Ford’s marquee Mustang of the mid-1960s came in Dynasty Green, Skylight Blue, and Wimbleton White. Interior leather and convertible tops offered respite from single tone body hues, and the garages of daily drivers were festooned in colors like Yosemite Yellow and Cote D’Azure Blue.

It was an auto industry where style ruled and color was king.

Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle (the new Beetle, not the New Beetle) are down this year, down 7,600 units on the year as compared to last year. We probably can’t blame the car – VW sales overall are down almost 33,000 this year, so it’s not only the Beetle that is suffering. No VW model has sold better in 2014 than it did in 2013.

SEMA’s Washington, D.C., staff has reminded us that California Legacy License Plates are available for pre-order, and that without sufficient orders the program may be truncated.

Into the void left by the disappearance of the Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari small vans have come the Ford Transit Connect and Nissan NV200 van. Now Toyota wants a piece of that market, gauging interest with a distinctive concept van that, with its retractable roof section, reminds us of the Studebaker Wagonaire of 50 years ago.

At the end of 2015, the Chevrolet brand will no longer be available. But before you lump Chevrolet in with Pontiac and Oldsmobile and Mercury and Plymouth, understand that this piece of news applies only to Europe.

Somewhere along the way, and far more recently than one would imagine, traffic regulations became commonplace. Stop at traffic lights and stop signs, do not exceed speed limits, keep to one side of the road. It all made sense, except for one tiny question – which side?

When BMW’s version of the MINI Cooper landed in the states more than a decade ago, it was a minor revolution. Sure, the automotive industry has always had a knack for churning out retro flavor-of-the-week cars that sell almost entirely on nostalgia and design. But if you can think that far back in the American Mini’s past, you’ll remember it was so much more than that.

Believe me when I say I wanted to write a lovely little news bite about the 25th anniversary of the Mazda Miata, and the reveal of the fourth generation Miata MX5. But I can’t do it- mainly because there isn’t much to say. Perhaps unfairly this article has very little to do with the car – unfortunately, just like its reveal.

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is the Holy Grail of car shows. Anyone can attend, however; at least, anyone with sufficient funds and free time to purchase a ticket and travel to the event. In other words, not me — until this year.