Auto News 5

The federal government has released its list of the new cars most often purchased under the Cash for Clunkers program, and the "clunkers" most often traded in. In the first month of the program (July 1st through August 5th), the Ford Explorer was the most-junked vehicle, while the Toyota Corolla topped the list of government-subsidized new-car purchases.

"Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell technology has advanced rapidly over the last two years," said Irv Miller, Toyota group vice president, environmental and public affairs. "In 2015, our plan is to bring to market a reliable and durable fuel cell vehicle with exceptional fuel economy and zero emissions, at an affordable price."

It's over now, but for seventy-five years the archetypical American automobile was a fairly simple machine, neither big nor small, about fifteen or sixteen feet long, with a V-8 engine driving a solid rear axle. The most significant contributors to creating that essential description were the 1932 Ford and the 1955 Chevrolet. More than 100 million derivatives of those cars' two V-8s have been built in the past seventy-seven years, and they inspired others to adopt the V-8. Even as our industry collapses and "green" ideologues dream of electric shopping-cart cars, we know there will be vestiges of those seminal cars for decades to come.