We're not quite sure how to handle this. Our nature is to mock and deride, but even we are forced to respect this project—although we're still weirded out by the sound of a Hells Angels rally coming from a race car though. [Sundoulos Sportstar]

Let's see if I can get all the right buzz words: Dodge - Mopar - Chrysler - SUV - Crossover - Journey - Crew - Chrome - Badge - Spy - Camouflage - Espionage - Automobilia - Collectible - Rare - Auto Show - Emblem - Press - Prototype - Test Car - Future Car ... And this auction is all of the above! This is another Brenda Priddy & Company Charity Auction: You pick the charity (from our list of suggested charities)! You pay the charity directly! Show proof of the payment and the "prize" is all yours! And in the world of automobilia - this is about as rare as it gets! Background: In September of this year, in Frankfurt, Germany, Dodge introduced the Journey - a new crossover / SUV vehicle - at the Frankfurt Motor Show. But up until shortly before the Frankfurt Motor Show, the name for the new Dodge was going to be "Crew". We can't tell you how many chrome name badges were produced for the "Crew" before they officially named it Journey - we've only seen one - and it's the one we have up for auction! Brand new and still stuck on a piece of clear plastic - this is a rare piece of modern Dodge history and we doubt you'll ever see another one - anywhere.

In addition to the chrome name badge, we also have the rear 'camouflage' from a Crew / Journey prototype. It is like-new with foam padding, mesh covers for over the lights, clear plastic which goes over the license plate and an industrial- strength zipper! You'll also get a Dodge Rubik's Cube that was given to the media / press at the Journey's Los Angeles introduction last month (at the L.A. Auto Show), and a 12-inch by 18-inch signed-photo of a Journey test vehicle (with the cover blowing away as engineers are attempting to put it on). (Please note: The photo is simply for your enjoyment, and not for publication anywhere.) If the winning bid is over $300, well add 2 hard-to-get/limited edition I-can't-tell-you-what-it-does-or-I'll-have-to-kill-you purple "espionage" writing pens from Brenda Priddy & Company (me). And if the bidding is over $500, the winning bidder will get an official "Brenda Priddy & Company" Espionage hat! And on top of all the goodies, we'll pay (of course) all the Ebay fees, and all we ask is that you pay $35 for shipping in the U.S. (The camouflage is heavy!). We'll cover any additional shipping charges, although we won't ship this package outside of the United States.

And you get to choose where the purchase price/money goes!! Here's the deal: Bid as usual (nah ... bid EXTRA high - it's for a good cause!) The winning bidder gets to make a donation directly (in the amount of the high/winning bid - or more) to one of the following charitable organizations by way of credit card or PayPal on the internet. (You make it - NOT me!!) Have the organization send me proof of the donation, plus a copy of the e-mail confirmation that they'll send you upon receiving the funds, your fingerprints and your first-born, and I'll happily send you all the goodies! Organizations to choose from: Make A Wish Foundation (http://www.wish.org/ ), American Heart Association ( http://www.americanheartassociation.com ), March of Dimes ( http://www.marchofdimes.com/ ), American Cancer Society ( http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp ), Fisher House ( http://www.fisherhouse.org/ ), Shriners Hospitals for Children ( http://www.shrinershq.org/ ). (Enough choices? Want to suggest another one?) Anyway ... that's it! Easy, isn't it ... and just think - you'll likely be the only one on your block priceless camouflage from a Dodge crossover and a (possibly one-of-a-kind) chrome nameplate / badge that will never be!! (And every last penny of the winning bid goes to a charity!) Go for it ... And let those engineers know that I'm not all that bad!! ... And thanks for reading the nearly 650 words!! Brenda Priddy ....... www.myspace.com/BrendaPriddy [eBay]

Our pals at Team Polizei have pledged $10,000 toward the creation of a fund to benefit the family of Vladimir and Margarita Cepuljoski, the couple who died after an accident involving Gumballers Nick Morley and Matthew McConville last week in Macedonia. Other ralliers have expressed interest in helping the Cepuljoskis' relatives after the tragedy, so the Polizei stepped up and are organizing just such an effort. Interested in helping out? click here to donate. – Davey G. Johnson

Cepuljoski Family Memorial Fund Launch [Team Polizei]

Related:
Fast as a Shark: East of Eden: The Fall of the Gumball 3000 [Internal]

In the tony environs of Los Angeles, there exists a secret society of trophy wives, fading actresses and other members of the scratching-for-the-middle set. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And it's not secret in the least. In fact, the The Rodeo Drive Committee of the City of Beverly Hills is a high-profile organization that does plenty of good, charitable works wholly unrelated to visiting day spas. Take, for example, an auction this past weekend presided by actress Sharon Stone, which raised $500,000 for Elton John's AIDS foundation. They did it by auctioning a special Versace-edition Lamborghini Murci lago LP640 Roadster in honor of the late Gianni Versace and his sister Donatella Versace — having presented the two (one posthumously) with the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award. So today, we on Jalopnik raise our personal copy of Town and Country in their honor. May all their injections be Botox. – Mike Spinelli

