Fake Ferraris

Auto Week recently reported that police in Italy have broken up a ring of conterfeiters who built fake $30,000 Ferraris. Authorities confiscated 14 fake Ferrari Modena 360s. The ring built fake Ferrari bodies that were bolted onto Pontiac, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota chassis.

Bring it, tow it

Spring is here and so is towing season. Witness all of the folks out there hitching up boats, campers, horse trailers and other items. You name it, we do like to tow it. So, seek maximum visibility with extra towing mirrors, which help eliminate blind spots and make for safer turns, lane changes and passes. Visit Autoanything.com for a variety of towing mirror options.

How are those hybrids holding up?

You might expect hybrid cars to have serious reliability problems since they use a new and relatively unproven technology involving a gasoline engine, an electric motor and a high-tech battery pack, muses Yahoo Autos. But the hybrids seem to be holding up well so far, according to a Consumer Reports reliability survey. The first-generation Toyota Prius was among the most reliable in CR's survey, and the 2003 Civic Hybrid had outstanding reliability. CR does not have enough data on the Honda Insight hybrid to predict reliability.

MotorMouth blog: The language of cars spoken here

Are you a fan of vintage cars who likes to e-mail and blog with fellow classicists? Then check out the MotorMouth blog at www.startribune.com/blogs/classiccars. As Kris Palmer, who writes the blog and facilitates discussion, says about the blog, "To steal from Henry Ford's famous quip, we can talk about whatever you want as long as it's cars (bikes are OK too - the motorized ones)."