BMW fanatic wants to take his car beyond the grave with him

the dead are becoming more and more famous here on Topspeed, and it’s not because of reasons you might think. After featuring a young Puerto Rican and the rather unusual way he was displayed at his wake, we now have another dead car-loving fanatic who still wants to remind people just how much he loves cars even after he has passed on.

Steve Marsh, who was affectionately called BMW Steve by those close to him, passed on last year at the age of 51. We don’t know if he specifically wanted this type of tombstone on his grave, but his family, after being granted permission by the local authorities, went out and imported a one-piece granite scale model headstone of a BMW M3 convertible, BMW Steve’s favorite car in the world. And just to make sure that the granite M3 has BMW Steve’s imprint on it, his family personally designed the car, including the customized silver-painted lights, a dashboard, BMW logos on the wheels, and even a personalized license plate bearing the name ’Steve 1’.

And the cost of the car? That would be £50,000, which, if you didn’t know, is about the same price as a real BMW M3.

Photo credits: Peter Lawson

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AutoWeek picks CTS-V Coupe and Grand Cherokee as Best of the Best for 2011

Nearly everyone else in the entire world may already have spouted off various year-end lists, but Autoworker waited for the 2010 dust to settle before announcing its Best of the Best 2011 car and truck award winners. The 2011 Cadillac CATS-V Coupe and the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee took home the respective top spots.
Rounding out Auto-week magazine's top five cars were the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Ford Fiesta, BMW 5 Series and the Audi A8. The rest of the top trucks included the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, Porsche Cayenne and Honda Odyssey. The Cadillac and the Jeep edged out the rest of the competition in categories such as ride quality, handling, exterior and interior design and fun. Feel free to hit the jump for the official press release.

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Fitting Retirement: Grand Marquis last Mercury off the line.

The signs have come down and retail production ended back in October of 2010. Now, the very last Mercurymodel has rolled off the assembly line. This last Mercury somewhat fittingly takes the form of a Grand Marquis reporting for fleet duty. It was built at the St. Thomas plant in Ontario, Canada, which is the same facility that continues to produce the Ford Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car for fleet and livery duty.
St. Thomas’ days are numbered, however, as the factory is slated to close on August 31. When it goes, thePanther platform is likely to follow. So long, and thanks for all the fish memories.

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Fiat will rebadge Dodge Journey in Europe..

Chrysler Group will stop selling the Dodge Journey in Europe and will instead market the crossover with a Fiat badge, Fiat sources said.The Fiat version of the Journey will be called the Freemont, the sources said.The Freemont is a key part of Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's plan to cut development costs and boost capacity utilization at the automakers' factories by cross selling vehicles from Fiat group and Chrysler group brands.The Freemont will be a rebadged version of the revamped Dodge Journey unveiled at the Los Angeles auto show in November. The Journey was given minor exterior...

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2011 Lamborghini Gallardo by Tecnocraft.

What happens when an American tuner unleashes a whole lot of carbon fiber on an unsuspecting Italian supercar? Well, for once, disaster does not ensue. Typically, we don’t recommend anyone messing with a beauty such as the Lamborghini Gallardo, but this package by Tecnocraft is worth every penny.

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