Auto News 5

It's amazing how quickly the Lexus LX570 has aged. When this monster SUV debuted for the 2008 model year, it felt ridiculously fast, very comfortable, and seemed enormous. In 2011, the LX570 feels much older than it should because of the myriad buttons, knobs, and levers to control the various suspension, 4wd, climate control, and audio systems. For the most part the array of controls is explained well with illustrations of each individual switch's function, but the sheer number of things that can be adjusted is a bit intimidating. Land Rover does a much better job of batching the various 4wd settings together with a clear icon to explain the terrain that matches the system's setting. Even Jeep has made this pretty clear with the Grand Cherokee.

Wrong place at the wrong time -- that was Gene Winfield's problem. Sixty years ago, when the custom car was being defined, the big-name builders who got all the ink were guys like the Alexander Brothers in Detroit, Joe Bailon in the Bay Area, and L.A.-based George Barris, the showman who dominated the Southern California magazines that brought hot-rodding to the rest of the country. Meanwhile, Winfield labored in obscurity in the sleepy farm town of Modesto, California, chopping tops and channeling hoods in a chicken coop behind his mother's house.