Automotive News

This 1963 GMC K1000 and 1960 Shasta Camper Package Is Vintage Overlanding Done Right

Somewhere between the $400,000 resto-mod builds and the rusty barn finds that need everything, there’s a sweet spot. A restored 1963 GMC K1000 4×4, a matching 1960 Shasta Compact camper trailer, and a bespoke aluminum camper shell are selling as a three-piece set on Hemmings. The package looks like it rolled off a curated Instagram feed, except someone actually built these to use. The truck underwent a nut-and-bolt restoration with a specific philosophy: look factory, drive modern. The rebuilt 283 cubic-inch V8 pairs with a Novak SM420 four-speed transmission and NP205 transfer case. Four-wheel disc brakes with hydroboost replaced the original drums. PSC power steering replaced the arm workout. The paint references GMC’s original Pearl Grey code, and unless you

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The Weekly Driver Launches Free Engine Reliability Database Backed by 1.5 Million Federal Complaints

The Weekly Driver has launched a free engine-specific reliability database covering 4,553 engines across 50 brands, built entirely from 1,508,163 federal safety complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It is live now and open to anyone shopping for a used car. No subscription, no manufacturer sponsorship, no paywall. What separates this tool from existing reliability resources is specificity. Consumer Reports and J.D. Power rate vehicles by model; this rates them by engine. That distinction matters more than most buyers realize. Take the Ford F-150 from 2009 to 2014. The generation accumulated 26,884 NHTSA complaints. Sounds terrible. But the 5.0L V8 in that same truck? Sixty-six complaints total. Rated “Recommended.” The EcoBoost variants drove the overwhelming majority of

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EV Ownership in 2026: Ranking All 50 States + DC

Updated May 2026. Refreshed with EIA February 2026 electricity rates, AFDC May 2026 charging infrastructure data, and Alliance for Automotive Innovation Q3-Q4 2025 EV registration data. Several state incentive programs have contracted since this article was first published in January 2026, including Washington (sales tax exemption expired July 2025), Vermont (Replace Your Ride defunded), Minnesota (rebate program closed), Oregon (rebates suspended), and Maryland (FY2026 funding exhausted). Per-state writeups reflect program status as of the refresh date. One in three new vehicles sold in Colorado last quarter was electric. In Wyoming, fewer than 800 EVs exist statewide. Same country, same year, radically different realities. The American EV market fractured in 2025. The federal tax credit died on September 30. Ford announced

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LG Reveals AI Windshield and Gaze-Tracking Tech at CES 2026

LG Electronics will showcase AI-powered in-vehicle technology at CES 2026 in January, featuring transparent OLED windshields displaying contextual information, cameras tracking eye movements and gestures, and systems designed to anticipate passenger needs before explicit requests. The suite won CES 2026’s Best of Innovation Award in In-Vehicle Entertainment, marking the first time LG Vehicle Solution Company has claimed the category’s top prize. The technology demonstrations deliver immediate impact: windshields displaying cherry blossoms floating past during autonomous driving, cameras detecting when passengers glance at building advertisements to instantly surface product information, AI systems retrieving old photos when the vehicle passes locations tied to stored memories. Here’s the part that matters: LG doesn’t build cars. They build components that automakers might integrate years

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Ford Discontinues the F-150 Lightning, 700-Mile EREV Replacement Coming

Ford built the F-150 Lightning for three years, delivering approximately 63,000 trucks across three model years despite planning production capacity for 150,000 units annually. Originally promised at $40,000, the vehicles ultimately sold for $70,000, creating a pricing gap that fundamentally undermined the business case. Production ended December 2025 after Ford‘s Model e division accumulated $3.6 billion in losses through September. CEO Jim Farley addressed the reality directly: “These really expensive $70,000 electric trucks, as much as I love the product, they didn’t make sense.” The replacement arrives as an EREV, Extended-Range Electric Vehicle, Ford‘s terminology for a plug-in hybrid combining larger battery capacity with a gas generator to extend total range beyond 700 miles. The all-electric F-150 experiment concludes. What

