General Motors stock barely crawled back into double-digit range, closing at $10.12, on Thursday, a day after a key analyst's warning that "bankruptcy is not impossible," triggered a wholesale sell-off, and plunged the aautomaker's share to their lowest levels since 1954.

The warning, from Merrill Lynch, came from one of the last of the remaining, even tepidly optimistic watchdogs of the industry. It's become virtually impossible, it seems, for anyone to feel good about the direction of the industry of the whole, the Big Three, more specifically, and GM, in particular.

The old adage, "When the U.S. economy catches cold, Detroit comes down with pneumonia," never seemed more appropriate. But perhaps at no time in the past did it seem so possible that the patient won't be able to recover.

The auto industry has been struck by one of those perfect storms: fast-rising oil prices, soaring commodity costs, tightened lending, an overall weak economy and, for the domestic makers, intensified foreign competition.

There was a time when bankruptcy was an irredeemable dishonor, much like the "A" branded on the forehead of an adulterer, in the days of the Pilgrims. In recent years, though, the stigma has softened, as we've gotten used to seeing once-powerful businesses declare Chapter 11, often simply as a way to restructure their cost base. In the ‘70s, it's hard to imagine anyone willingly buying a ticket on a bankrupt airline, yet two years ago, the majority of the seats availability to U.S. flyers were offered by companies reorganizing under Chapter 11, including United Airlines, Delta and Northwest.

Indeed, any number of big American corporations have gone into court to relieve themselves of debt, slough off high-dollar union contracts, or for a myriad of other reasons. And for the most part, consumers simply don't seem to care - if they even notice.

But even the mere hint of a bankruptcy at General Motors makes front page headlines everywhere. We wouldn't be surprised if a reference showed up on E! And with many American motorists already forswearing domestic cars, the daily drumbeat of disaster can only hurt the ailing automaker's image among potential customers.

And that raises the question of the day: Would you buy a General Motors product if the company goes into bankruptcy? If so, why? If not, what would it take to get you to reconsider?

Want to save a bundle on each tank of gas? Slow down.

It may seem like there's not much difference between going 70 and 75 miles per hour, but according to Department of Energy data, that 5 mph difference equals a roughly 5 percent difference in fuel consumption. Cut your speed from 75 to 55, and you'll boost your mileage by as much as 30 percent, says the DOE.

Put another way, reports the Detroit News, you'll save the equivalent of 30 cents a gallon, in the typical American vehicle, for every 5 mph you slow down from 75.

Of course, there's a downside. Long trips might take significantly longer - nearly an extra 2.5 hours for a five hour jaunt at 55 compared with 75. The time taken for short jaunts, however, is negligible. At 75, that 10 mile commute would take about 8 minutes -if roads are clear, which isn't common at rush hour - but less than 11 minutes at 55.

There's going pressure on lawmakers, as I note in a separate blog entry, to reduce speed limits, which have been creeping up since Congress loosened the limits on states. But truckers and other motoring groups are expected to put up a strong fight of their own.

There are other ways to save fuel, from checking your tires to tuning your engine, according to the site, fueleconomy.gov. Every 1 psi below the proper rating will lower mileage by 0.4 percent. Since most Americans tend to never check their tires, it's not unusual for pressures to be off 5 pounds.  That means a 2 percent mileage loss, or as much as a half mile a gallon, on a typical compact to midsize sedan.

Meanwhile, if you're running around with a trunk seat or backseat full of stuff, consider cleaning house, er, car. Every 100 pounds of added weight can curb your mileage anywhere up to a full mile per gallon, experts reveal, depending on your vehicle.

What are YOU doing to save fuel?

Andreas sends us spy shots of cars and trucks, but this time he's uncovered a very special lawn tractor that probably doesn't have a place in the Porsche museum--though it wears the livery of Porsche's iconic 911.

The crazy lawn tractor here started life as a Partner machine, with 14.5 horsepower and a hydrostatic transmission. A buddy of our spy shooter took the tractor apart completely, and then got obsessed. Every nut and bolt was painted yellow; a new stainless-steel exhaust was fabricated; and a rev counter made from an old 911 oil filter was installed, along with a fire extinguisher.

After putting it all back together, the proud Porschephile shot it all with classic Grand-Prix Weiss (white) with Indischrot (red) details and wheels. Undoubtedly, it's more fun to work in the garden than on a track--but who knows? Maybe we'll see this one in the U.S. Lawnmower Championships one day.

It's not the kind of launch you want a new range-topping luxosedan to endure. This morning, photos of the new 2009 BMW 7-Series ended up splashed across the Interwebs, through Flickr. It's uncertain if some dope put these embargoed pics on their account and thought they were marked "private," or if they liberally applied the fair-use doctrine to their own timeline.

Whatever the case, here are the lo-res versions of the 7-Series galleries minus all the Photoshop festooning applied to those Euro hooligans. The official word and pics on the 7er come down next week, and we'll bring you more on it then--as well as from the Paris auto show in October. Meanwhile, savor the somewhat soft-focus shots of the 7-Series' new tail, markedly cleaner interior, and more refined silhouette.