What a week it’s been here at BangShift! Between tons of live-feed, racing, car shows and more, we almost managed to forget about digging through the growing inbox of news clips and spats that are flowing in. Most of it goes into the circular file next in the bottom corner of the screen, of course, but there’s some interesting tidbits that we feel are worth dusting off and bringing to light. We blend the tastiest bits up, roast them a little and serve it up as our Scrapple! Enjoy!

1. Top Gear Vauxhall Astra on eBay

It has Corbeau racing seats, a rollcage, defeated airbags, and smells a little bit like celebrity and The Stig’s sweaty crack. The Vauxhall Astra that was the last “Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car” is currently up for grabs on eBay’s UK arm with a current price of £8,000. Your money will get you a 115 horsepower five-door hatchback that has seen harder use than a mining mule and will forever earn you “Some Say…” quotes while others will ask you if you have tracked the car around Dunsfold. Happy bidding!

2. Lincoln Continental Prices Announced

Photo: Ford Motor Company

Love it, hate it, don’t care…no matter your views on the Lincoln Continental, the truth is that this car will be Lincoln’s test to see if it can float or not, and Lincoln is pulling out the stops. Starting price: $45,485 for the front-wheel drive, 3.7L V6 powered low version. The far end, which includes all-wheel-drive, 400 horsepower model, a killer stereo and more, hangs near the $70,000 mark, and ticking option boxes can let it go even higher. With order banks open now, Lincoln is going to watch and wait to see who will buy in. If you miss old-school, comfort-first luxury, here it is.

3. Illinois Proposing Per-Mile Driving Tax.

For the sake of disclosure, I really..really…dislike the state of Illinois. Blame it on my time spent growing up in the very southern end of the state and watching whole regions of towns economically die off while the Chicago area acts like the entire population of the state suffers and suffers alike. Senator John Cullerton proposed the bill, the “Road Improvement and Driver Enhancement Act“, which would provide two options for motorists: either a transponder system inside of their vehicle or a flat, $450/year tax, which is equal to 30,000 miles driven. Care to guess why the senator wants this bill pushed through? Quoted by The Daily Herald: “The Prius owners are the reason we need the bill.” Way to go, Senator…piss off every possible section of the driving public by punishing everybody equally.

4. Like an Aston Martin wasn’t expensive enough…

James Bond has enjoyed the use of various Aston Martin road vehicles over the course of his duties, but when the super-spy isn’t power-sliding a car worth seven times what my house costs, shouldn’t he be playing just as hard as he works? Yes, he should, and Aston Martin once again is willing to step in. Meet the AM37, a partnership project with Quintessence Yachts. The preliminary photos look stunning and on the whole, it looks expensive…like therapy-inducing expensive. But when half of your workday is thwarting your own attempted murder, sometimes you need to indulge in the finer things in life.

5. Mustang versus…Porsche? 

Simply put, the Ford Mustang is doing wonderfully in Germany. Here’s all of the cars it outsold last month, according to new vehicle registration statistics: The Audi TT, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and the Porsche Cayman, Boxter and 911.

I say again: More people bought the Ford Mustang in Germany than the Porsche 911. That’s gotta hurt.