What out of the ordinary cars did you see today?

[Sapotorito]

Yes, I am surprised to have run into you guys in such short period of time between one and the other...

[tig]

What are the odds, another pleasant sighting today, this time around it was Chris on his Zinno..



Nice to have you on this side of town Chris!

Such a nice ass.

[John in VA]

Bentley Bentayga in Quicksilver. Big wheels & grill, but from behind it could be a Durango or whatever.

[vinceg101]

Saw this on Pico Blvd. in West LA this afternoon (sorry about the crappy photo, shot through the front windshield on the fly:


Soft top 4 door Land Rover. Kind of a rare beast even in these parts. Too bad about that color though (kind of a baby-sh*t brown/tan).

[davintosh]

Speaking of soft-top off-roaders, I see several elderly Unimogs like this one around town every now & then; they're usually out in the forest working, but they come to town once in a while to hang out with the city folk. My wife no longer rolls her eyes when I gawk as we drive by them; she just dabs my chin with a tissue or napkin.



If I had my 'druthers, I'd be bringing one of them home as a souvenir. But we needed something we could drive distances in comfort, thus the M535i, which really is a nice consolation prize.

[tig]

How about an S62 powered 325is sleeper?




I see one of these regularly, but seeing two next to each other is pretty out of the ordinary. Is the owner of the one with the tupperware here?

[Adam W in MN]

I know which red car I would take. The red bumpers with contrasting black, and no trunk badge, talk about dat ass....

[davintosh]

Here are a few I've seen around town and elsewhere recently:

The dealership just down the street from us has some interesting cars on the lot once in a while. Some of them are Gebrauchtwagen zum Verkauf, but others show up for a day or less and I never see them again. A while back there was an e3 coupe that was there then gone that same afternoon; that made me sad. This Merc W111 coupe is another one like that; saw it one morning a couple weeks ago, it was gone that afternoon, and I haven't seen it since. Cool looking car, or at least I thought so.


We went to Basel on Halloween for their big fall festival, and stumbled upon a conference hall that had a bunch of businesses with booths set up to peddle their wares & services. Back in the corner were several old Renaults; I spent a considerable amount of time poking around there while my wife & the other couple we were with were being hounded by "sales associates". We made it out of there with our wallets intact, but just barely.

The coolest one by far was this R8 S that appeared to be set up for racing.


I can't say I'd ever seen a 4CV in person before; they're kinda cool. If the "hood" hadn't been up, I never would've guessed the engine was in the back, even with the louvers on it.









In the same hall the Schweizerische Rote Kreuz had a bunch of vehicles on display; few looked like working krankenwagen, far too clean.




This poor PowerWagon is a long way from home!

[e28Sean]

[wkohler]

I see one of these regularly, but seeing two next to each other is pretty out of the ordinary. Is the owner of the one with the tupperware here?

That would be Sterlite, not Tupperware. Tupperware would be offended.

That's the 535 that was on BaT recently. The car with the bad motor that LaDue sold to gtom who sold it on BaT.

[Karl Grau]

Registerd until March 2017, A/C just needs a recharge.

[davintosh]

Here's one I see around town every now & again, and last week it was finally in a spot where I could get a decent photo. I can't say I've ever seen a two-door Land Cruiser before.



And here's one we saw while hiking today. I'm drawn to the 4x4 Fiat Pandas in the same way that I'm drawn to the Lada Niva. Too bad neither were ever sold in the US.

[Mike W.]

Here's one I see around town every now & again, and last week it was finally in a spot where I could get a decent photo. I can't say I've ever seen a two-door Land Cruiser before.

Dave, surely you remember this one? It was imported into the early 80s in the US.

Now I will allow I haven't seen that 2 door one. But lots of 2 doors before they became a luxotruck.

[davintosh]

Dave, surely you remember this one? It was imported into the early 80s in the US.

Now I will allow I haven't seen that 2 door one. But lots of 2 doors before they became a luxotruck.

Doh.

Yeah, I guess I was thinking of the later model LCs. I've even driven a couple like the one you pictured.

[tig]

Saw this E39 "M5" Touring while getting ethanol-free gas for the 911 yesterday:



Not a real M5 Touring, of course. But still cool.

[wkohler]

They didn't make real ones (well, they made ONE, but that was it), but that's still a cool car.

[offroadkarter]

How about one I dragged out of my uncles barn today?

1975 Opel Manta 1900. 1.9L CIH 4cyl, 4spd manual, Bosch L-jet EFI.

[offroadkarter]

This rolled into my friends dealer today, older couple that owned it since new. They sold it to an employee there who likes vintage BMW's.

