What out of the ordinary cars did you see today?

[a]

Charles,just tell us. No need to risk diversion whilst taking a blurry pic of a 356 roadstuh When bugs chugged around with 36 HP , This squashed bug had 90 HP

[Mike W.]

Charles,just tell us. No need to risk diversion whilst taking a blurry pic of a 356 roadstuh When bugs chugged around with 36 HP , This squashed bug had 90 HP

Andy, you're exagurating. When Bugs had 36HP, Porsches only had 60. Super 90s were in the late 40 horse era.

Diverging... had a friend with a S90 back in the mid 70s. It was faster than my 57HP bug, but not by that much. He was also a little conflicted when he build a 1835 dual carb Karman Ghia and it was faster than his Porsche. He didn't know if that was good or bad.

[Mike W.]

Saw an e34 that was in nice shape today. Can't say I care much for the paint job, but it was definitely clean.

Dave, you wouldn't want to be hammering down the Autobahn at 220K in that thing? Bet they'd make room.

[Nesset]

I saw a Lapis Blue euro M5 the other day. Totally forgot to post about it. Whoops. Thank you to whoever owns that thing for making my day!

Oh, I saw a diesel Land Rover D90 today too. Got a thumbs up from em' in the 528e. Forrest green with a Safari rack and the works. Looked like a sweet rig.

[davintosh]

That's Esther Mahlangu's BMW Art Car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Ma ... tic_career. A while ago I posted the unofficial Frank Stella M1 Art Car to this very thread: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?p=1016831#p1016831.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winnah! I saw it on display in the British Museum in London this weekend. First real BMW Art Car I've seen in person. Pretty cool!

Saw an e34 that was in nice shape today. Can't say I care much for the paint job, but it was definitely clean.

Dave, you wouldn't want to be hammering down the Autobahn at 220K in that thing? Bet they'd make room.

Meh. It's a 525i, and depending on build date, it's either an M50 or M20. Considering the fact that Esther painted it in 1991, my money would be on M20, so good luck actually hitting 220km/h.

And besides, the autobahn is totally overrated.

[RossDinan6]

That thing is about as ugly as the E24 done by Rauschenberg. Saw that monstrosity in Naples FL some years back. The fancy art gallery didn't think much of my "looks like a grade school collage" comment. I did covet the tail light frames, still need a pair.

Ross

[RossDinan6]

Mclaren P1. Unfortunately no pics, driving in traffic. Wow.

Ross

[davintosh]

We spent last weekend in London, and here are a couple others I thought I posted earlier... A Ferrari 488GTB in matte black with yellow highlights.





And then this van... No idea what it is, but with the wheels and the aero kit, somebody seems to think pretty highly of it. Or did, maybe back in the '80's.

[e28Sean]

According to the internet, S604KBA is a Nissan Vanette.

[dsmith]

I saw an interesting one today. A mediocre right hand drive 924 driving in NW OH February working traffic.

[Lord Stanley]

Sometimes I think that Minnesota is the most boring car place on earth, but then you see something like an early 2000s Mitsubishi Diamante VR-X being driven in traffic on a snowy day.



Internet car pix.

[kzolee]

In Trieste, Italy:

[davintosh]

Not today, but Thursday I saw quite a few cars that could be considered out of the ordinary... A friend & I made the three(+) hour drive to the Geneva International Motor Show, and spent about seven hours strolling through more shine & glitz than you can shake a stick at, or photograph. I totally missed the chance to go last year, but made sure of it this time around. The day I went was even my wife's birthday, and she still likes me afterward; I think she's a keeper!

Here's a Flickr album with all 204 photos I took. A few highlights...

A Chinese company -- TechRules -- put together a plug-in electric hypercar with six electric motors (uses two under normal driving conditions and engages the other four as needed for higher performance) and has a gas turbine range extender to provide power for longer distances, using anything from kerosene to corn alcohol. I don't care much for the styling or the weird the 1+2 seating arrangement, but the tech on that thing is amazing. Or at least the concept is; it'll be interesting to see if they are able to produce or sell them in any quantity.



