I recently took part in the Tacheback campaign which helps to raise money and awareness for the Everyman male cancer charity by encouraging men (and perhaps women?) to grow a sponsored moustache for a month.

Feeling somewhat guilty about asking for money to merely grow a ‘tache’ while others are running half marathons and undertaking grueling treks up mountains, I decided that at the very least, I would publish regular photographs on the Tacheback site which would track my stubbly and then bristly progress, while laying myself open to a fair degree of ridicule.

Where am I going with this?

Well, as I played with the razor and reshaped my facial hair arrangement over the course of the month, I found that the results could be as dramatic, in terms of altering my appearance, as undergoing plastic surgery.

So when it comes to ‘facelifting’ cars at the mid-point in their life-cycles, could the manufacturers exercise a little more restraint, freshening the appearance of a model by mildly updating facial graphics rather than tugging and tucking skin?

Well, I think the Fiat Punto Evo may be one example of this. To me, this car, more than any other - appears moustachioed.

But if it’s a full-on goatee you’re after, SEAT’s Ibiza Cupra Bocanegra takes the crown. I put the hot hatch through its paces at the UK launch this week. Its very name translates as black mouth and that ‘bearded’ scowl distinguishes the Bocanegra from the rest of the Ibizas as the swarthy villain of the range.

If you can think of any other cars that look like they’re sporting whiskers, drop me a line and we’ll see if we can put together a top 10.

Lexus has confirmed plans to build the LFA supercar

Maybe it’s me, but don’t this year’s key exhibits at the Tokyo Motor Show just look so… clinical? Everything is either white, grey or silver, bendy, and fabricated using surplus pop art from Andy Warhol’s back garden. The show floor must feel about as warm as the space station in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’

It’s deliberate of course, the message is: technology and energy efficiency. Nissan Leaf (EV), Honda EV-N (EV), Nissan Land Glider (EV), Subaru Hybrid Tourer (hybrid), Mitsubishi iMiEV Cargo (EV.) You get the picture.

But with the Toyota FT-86, Honda CR-Z and Lexus LFA, Tokyo 2009 might also demonstrate that Japan is warming to desirable sports cars again. Reason enough to celebrate.  

The Trabant, old and new

If you’ve been in an original Mini or Beetle, you’ll know they share nothing with their modern namesakes.

Can’t say I’ve ever ridden in a Trabant, although they were everywhere when we visited the former DDR on a family holiday in the early ‘90s. News that a company is keen to revive this car initially left me scratching my head – after all, the minute the wall came down, ‘Easterners’ couldn’t wait to get their hands on ‘Western’ cars. Pity those poor souls who had just reached the top of the Trabant’s ten-year waiting list.

Should a Trabant rise from the grave, its appeal must surely be proximate. After all, despite the times millions of people will have some happy memories: their summer holiday in a Trabi; driving the pregnant wife to the hospital in the Trabi; weekends spent polishing the, erm, cardboard bodywork of the Trabi. And so on.

After all, who doesn’t look back at old pics and remember the life of a car fondly? Even if the car itself is perhaps best forgotten.  

Heikkilookalikei Legolainen

I watched the final, almost-everlasting episode of Lord of the Rings on telly the other night.

It’s great. I particularly like the bits about the Finnish F1 driver. It’s comforting to know that if McLaren-Mercedes gives him the boot, he can always sail off to the Grey Havens.