The Hyundai Genesis Coupe pop star Justin Bieber signed and put on auction for charity sold late yesterday for $40,000.

Most of the time when a celebrity has something to do with cars, it means there’s a specialty line being made, like a Funkmaster Flex edition Ford Explorer – ugh! This wasn’t one of those cases. Bieber decided to sign the car’s dashboard in silver pen ink and set it up for sale on Ebay. The goal? Raising money for a good cause.

The cause in question? Well, the young lad wanted to fix up the skate park in his home town of Stratford, Ontario up in Canada. It didn’t look like the car would actually bring in the minimum bid he had hoped for, but at the last minute someone swooped in to scoop the car up, though we don’t know who.

Don’t be surprised if it shows up on an upcoming episode of something like MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 series. There really aren’t too many people willing to drop that much cash on a car that starts at $22,250 aside from a one percenter with a spoiled 15-year-old who’s crushing on the Biebs.

[Source: CTV News]

In light of talented racing driver Dan Wheldon’s tragic death, and the family he has left behind, fellow racing driver Graham Rahal first announced that he would auction off the helmet, gloves, and shoes worn during the Las Vegas 300 to raise money to help the Wheldon family through this difficult time.

Following Rahal by example, an outpouring of collective support from athletes, and Eric Gazin of Auction Cause, came together to create the Charity eBay Auction in memory of IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Dan Wheldon. 100 percent of all proceeds from this auction will be donated to the Dan Wheldon Family Trust Fund.

Launched October 24th, each item listed on the Dan Wheldon Memorial Auction will be open for bidding for approximately ten days. A particularly popular item on the list, a NASCAR helmet worn by Jimmie Johnson, is already up to $13,500!

Soon to follow, accomplished racing driver and star from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, Patrick Dempsey, will auction his Mazda racing suit as well. By following Graham Rahal’s twitter, you can keep track of more upcoming motorsport memorabilia soon to be available at the auction.

Athletes and celebrities are not the only people that can help. Eric Gazin encourages anyone to offer an item to the Dan Wheldon Memorial Auction, with any portion of the eventual selling price donated to the cause at the seller’s discretion.

Direct donations are available via the Dan Wheldon Family Trust fund at the Fifth Third Private Bank, 251 N. Illinois St., Suite 1000, Indianapolis, IN 46204.

September 5th marks the birthday of Freddie Mercury, the legendary front man to the rock and roll band Queen. Having succumbed to AIDS almost twenty years ago, fans, friends and family will gather at the Savoy Hotel on September 5th, 2011 to celebrate what would have been Freddie’s 65th birthday.

In honor of the occasion, Lotus has donated a one-off Evora S for a charity auction with proceeds going to support the HIV AIDS charity fund, Mercury Phoenix Trust. The striking sports car’s color scheme features red and gold racing stripes as well as an interior influenced by one of Freddie Mercury’s stage costumes back in 1986. To top it all off, the Evora will also sport Mercury’s signature on the passenger side of the dashboard.

“We were only too happy to contribute to this fantastic cause,” said Group Lotus Director of Corporate Operations Gino Rosato. “We have created something very special to raise money for Mercury Phoenix Trust and we hope the car goes to a collector who really enjoys it.”

GALLERY: Freddie Mercury Edition Lotus Evora S

Click here to read AutoGuide’s 2011 Lotus Evora S Review

The famous ‘Imported from Detroit’ Super Bolw ad staring rapper Eminem featuring the new Chrysler 200 was very successful for the automaker, and Chrysler is hoping to further this with yet another musical tie-in.

Building on this success, the Chrysler brand and Eight Mile Style, a Detroit-based publisher of Eminem compositions, have partnered to release a gospel version of “Lose Yourself”, available now for download on iTunes, and to promote the city of Detroit. Performing the song is Selected of God, the choir featured in the famous Eminem/Chrysler commercial. The proceeds of money raised from the downloadable song will go to benefit three Detroit-based charities including Abayomi Community Development Corporation, The Yunion and Robert S. Shumake Scholarship Foundation. Chrysler has also released a music video of the choir performing the song with both a trailer and full-length video.

Check out both the trailer and music video after the jump!

