Wheelies: The Eye Candy Edition Judging from Detroit's Autorama, the hot rod show that wrapped up over the weekend at Cobo Center, the state of the auto enthusiast is excellent. At least that's the conclusion of Autoweek, using traffic around the center and ticket lines as barometers. Honored as the best hot rod in the show was a 1940 Ford coupe owned by Ron Cizek. The car, painted in Checkered Past red, was built at Cal Automotive Creations in Omaha. The engine is a Ford flathead with Offenhauser heads and a GMC 4-71 blower. Autoweek Too busy flying around to take time to shop for a car? No problem, says Spring Airlines of China. Soon passengers on flights from Shanghai will be able to buy Chinese-branded automobiles, Bloomberg News reports. Flight attendants will be trained on the car details, and passengers may be eligible for discounts. Bloomberg News The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has closed its four-year investigation into claims that 1.56 million Ford S.U.V."s were at risk of rolling away, without ordering a recall. The safety agency had been investigating complaints about 2002-5 Ford Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers and 2003-5 Lincoln Aviators. In the investigation, which began in April 2009, N.H.T.S.A. found 180 complaints of vehicles rolling away after they were shifted into park, resulting in 14 crashes and six injuries. The reported injuries were termed minor. The Detroit News Nissan has replaced the executive overseeing its electric-car program. The company's chief operating officer, Toshiyuki Shiga, will have responsibility for Nissan's zero-emission-vehicle planning and strategy, as well as production of batteries for such cars. The former head of that division, Hideaki Watanabe, is being moved to a Nissan-affiliated supplier.