Cars

Philadelphia police will soon be getting a new tool to use against scofflaws and uninsured drivers. The Club. A bill signed into law by Gov. Ridge last week allows the police to immobilize the vehicles of drivers who cannot prove they have insurance, valid registration or a driver's license. Ditto for scofflaws who owe more than $250 in traffic fines. Under the law, mandatory for Philadelphia and optional elsewhere, the driver would have 24 hours to bring in the required documents or settle outstanding fines.

When the phone began to ring off the hook in Paul B. Bartle's office first thing Monday morning, he knew it was time to have The Meeting. The meeting was with Michael D. Marino. It lasted 10 minutes. When it was over, Bartle, the chairman of the Montgomery County commissioners, and Marino, the Montgomery County district attorney, had reached what Bartle and Marino called an "agreement. " According to Bartle and Marino, Marino and five top assistant district attorneys would immediately stop using cars confiscated from drug dealers for personal use. "I talked with him this morning, and he indicated that there was going to be no more usage of those confiscated vehicles except in drug busts," Bartle said in an informal news conference Monday.

Drew Barrymore is a cupcake with smeared frosting. Irresistible, if not exactly fortified with nutritional value. As Beverly Donofrio, the spirited daughter of the '60s - and of strict Roman Catholic parents - in Riding in Cars With Boys, Barrymore almost single-handedly keeps Penny Marshall's misshapen film about the truth and consequences of unplanned motherhood from falling into crumbs. Based on the memoir of the real-life Donofrio, herself a mother at 15, Cars frankly engages issues that rarely make it to movies.

Monte, 9, is intrigued by anything to do with cars or motorcycles and he is an avid fan of car shows on television. He also has many other interests, including swimming, biking, video games, and puzzles. Soccer is a favorite sport, which he plays at school during recess, and he would like to be on a team some day soon. But most of all, Monte loves pets, especially dogs. A friendly child, he gets along well with others. He is highly intelligent and verbally expresses himself in a mature manner.

As the Philadelphia Parking Authority's auctioneer barks his patter today, he'll be making a tiny bit of history. Among the 130 or so vehicles scheduled for auction are about 30 from drivers who were motoring the city streets without valid licenses or registrations. Pulled over in routine police stops, the owners failed to produce the required paperwork. Instead of giving a ticket to the offenders, as they have in the past, the cops now have Parking Authority tow trucks haul the cars away.

If you're among the thousands of drivers whose cars get stolen every year from the streets of Philadelphia, the odds on recovering your vehicle are good - seven out of 10 stolen autos are found and returned to their owners, according to city police. But if you've had the experience, you might wish your car had disappeared forever. Typically, the police call to say your car has been found and direct you to an unfamiliar, and frequently run-down, neighborhood. There you find what's left of your vehicle - often stripped of wheels, radio, battery and most anything else of value.

We talk a lot about guarding our privacy. We're outraged when we read about an Internet hacker. We scream about telemarketers' interfering in our family life. We fear that someone will steal our credit-card numbers. We concern ourselves regarding our medical records. We close our doors, shut our drapes. Most of us know few if any of our neighbors. On the other hand, by simply looking at the outside of people's cars, we can learn a good bit about them. Cars are more than transportation.

What horse thieves were to the Old West, Porsche thieves are to the new - or so the vapidly stylish L.A. thriller No Man's Land tries to persuade. Most of its hot-wired action takes place in an automotive "chop shop," where stolen cars are dismantled and the parts are used on other bodies, which are freshly painted and sold as new. D. B. Sweeney, the recruit in Gardens of Stone, plays Benjy Taylor, a young cop assigned to work undercover at the chop shop in order to investigate the killing of a policeman there.

Americans visiting new-car showrooms in the fall of 1995 could see a new window label disclosing any significant foreign content of the vehicles they see. The labels, opposed by foreign automakers, are the result of a victory in Congress this week for the controversial "Buy American" movement. Rep. Bob Carr (D., Mich.) negotiated a compromise vehicle-labeling bill with the Big Three U.S. automakers and the United Auto Workers. It was put into a transportation spending bill expected to be approved next week and signed into law by President Bush.

The people who bring you the Philadelphia Auto Show bill it as 630,000 square feet of horsepower. Others might call it 15-plus acres of new-car smell, and nary a salesman asking "What kind of payment are you looking to get into?" Whichever way it's geared, it's still Christmas in January to The Artist Formerly Known as Mr. Driver's Seat, and to fellow car nuts like me. And this year it comes a week earlier than usual. Opening 9 a.m. Saturday at the Convention Center in its 112th incarnation, the annual celebration of all that steers and has gears is aiming for more, well, bang is not a good word for things automotive, but certainly more for your buck.