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Wisk Aero’s Autonomous Air Taxi Flew, But $2 Billion Question Remains

On December 16, 2025, a four-seat electric aircraft lifted off autonomously at Wisk Aero’s test facility in Hollister, California. The Generation 6 aircraft hovered, maneuvered through stabilized flight sequences, and returned to the ground. No pilot aboard. No remote control from the ground beyond supervisory monitoring. This marks Wisk’s first flight of the aircraft they plan to certify for commercial passenger service by 2030. The company, wholly owned by Boeing, positions the Generation 6 as the first-ever candidate for FAA-certified autonomous commercial passenger flight in the United States. First flights represent critical early milestones in aircraft development while simultaneously representing the easiest phase of a process stretching years and costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Wisk completed the straightforward portion. The challenging

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How to Set Up Your 2025 RAM ProMaster 2500 for Work: Shelving, Tie-Downs & Upfit Guide

A flooring contractor with 30 years in the trade calls the ProMaster “by far the best vehicle I’ve had for work.” A mobile mechanic who has run every type of van over four decades says nothing matches it for cargo access. A plumber at 6’3″ walks the center aisle without ducking. These aren’t marketing claims. They come from owners who load these vans heavy, six days a week. The ProMaster’s advantage is structural: front-wheel drive eliminates the driveshaft tunnel, so the cargo floor is flat from wall to wall. The 21-inch load floor sits seven inches lower than the Ford Transit’s. The 75-inch interior width fits standard pallet racking. These dimensions shape every upfit decision, from shelf depth to partition

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NVIDIA and Uber Partner with Stellantis, Lucid, and Mercedes-Benz to Deploy 100,000 Level 4 Autonomous Vehicles Starting 2027

The autonomous vehicle industry reached a major inflection point this week when NVIDIA and Uber announced an expansive partnership to deploy 100,000 SAE Level 4-capable robotaxis and delivery vehicles beginning in 2027. The collaboration, unveiled by NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang at the company’s 2025 Global Technology Conference in Washington, D.C., represents the most ambitious autonomous vehicle deployment plan announced to date and signals a fundamental shift in how the world will experience mobility. At the heart of this transformation lies NVIDIA’s new DRIVE AGX Hyperion 10 platform, a reference production architecture that the company claims can make any vehicle Level 4-ready. The system features two DRIVE AGX Thor system-on-chips built on NVIDIA’s Blackwell architecture, each delivering more than

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The 2025 Hemmings Motor Club Rally: Paso Robles Returns for an Encore Drive Through California’s Wine Country

E-Book PDF: Open in New Window | Download (804.3KB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | MoreThe Hemmings Motor Club Rally: Paso Robles returns for its second edition October 24-26, 2025, bringing enthusiasts from both ends of California together for three days of back road driving, poolside gatherings, and the kind of automotive camaraderie that makes the hobby worthwhile. The car collector car community has a fresh opportunity to celebrate what these machines were built for: driving. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for The Weekly Driver to grab one of its own collector cars and join in on the rally to Paso. The timing of the rally coincides with Paso Robles’ most energetic season. Harvest typically runs from late September through

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Why Are My Tires Turning Brown?

If you’ve ever wondered what causes tires to turn brown – the science has a few nuances. Tires that gradually shift from deep black to dull chocolate-brown are not failing, they are “blooming.” Brown sidewalls are produced when protective antiozonant chemicals inside the rubber migrate to the surface and oxidize. Although visually unappealing, blooming shows the tire’s self-preservation system is working. Consistent cleaning, dedicated rubber cleaners, and modern water-based dressings keep sidewalls dark while avoiding sling or long-term damage. The Science of Tire “Bloom”: Antiozonants and 6PPD Manufacturers blend antiozonants, most commonly N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N’-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD), into sidewall compounds to fight ozone cracks and UV degradation. As a tire flexes, microscopic pores open, allowing 6PPD to migrate (“bloom”) to the surface where

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