1988 528e with 60k miles. Was rolling on some very dry rotted Pirelli P4000's.

[Foonfer]

This rolled into my friends dealer today, older couple that owned it since new. They sold it to an employee there who likes vintage BMW's.

1988 528e with 60k miles. Was rolling on some very dry rotted Pirelli P4000's.

WHOA, ^^that there^^ is one gorgeous looking car. And boy, a SuperEta with 60K miles? So, basically a *new* car. The color looks so awesome, is it Lachsilber? Do you know if it was a manual, or how much did it sell for?

Hope the new owner doesn't even start it before changing the timing belt...

[Mike W.]

Saw this E39 "M5" Touring while getting ethanol-free gas for the 911 yesterday:



Not a real M5 Touring, of course. But still cool.

I thought that license plate looked familiar. It was parked next to us at 5er West this year. One of the 3 E39 tourings parked in a row.

[1st 5er]

Our S38B38 powered '85 E28.

[offroadkarter]

WHOA, ^^that there^^ is one gorgeous looking car. And boy, a SuperEta with 60K miles? So, basically a *new* car. The color looks so awesome, is it Lachsilber? Do you know if it was a manual, or how much did it sell for?

Hope the new owner doesn't even start it before changing the timing belt...

It was an auto, and I imagine its been started plenty of times since I watched it drive into and out of the dealership. Next time I'm there I'll try to get a scoop on what he paid and all that.

[davintosh]

We went out to dinner with two other couples last night, and rode to the restaurant in a Honda F-RV. I'd never heard of the model; from the outside it looks like any other odd-looking, nondescript SUV/minivan/whatchamacallit, but on the inside...



From the outside, I didn't care what kind of car it was, but the three-wide seating caught my eye right off, and I had to ask what it was. And it's pretty clever that the center seats are just a tad further back than the two outside seats, so you're not trying to fit shoulders all the way across. There were six of us in that car, none of us small people, and we actually fit. Comfortably.

It's still an ugly little car on the outside, but I think airlines could learn a thing or three from Honda's use of interior space.

[e28Sean]

That's brilliant!

I'd still never drive one.

[Mike W.]

... but I think airlines could learn a thing or three from Honda's use of interior space.

You can only learn if you want to learn, and I doubt the airlines do. Pretty soon their "ala carte" pricing will include air as an extra cost option. They think steerage is being overly generous.

[davintosh]

That's brilliant!

I'd still never drive one.

Don't be such a snob. I'd drive one, but probably not own one.

But then again, my standards are pretty low WRT what I'll drive. With this job I just drive what they give me, which is usually some nondescript passenger van. The Ford Tourneo Connect & Transit Custom are the most recent fleet vehicles we have. The Tourneos are just downright awful. Noisy, uncomfortable, awkward to maneuver in parking lots... They are roomy inside though, but the seating in the back seems like an afterthought. The Transit Customs are decent vehicles though; ours are diesel-powered with a 6-speed manual, and actually not bad to drive. 3 rows of seats, 3 across. Very roomy, with well-thought out interiors. We also have some older Mercedes Vito vans; same seating configuration as the Transit Customs, also diesel powered with a 6-speed. I'd actually consider owning one of them, or maybe a newer version of one.

[davintosh]

On the way back from the grocery store this morning I saw a Citröen DS Estate going by in the other direction. It was the first time I'd seen one in the wild. Those cars are so cool.



That's obviously not the one I saw, but it's the same color scheme. I about had a wreck trying to get a photo of it. This carspotting thing can be hazardous.

[cddallara]

Here's one I see around town every now & again, and last week it was finally in a spot where I could get a decent photo. I can't say I've ever seen a two-door Land Cruiser before.

Dave, surely you remember this one? It was imported into the early 80s in the US.

Now I will allow I haven't seen that 2 door one. But lots of 2 doors before they became a luxotruck.

We never got that one, Mike.
We got the FJ40, a shorter, gas version of it though. And they stopped importing them in the early 80's.

[davintosh]

We never got that one, Mike.
We got the FJ40, a shorter, gas version of it though. And they stopped importing them in the early 80's.

And Corey is more right; this is the LandCruiser I remember driving. One of them had a small-block Chevy swapped in, and it was a beast.

[Mike W.]

We never got that one, Mike.
We got the FJ40, a shorter, gas version of it though. And they stopped importing them in the early 80's.

And Corey is more right; this is the LandCruiser I remember driving. One of them had a small-block Chevy swapped in, and it was a beast.

Not being a Land Cruiser aficionado I'll plead ignorance and say they all look the same to me.