Cars

CLINTON -- A car fire in the middle of a Walmart parking lot caused a bit of unwanted attraction as firefighters worked to put out the flames, says Clinton Fire Chief Jason Poulsen.

"So many people stopped to see what was happening, it caused a crowd-control problem for a minute," Poulsen said.

Firefighters were called to Walmart, 632 N. 2000 West, at 4:10 p.m. Monday after a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle's engine caught fire.

OGDEN -- As many as four out of five car seats are installed or used incorrectly. The Weber-Morgan Health Department and Ogden Clinic will hold a free car seat checkpoint from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday at the Ogden Clinic, 4650 S. Harrison Blvd. For more information, call 801-399-7186.

CLEARFIELD -- In 1980, Brent Sanders bought a beat-up, 16-year-old Ford Mustang for $700, a hunting rifle and a .22 pistol.

"You should have seen the look on the face of the lady at the Motor Vehicles Department when she asked what I paid for it," Sanders said. "She decided to just put down the $700 and leave the rest off."

CENTERVILLE -- The city is preparing to upgrade its fleet of police cars by adding four new vehicles next year, and it is adding a new model of patrol car that is expected to be built to suit the demands of police work.

KAYSVILLE — A garage burned down when a man used a power drill to attempt to drain the fuel from a wrecked car Sunday.

The racier the car, the racier the hormones.

That's what research results say about some men when it comes to conspicuous spending and their desire for sexual dalliances.

The series of studies, "Peacocks, Porsches and Thorstein Veblen: Conspicuous Consumption as a Sexual Signaling System," was conducted with nearly 1,000 test subjects and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Veblen, an American economist and sociologist, popularized the term "conspicuous consumption" of the leisure class more than 100 years ago and pooh-poohed its contributi

Economic pressures of the last few years have pushed many consumers out of the new-car market in search of a cheaper alternative, which would be good news for used-car dealers, if only they could find enough cars to sell.