If you like to save money and don’t mind getting a little down-and-dirty to do so then visiting your local auto recycling yard is a great way to keep your old junk car running better and longer! Don’t fall into the trap of forking out thousands for a new car because your old one has a few bumps and bruises. If you have a local auto junk yard that is trustworthy they can extend the life of your old car by many years and at a much lower price than buying or leasing a new car.

Make sure to bring your own tools and look for a junk yard that offers a self service section because those are where the best deals are had. One of our local auto recyclers even has a ‘free parts day’ a few times every year and you pay one flat fee ($49.95) and you can leave with all the parts you can carry! Now that is a sweet deal and by saving money on my car it allows me to take at least one extra vacation every year. Ask around your local area and find out if there is a good junk yard nearby.

It took us a while, but we have finally realized what’s going on: tuning companies are overstocked with Butt Ugly. They didn’t ration their supply properly, now they’ve got unused cases of Butt Ugly lying around, stinking up the place. That’s why we’ve been assaulted with all these steaming piles lately — because 2010 Butt Ugly will be shipping soon, so all this 2009 Butt Ugly has got to go go go!

And that’s the best explanation we can come up with for this, the FAB Design Full Broadside Porsche Panamera. The “extrovert Wide Bodykit” is fashioned entirely from carbon fiber, not that it helps any. If we have anything nice to say, it’s that we don’t mind the wheels or three trapezoidal exhaust tips. Nor do we mind the upgraded engine doing 690 hp. But that wrapping… oh, the humanity…

Turns out that the Honda P-NUT is not some sort of twist on the UX-3 unicycle thing we saw in Tokyo recently. Instead, the concept vehicle is a three-seat thing enclosed in lots of glass and angular lines. Honda says the P-NUT is ready for one of three possible powertrains: an efficient gas engine, a gas-electric hybrid, or a pure electric set up. There’s not a whole lot of room for any of these powerplants up front because the driver’s leg room extends almost all the way to the front of the concept. Good thing the power source is intended to be mounted in the rear.

Let’s be clear, this is a pure concept car. There are no side mirrors (but there is a back-up camera). Bumpers? Bah, Honda barely put headlights on this thing. Still, the Honda ‘Personal-Neo Urban Transport’ could make for a pretty sweet ride through a city, with lots of sight lines for the three inhabitants (a driver in the front middle, two passengers arranged behind and to either side) to see out of.

Mini brought its birthday presents to itself out to the LA Auto Show for their North American debut today. The Cambden and Mayfair were there, but we spent a lot more time ogling the Coupe and Roadster. As you may recall, Mini created these two sports cars to celebrate its 50th anniversary and showed them off alongside the two special edition Coopers at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The changes are slightly less obvious on the open-top roadster, but you can definitely see that there’s no back seat and the windshield is laid back a claimed 16 degrees over the standard Cooper. The backwards baseball cap on the coupe is a bit odd looking in pics and the real world view doesn’t do much to change that impression.

None of the display vehicles sported any detail changes but it was still fun to see all of them packed into a booth the size of Toyota’s Venza section. Ian Robertson of BMW did share a few more details about the future of MINI, with the “R60″ 4-door-4-liter-4wd about to get a real name and even more models in the works. For now we have the Coopers and Clubmen and the coupe and roadster to keep us happy. Check out the gallery below.