Cars & Coffee - 2/11/12

Link to gallery from C&C - 2/11/12

Who would have thought that such a rainy morning would have produced one of the best shows of the year so far? It certainly didn't hurt that it was Jaguar day, so the featured lot was packed to the gills with E-Types, XKs, XJs, S-Types, and the like. Nor did it hurt that the local Lamborghini dealer had planned a get-together that brought a dozen Gallardos, a Murci or two and a pair of Aventadors. Throw in a mini-reunion of RX-7s and the usual die-hards and the show lot was full before you knew it.

Particularly fun sightings included the black Carrera GT, the special CTS-V Wagon, the old Land Rover and Land Cruiser, the '51 Mercury, Vector, Audi R8 GT, VW Golf R, "Sea Shephard" Rossion, Vintage Morgan racer, Aston Martin Lagonda, Kellison recreation, another Bruce Meyers hot rod, Audi Sport Quattro, and that Sears catalog Allstate Motorcycle.

Of course, it wasn't all good. I guess I'm just too old to appreciate the whole VIP/hella flush Asian car phenomenon. The odd suspension geometry and stretched tires just make me cringe. Like donks, bouncing low-riders and street-bound Trophy trucks - they are more for show than go it seems, totally impractical for the street and an enormous misuse of valuable resources in my book. Like the Rich Evans Mustang and the accompanying spray-on-bed-liner-painted Range Rover, beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder, but as they say, variety is the spice of life and to each his own.

Cars & Coffee - 9/24/11

Gloomy skies and a schedule conflict with the Cruisin' for the Cure event at the OC Fairgrounds meant there wasn't a huge turnout this week, but the cars that showed up were a great mix of old and new - not just in terms of model year, but in terms of cars we've never seen here as well as old favorites. Follow the link and you'll see everything from a Lotus Elite (above) to a pristine "orange badge" 1973 Porsche 911S Targa. For Porsche lovers there was also a bent-window 356, as well as a Karmann 356 coupe, Zwart's East African Safari Rally car, a 550 Spyder replica, 993 Carrera RS, and a few dozen others.

Lots of Ferraris this week too with a 458, three Scuds, a TdF Stradale, 365GTC/4, 365GT 2+2, 308s, 348s, 360s, 430s and 355s. Besides the Elite there were Elans, Elise, Exige, Esprit and Evora models representing Lotus. Studebakers were relatively plentiful as were old Saabs. A huge turnout of BMWs were there too, with a limited edition Frozen Gray E92 M3 and Laguna Blue E46 highlighting the field. A couple of Fiat 500s battled with a few Minis for most bang per inch, while a VW GTI showed its family resemblance with a set of ginormous Bentley rims stuffed under its fenders. Check out the pics by clicking below.

Link to pics

Cars & Cockpits or Aviation & Autos

Craig Lieberman, Aimee Shackelford and Benjamin Chen are some creative people. They organize drives for exotic car owners under the L4P banner and other events that bring the well-heeled – and well-wheeled – together to have a little fun with their rides. Their latest gathering added a little twist, as the typical run ended not at a restaurant as usual, but at the Lyon Air Museum, a World War II museum that houses some amazing aircraft.

While the organizers had anticipated about 50 Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches and the like... more than twice as many actually turned up. That made for some creative parking solutions. While the hottest cars, like the black Enzo, got prime spots right in front of the museum entrance, the modified BMWs and Benzes filled in the access road and outer lots of the adjacent businesses. They left spots for the Chomp Chomp food truck and the ice cream truck too thankfully.

Inside the museum, folks got to see a B17 bomber (think Memphis Belle), an A26 Invader and a C47 (think Band of Brothers) as well as several armored military vehicles and classic automobiles. Only a couple of classics were parked outside the museum, but they were pretty great too. The yellow Alfa was stunning. Of the modern cars, the Enzo was definitely at the top of the roster, but there were dozens of others that stood out.

Ferraris included a 599 GTO and "regular" GTB, Stradale, and satin black 430 Spider with more than 80,000 miles on it. The sign of the bull was well represented too, with everything from a Diablo 6.0 to a half dozen Murcielagos. There were Superleggeras, a Valentino Balboni and plenty of regular Gallardos too.

 

The Lexus guys brought a yellow LFA, Mercedes had an SLS AMG, SL65 Black, CLK Black, and about a dozen other AMG and tuner models, Acura NSX, Honda S200, Lotus Elise, Dodge Viper, Corvettes, Porsche Panamera, Cayenne, 914, 911 and Caymans, Evos, STIs, GTRs, Bentley Continental GT SuperSports, Audi R8, Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, Spyker C8 Spyder, Ariel Atom, E-Type and on and on.


Personal tips of the hat to the best license plate "CLKWORK" on an Orange Murci, the original Mini Cooper, R33 GTR, Lincoln Continental convertible, and the BMW M5 that had by far the most appropriate paintjob for the setting, camo and noseart.


Direct link to pics

Cars & Coffee – 12/11/10

Foggy morning but a great turnout today. It looked like a lot of groups showed up with a good sized cluster of Miatas, BMWs, British roadsters, T-Rexes, Ariel Atoms...and of course the usual Porsches, Corvettes, etc. The gang from Edmunds.com was even there this morning with their long-term fleet.

Two V12 Vantages, a DBS and a Vanquish were joined by the old Virage in representing Aston Martin. A Turbo S coupe and cab, GT3 RS, GT3 RSR and GT2 highlighted the newer Porsche contingent, although an eggplant Panamera captured our attention with the smell of burning plastic. A couple of undercar photos showed nothing obvious – probably just skipped a step in the PDI and we were smelling the exhaust tip coating that should burn off pretty quickly.

Another Panamera was parked alongside an old Rolls Royce, showing the evolution of 4-door luxury sedans. In fact there were several interesting pairings this morning – The Hennessey Ford GT next to the 599, a Pantera and another Ford GT, a 412 and a Maranello, a giant old Bentley Continental R and the Virage, a Super Duty Trans-Am and a late-model GTO, a 356 and the GT3 RS, and so forth.

With such slick roads from the fog, it was a bit surprising to see so many cool bikes today as well – everything from Rob's French military Indian to Frank's Ducati 999. But as usual, thankfully, the sun came out just as it was time to go.

If you've been wanting to make it down to Cars & Coffee but haven't been able to drag yourself out of bed lately, try to make it next week. Although they were tight-lipped about it, those in the know said we might get an early Christmas present.

Link to photos