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2018 L.A. Auto Show: 5-plus takeaways on Jeep, Honda, Porsche and more

The 2018 L.A. Auto Show is making a strong case that auto shows aren't dead. Carmakers are ladling out sports cars and SUVs featuring serious style and performance in Los Angeles, and it's a feast for the senses. We're talking the new Porsche 911, the long-awaited Jeep Gladiator and the stylish Mazda3. It's the best car show with the most important reveals since the 2018 Detroit Auto Show kicked off the year. Here are some quick reactions: The 2019 Jeep Gladiator is a rock star When the story went live on Autoblog, our traffic went straight up. I've literally never seen the graph go straight up. So yeah, you guys seem to like it. I do, too. It's everything I want in a vehicle, including enough of a retro feel that it satisfies my cravings for an old Cherokee XJ. It's more capable and likely more expensive than I originally anticipated, but Jeep is going to have to expand its Toledo factory to keep up with demand. Don't be fooled by whatever the politicians say when that happens. It's because people like Jeeps and pickups, and this is the hero sandwich of all of that. I'd likely go with the 3.6-liter and a manual transmission if I were buying a Gladiator, but the diesel is compelling, too. Gladiator is a great name, drenched in history. I like it better than Scrambler, which never felt right to me. Only issue: It's a little over-the-top. Imagine this conversation: "So, ready to go to Panera?" "Sure, let's take the Gladiator." I mean, it's a bit much to refer to your personal vehicle as the Gladiator. Unless Russell Crowe is driving it. Then it's fine. The 2020 Porsche 911 is conservatively brilliant Every time I drive a 718 Cayman, Jaguar F-Type or another 911 challenger, I wonder if the 911 may be over the hill. It's not. And it likely never will be. This latest generation, dubbed 992 in Porsche-speak, stayed the course. The back takes some Mission E stylings that give the 911 a more modern feel. The flat six gets a little more power. The digital-heavy interior looks futuristic and slick. But overall, it's a blocking-and-tackling update that should satisfy the purists and maybe draw in a few new Porsche fans. It's the right time for the 2019 Honda Passport This slots between the Honda CR-V and the Honda Pilot. That's serious segmentation, but it's another crossover, and it's undoubtedly what the people want.

Ford announces fix for 2021 Expedition and Lincoln Navigator fires

In the middle of May, Ford announced a recall of around 39,000 Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators from the 2021 model year due to fires starting under the hoods of the SUVs. At the time, Ford had received 16 incident reports, 14 of them happening with rental vehicles. The automaker cautioned owners to park their vehicles outside and away from structures while engineers figured out what was happening and how to fix the problem. Since that May announcement, five more fires have been reported, four of them rental vehicles, and there's been one burn injury. The company announced it understands the problem and has a fix, at the same time widening the scope of potentially affected vehicles. Instead of recalling 39,013 units built between December 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021, the recall now includes 66,221 vehicles assembled from July 27, 2020, to Aug. 31, 2021. The suspected culprit is a circuit board provided by a supplier that changed manufacturing location during the pandemic. Ford's press release on the matter stated that "circuit boards produced at this facility are uniquely susceptible to a high-current short." The affected vehicles are fitted with either an 800-watt or 700-watt cooling fan system. About a third of the recalled population are fitted with the former, and should get a quick fix at the dealer. On these SUVs, techs will inspect the battery junction box. If they find evidence of melting, they'll replace the whole box. If not, they'll simply remove the engine fan ground wire that runs to the battery junction box; since this ground relay is redundant, the change doesn't alter operation of the fans.  Owners with the 700-watt system might need to wait until September for a fix. These vehicles need an auxiliary relay box with a wire jumper, but the parts aren't available now.   Ford's notifying all owners via the FordPass app, and will follow up with owners of the 700-watt cooling system once the parts are in stock. Until their vehicles are fixed, Ford says the SUVs are safe to drive but that they should still be parked outside and away from structures. The somewhat mixed messaging — 'Yes, your cars are safe to drive, but they could catch fire so don't park them near anything flammable' — encouraged a group of owners to file suit against Ford. Owners with questions can contact Ford customer service at 866-436-7332 and reference recall No. 22S36.

2023 Grand National Roadster Show Mega Photo Gallery | Hot rod heaven

POMONA, Calif. — From an outsider's perspective, it would be easy to assume that the Grand National Roadster Show has always been a Southern California institution. After all, it celebrates the diverse postwar car culture of the region — hot rods, lead sleds, lowriders, and more. However, the show had its roots in NorCal in 1950 when Al Slonaker and his hot rod club showed their custom cars at the Oakland Expo. The GNRS moved to Pomona, California, in 2004. By then it had grown exponentially and seen about a dozen more car customization trends come and go. However, the show and its centerpiece award, the America's Most Beautiful Roadster prize, celebrate what is perhaps the first of those trends: the American hot rod in its purest form. Today, in its 73rd year, the GNRS is the oldest indoor car show in America. Annually it welcomes 500-800 cars, gathered into special themes like Tri-Five Chevys or Volkswagen Bugs. At this year's show, which was last weekend, a special hall was dedicated to pickup trucks built between 1948-98, including mini-trucks, groovy camper bed conversions, and resto-mods.  However, of all the vehicles presented, only nine are eligible for the America's Most Beautiful Roadster award. Winners get their names engraved on a 9-foot-tall perpetual trophy that was, according to The Ultimate Hot Rod Dictionary, the largest in the world when it debuted in 1950. Slonaker chose the word "roadster" initially because "hot rod" bore slightly negative outlaw connotations in 1950. Only American cars built before 1937 of certain body styles — roadsters, roadster pickups, phaetons, touring cars — are eligible, and they cannot have roll-down side windows.  Cars in the running for the cup cannot have been shown anywhere else before their debut at the GNRS.  Contestants for this accolade essentially build their cars to the a platonic ideal of a hot rod. This year the honors went to Jack Chisenhall of San Antonio, Texas, for his "Champ Deuce," a 1932 Ford Roadster. It's exactly what you picture when you think of a hot rod, but distilled to its absolute essence.  Other standouts included "Green Eyes," a two-tone green 1959 Chevy El Camino  with a heavily metal-flaked bed, "Blue Monday," a 1964 Buick Riviera lowrider, and a personal favorite, "Purple Reign," a purple and black 1951 Mercury. Cars may have started out as tools, but there aren't shows like this filled with custom refrigerators.