[via German Car Scene]

Related:
Ciao Babies: Lamborghini Shows Versace Edition Murci lago at Paris Show [internal]

Any of us who are passionate about music and cars can relate to this, no matter what our choice in vehicles or taste in music is. Bombing around in one's beloved automobile, favorite song cranked high, hitting apexes, rocking out, rolling slow on the cruise with the music blaring in a generally-futile attempt to run across a girl who'll think "Oh wow! Yes! The Meatmen! I'm getting in that guy's car right now!" In my early twenties, that music was often brilliant DC post-hardcore unit Jawbox. Their singer, J. Robbins, is one of the most fascinating guys I've interviewed in my ten-year history of interviewing people. And I'll never forget the evening after the show at Bottom of the Hill with my ex-fianc , driving out to the Sutro Baths in her Texas-plated, Hardbody-based Pathfinder with Elvis Costello's "Alison" on the stereo. J.'s aim has always been true, and he and his wife Janet have a big problem on their hands. Their infant son, Callum, is suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and they have shitty health insurance. Robbins has dedicated his life to the cause, both made and shepherded some amazing music, and soundtracked some of my most amazing, touching drives.

So if you can spare a dime, some change to hopefully make a change; to buy some time, please head over to the DeSoto Records site and donate to the fund that his ex-bandmates Bill Barbot and Kim Coletta have set up. Bill and Kim were always very patient and cool to me when I was a dorky teenager wanting advice on amplifiers and critiques on my writing. Yes, it's a bit off-topic for tha Jalop, but seeing as both Bumbeck and I ended up at tha Jalop via Gearhead, and Gearhead founder Mike LaVella drove Robbins' pre-Jawbox band Government Issue around prior to the mag's founding, one can always rationalize it as a donation to the pre-blog history of one of the sites in your RSS feed. Besides, it's the holiday season. Meanwhile, watch the video for Savory. It's really quite good. – Davey G. Johnson

This is Callum Robbins. He Needs Your Help [DeSoto Records]

Related:
Pubil Sevis Anouncemnt From Los Jalops nd Black Flag, Bitch [Internal]

Over at ForbesAutos, Nate Chapnick tells the tale of a Lexus GS450 that went for four grand under MSRP in a Hollywood charity auction for marine conservancy Oceana. Although entry to the event cost people 500 to 1,500 ducats, people started leaving when the car, donated by the Toyota unit, actually went on the block. It rather quickly went for $54,000 to Ted Danson's agent, who then crowed, "I just got the winning bid on the GS 450h, $4,000 under MSRP!" Ah, agents. They sure do love the art of the deal non?

On the Block: A Hot Hybrid Goes Cheap in Hollywood [ForbesAutos]

Related:
Lexus GS 450h Hybrid Gets Neiman Marcus Edition [Internal]

The Pohanka Automotive Group of Salisbury, MD made a mistake. They bought one more Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR than they thought they could sell. Well, actually, they bought one for a customer who backed out nearly a year ago and haven't been able to unload it. According to Marketing Director Chris Hagel, "If it were New York or Washington D.C., then it would probably be a lot easier to sell it." But since it's Maryland, the task's a bit tougher, which is why Hagel has put together a charity raffle to allow his company to cover their loss while benefitting Toys for Tots. A hundred bucks gets you in, and as of the moment, 1,200 tickets remain. – Davey G. Johnson

Orphaned Supercar Needs a Home [ForbesAutos]

Related:
Mercedes-McLaren SLR to Lose its Lid [Internal]

But wait — what the hell were we doing dropping in on some touchy-feely-do-gooder type of event — that's totally not how we normally roll, right? Well — it wasn't entirely selfless as we were able to score some press scrum time with none other than Tom "Water-Weight Silver Medalist of the World" LaSorda and got a chance to ask some questions on third and fourth quarter production and...

...about the issues they've been having selling them thar big ol' SUV's and Trucks outta the Dodge Group.

As far as production goes, LaSorda says Chrysler is standing by the previous cuts announced earlier, which were inclusive of both the third and fourth quarter and amounted to a 10% cut in production. But he did add that:

"we've had a swing of about 4% from trucks, big SUV's to mid-size SUV's and smaller cars. We're adjusting production from bigger vehicles to the smaller ones...when we project into the future, we tell our product teams to think about $3, $4 a gallon...the ones...most adversely affected...would be those big SUV's, trucks..."

To which we asked if the majority of the cut was coming from the SUV's or the trucks. LaSorda's response:

"the only big SUV [the Chrysler Group is cutting production of] is the Durango, so it would be more trucks than SUV's..."

