‘80s band Cars is partly back

Two former members of the defunct new wave rock band the Cars have refueled the group, installing singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren in the driver’s seat, and will hit the road as the New Cars, they announced Tuesday.

The new model, featuring Cars lead guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes, will be accompanied on tour by fellow classic pop refugee Blondie, which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday. They are scheduled to play the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City on May 20.

Absent from the Cars reunion are singer-guitarist Ric Ocasek, who wrote all the band’s hits, such as “Good Times Roll,” “Let’s Go” and “Magic,” bass player Benjamin Orr, who died of cancer in 2000, and drummer David Robinson. The band broke up acrimoniously in the late 1980s amid declining sales.

By calling itself the New Cars, the band avoids legal traps that dog acts when they reunite with different lineups.