Free Republic

he Portugese Navy has confirmed this morning that one of its patrol boats came to the aid of the Felicity Ace, a car carrier transiting the Atlantic Ocean, as reported by the Washington Post. The vessel transmitted a distress signal after fire broke out in one of the cargo decks, with the ship announced as "not under command" shortly afterwards. Thankfully, the 22 crew on board have been reported as successfully evacuated from the ship. The Felicity Ace had departed from the port in Emden, Germany on February 10, believed to be carrying vehicles from Porsche and other Volkswagen Auto...

Brands attempt to move upmarket all the time, but few succeed to the degree Lexus did with its first luxury car. I was 9 years old when my father traded in his 1988 Saab 900 Turbo for a new 1991 LS 400. I would invite my fourth-grade classmates over to the house and ask my dad to start the car—you could not believe it was actually running unless you looked at the eerie “ghost” dials. The Lexus was silent. It seemed so soft, so fast and quiet, that it was all that much more unbelievable when I told my friends...