Interesting Tom — very interesting. So, Chrysler's not "cutting production" much more per se...they're just moving it from the high-profit trucks and SUV's to the lower-profit cars and mid-size SUV's. Right, cause those are totally equivalent. They'd better plan on selling a hella lot more small cars and mid-size SUV's than they've sold so far if they want to meet Tom's goal of profitability in the final quarter of the year. But LaSorda did have more to say on some other interesting topics, and we'll have that up shortly...or we may just get really bored and see how the video of Vines getting dumped into a childrens swimming pool turned out — cause you know — that was more funny than this whole "news" crap.

United Way of Southeast Michigan

Related:
The Magic of "Step 2" Continues: DaimlerChrysler Releases 2nd Quarter Earnings; Chrysler Down and Mercedes Up [internal]

Okay, we know we've been on about mammary glands an awful lot over the last few days, but we swear it's a coincidence. Especially since at least one-third of Los Jalopniks is a registered ass man. But Jaguar's pitching in to sponsor a fashion fete tossed by the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (who knew such an institution existed?) which benefits breast cancer awareness. Still, being in Qatar, as it is, we doubt we'll see any more Lohanboobies.

Jaguar Cars to sponsor fashion show [Gulf Times]

Related:
GM Gets Lindsay Lohan to Show Off Her Breastesses [Internal]

We're helping out our pals over at eMercedesBenz who wanna help out a homeless Trinidad man who rescued a Mercedes-Benz driver after his car went off a bridge and into a river. Derrick Lee Pack lost everything he owned in a fire a couple of weeks ago and has since been living under a bridge with his wife. When a Merc hurtled through the railing and into the river, he grabbed a piece of iron and brought the driver to safety. Unfortunately, he also lost his boots in the rescue attempt, which were apparently the last thing of value he owned. The eBenzies wanna set him up with at least a new pair of kicks, so why not click over and contribute?

Homeless Man Saves Driver [eMercedesBenz]

Related:
Man Trapped in Car Pees His Way to Safety [Internal]

Over 100 sculptures of cars, all built on the same basic form, as well as some smaller models will be on the online block until Wednesday. The sculptures, part of the international public arts project CarTunes on Parade, decorated the streets of Detroit, MI and Windsor, ON over the summer, and the proceeds will benefit the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit or the Windsor Endowment for the Arts, depending on whether the artist's native brethren have a propensity to use the word "Eh?" as a sentence modifier.

The Detroit News]

Related:
The Car as Spiritual Journey [Internal]

It's hard to think of an American city less-well suited to the Lamborghini Gallardo than New York. Nevertheless, a raffle to benefit the Columbus' Citizens Foundation (and no, it's not a society to aid Ohioans in a bid to build a permanent monument to the New Bomb Turks; rather, they offer scholarships and organize the NYC's Columbus Day Parade) will be held on October 7th. The holder of the golden ticket will drive off in a black-over-red '05 Gallardo, which will be displayed in Grand Central Terminal starting September 25th. The tickets are a grand a pop; 300 will be sold. Philanthropist gamblers, here's your chance to score the fruit of Donckerwolke's loins for a mere fraction of a percent below list!

Related:
Year One Sets Up 'Hot Rodders Hurricane Relief Fund'

Georgia-based Year One, one of the largest and most visible restoration parts companies in the country, has launched the "Hot Rodders' Hurricane Relief Fund," lending a hand to those in trouble on the Gulf Coast. We know two hurricane-related posts in a row puts us dangerously close to cable-news territory, but we felt that it was important to get the word out. Every red cent of the money collected will go to the American Red Cross to help fund their relief efforts. And although the organization has yet to be allowed into the Big Easy, they're coordinating efforts with refugees all over the nation, as well as other parts of the Gulf. Hot Rod has more on the story.

Year One Hot Rodders Hurricane Relief Fund [Hot Rod]; Year One

Running From the Storm in Luxury: Midwestern Families Hightail it Out of New Orleans in a Limo [Internal]

Mercedes-Benz USA is offering 750 Signature Edition R-Class models for sale to help out Saks Fifth Avenue's Key to the Cure women's cancer research fundraising initiative. Now there's a much better brand-positioning strategy than using Tony Hawk as a spokesman. Skaters don't buy R-Classes; Saks-shopping women do (or most likely will when the crossover-wagon-suburban-luxo-car/van-utility vehicle drops in September). Which reminds us, we've gotta get to Saks, as we're running low on Prada lip balm. Seriously, that stuff does wonders.

Mercedes-Benz Designs Signature Edition R-class For Saks Fifth Avenue s Key To The Cure [Dubspeed Racing]

Related:
Empty Nest on Wheels: Automakers' new "Adult Social Vehicles" [Internal]