Continue Reading…

The barter system is alive and well, it seems, with the offer of a free goat (the animal kind, not the Pontiac kind). But it’s not what you think—on many different levels.

The company in question is Flyin’ Miata, which is well-known in the Miata world for their go-fast products. And if you buy a FMII Hydra turbo kit—good for a cool 265 rwhp—or spend at least $5,000 otherwise, the company will donate a goat to charity Heifer International, which supplies third-world nations with farm animals to ensure that communities there become self-sustaining.

For a small village, a goat can provide food, milk and fertilizer for crops. Goats can survive in extreme conditions and can be sold to provide educational resources, and can provide farmers with offspring to continue the cycle of escaping poverty. It’s not exactly lawn decoration for a Miata owner, though some of these animals are provided to rural families within the United States as well.

And as a fellow Miata owner, if you needed an excuse to hop up your car through the miracle of forced induction—now’s a good excuse. Go fast for charity!

[Source: Flyin' Miata]

The News Of The World scandal rages on, with pressure mounting from Parliament, investigators, and the general public. Now an anonymous executive suggests that car companies who had planned to advertise in the tabloid should donate the money to charity instead.

“If we had advertising booked with the News of the World the advert would have been due to be submitted yesterday,” said the source. “So the question is what would we have done if we had booked space? The problem is car manufacturers will be contractually bound to pay for that space—and even if they pull it they’ll have to pay anyway. So we thought the most popular choice would be to submit an advert for a charity instead. All car manufacturers—in fact all advertisers—should do that.”

Mitsubishi has been the only company that’s taken up this offer, donating their ad stream to UK charity Childline. The carmakers who currently advertise in NotW include Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Vauxhall, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Renault—and all the manufacturers contacted have no future advertising planned. There is no word on whether they will be making a donation to charity instead, however.

[Sources: Car Dealer Magazine, The Guardian]

UPDATE: News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch has confirmed he will shut down The News of the World over the hacking scandal.

Legendary tuning company Lingenfelter is opening his doors. For a small donation to charity, generously-minded enthusiasts can peek at the company’s amazing private collection.

Ken Lingenfelter, cousin of NHRA racer and company founder John, is allowing a peek into the Michigan warehouse for just one day. Inside, one can expect an array of 60s and 70s classic muscle and race cars, from Trans Ams to Camaros to a Duntov Corvette mule that is basically priceless. From the picture above, the collection is also rounded out by some Ferraris and all of the GM products Lingenfelter has massaged over the years.

The $15 goes to the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology. With 150 cars being shown, that’s a dollar for 10 cars—and all going to a good cause.

[Source: Autoweek]

As part of an effort to raise money for the Red Cross’ Japanese disaster relief fund , artists affiliated with the EMI record label are auctioning off various knick-knacks, with everything from stereo equipment to handbags to vacations up for grabs.

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably most interested in the 1987 Ferrari 412 that’s being auctioned off by EMI and French electronic music group Daft Punk. The car was used in the video for “Electroma”, and the license plate will be signed by both members of Daft Punk.

[Source: EMI]

Continental Tire and Grand-Am have teamed up to give away a Porsche GT3 and a Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid, raising awareness and funds for the WorldCause Foundation that helps seriously ill children.

The GT3 is no regular car either, being a Hurley Haywood Edition model, named after Grand-Am racing legend, Brumos Racing driver and chief driving instructor for Porsche of America of the same name. Its modifications make it the fastest GT3 to date, and Haywood himself promises to give the winner training on how to get the most out of their new vehicle.

Not much was mentioned about the Cayenne S Hybrid, however, it looks to be a factory variant that has been equipped with Continental Tires. Both vehicles are part of Continental Tires’ Dream Giveaway, a program developed to help charities such as WorldCause Foundation and Camp Boggy Creek, the official charity of Grand-Am. Both charities specialize in enhancing the lifestyle of extremely ill children.

A portion of the proceeds will go to Camp Boggy Creek (founded by Paul Newman and General H. Norman Schwarzkoph), which works to give medical help to children age seven to 16 with chronic or life-threatening illnesses.

Tickets are available until October 15th, 2011 and the winner will be announced on October 24th, 2011. To get your tickets and help the kids in need, please head on over to www.wintheporsches.com.