by M-Sport in the video at top, and check out what the finished product can do on a track here.  Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party.

Junkyard Gem: 1975 Fiat 124 Sport Spider

Fiat sold the two-seat convertible version of the 124, the Sport Spider, in North America from the 1968 through 1982 model years. After that, Pininfarina continued to build and sell the 124 Sport Spider through 1985. Like the similarly cheap and fun MGB, plenty of these cars were sold, and huge numbers remain in back yards, garages, and driveways across the continent. Those unfinished projects continue to get evicted, which means I see a good half-dozen discarded 124 Sport Spiders in junkyards every year, about the same quantity now as you'd have seen 30 years ago. Here's a once-snazzy tan '75, spotted in Denver. Fiats became somewhat mainstream in the United States during the early 1970s, with the extremely cheap 128 stealing plenty of Beetle and (a bit later) Civic sales. The 124 Sport Spider competed directly against the MGB, and both types once served as commonplace daily drivers all over the country. In 1975, the 124 Sport Spider cost $4,703 ($23,140 today) and had 86 horsepower to move its 2,320 pounds. Meanwhile, the MGB cost $4,249 and weighed just 2,287 pounds … but was issued a mere 62.5 horses by British Leyland. The Fiat Twin Cam DOHC straight-four was decades more modern than the MGB's elderly (but quite sturdy) pushrod BMC B engine. If this is the original engine, it displaced 1,756cc. There's enough rust to scare off would-be restorers, but this car could have been put back on the street at fairly low cost. Naturally, I brought a vintage Italian film camera — a Bencini Comet II, circa 1951 — to photograph this vintage Italian car. You can tell a sports car owner is serious when you see studded snow tires on the car. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The car so good, it made you hallucinate romantic drives with Rolls-Royce owners. Featured Gallery Junked 1975 Fiat 124 Sport Spider View 17 Photos Auto News Fiat Automotive History Convertible fiat 124 Junkyard Gems