There were a bunch of impressive looking concept cars like the Renault Trezor, the Aston Martin Valkyrie, and the Peugeot Instinct. It'll be even more interesting to see if any of them are really built, and how different the final production model will be.





One detail that I saw on a couple of concept cars was the absence of side mirrors; instead they had little camera pods on the side of the car, like this one from Mercedes Benz. I can totally see that happening, and soon.



My absolute favorite of the show was the Morgan booth. Two full-size gas 3 Wheelers, an EV3 electric, plus a gokart-sized EV3 Junior. There were also a couple of Plus 8s in the booth; how did I not know they used a BMW drivetrain? All seriously cool cars!





BMW of course had a presence there, but their booth was kinda dull... Lots of cars to look at & sit inside, but there weren't any with the hoods up or any displays showing any technological advancements. No peeks into the future. I didn't see a single i8 or i3 on display; two aftermarket tuners had them, but not BMW. Mercedes, on the other hand, went all out; their display included a number of AMG vehicles, and showed off lots of new technology and what's coming down the pike. Made me sad for BMW.

[stuartinmn]

Sometimes I think that Minnesota is the most boring car place on earth, but then you see something like an early 2000s Mitsubishi Diamante VR-X being driven in traffic on a snowy day.

I saw a guy driving around in a lavender late 1970s Cadillac today.

[waynet1]

Thanks for posting the Flickr album, great pictures. I've only been through about half of them so far.

One detail that I saw on a couple of concept cars was the absence of side mirrors; instead they had little camera pods on the side of the car, like this one from Mercedes Benz. I can totally see that happening, and soon.

Where was the monitor for the cameras? Were you able to sit in any of the cars that had them to try to get a feel for them?

BMW of course had a presence there, but their booth was kinda dull... Lots of cars to look at & sit inside, but there weren't any with the hoods up or any displays showing any technological advancements. No peeks into the future. I didn't see a single i8 or i3 on display; two aftermarket tuners had them, but not BMW. Mercedes, on the other hand, went all out; their display included a number of AMG vehicles, and showed off lots of new technology and what's coming down the pike. Made me sad for BMW.

This type of behavior is actually not surprising to me. Those two German companies are always being a bit snarky and sneaky. Germans have always been good at that
Don't show your hand, look like you've got nothing, check out the enemy first.........But who knows

[John in VA]

Where was the monitor for the cameras? Were you able to sit in any of the cars that had them to try to get a feel for them?

Probably a HUD stretching across the lower windshield. So happy to have cars with mirrors & no cameras or screens!

[waynet1]

Where was the monitor for the cameras? Were you able to sit in any of the cars that had them to try to get a feel for them?

Probably a HUD stretching across the lower windshield. So happy to have cars with mirrors & no cameras or screens!

I was thinking maybe some form of a HUD as well, but I thought that would really be a distraction.....or take a huge amount of getting used to. Like most new technology......they're no longer designing things for us old school types. It's all for the next generations and that's what they learn on and know...

[Mike W.]

In Trieste, Italy:

I've probably heard of it, but I don't recognize it. What is it? Looks Italian sports car from the 60s.

[davintosh]

Where was the monitor for the cameras? Were you able to sit in any of the cars that had them to try to get a feel for them?

Probably a HUD stretching across the lower windshield. So happy to have cars with mirrors & no cameras or screens!

Didn't get a chance to get closer than a meter to either car, much less sit in them. So John's guess is as good as anything I'd come up with. I did find this with a Google search though:

End of the Road May Be Near for Side Mirrors



I can also envision a small screen on the A-pillar. As if the A-pillars on modern cars aren't big enough to obscure what you should be able to see without putting another video screen in there.

I'm not a big fan of the concept. Like my dad would've said, it's just another thing to go wrong.

[a]

Looks Eye-talian to me.I can't place the car but its a pinin -farina some thin'or other. What is it Davintosh?

[Jeff B.]

Lancia Fulvia Zagato

http://www.nbc.com/jay-lenos-garage/pho ... to/1880491

[a]

Thank you Jeff B

[kzolee]

In Trieste, Italy:

I've probably heard of it, but I don't recognize it. What is it? Looks Italian sports car from the 60s.

Lancia Fulvia Coupé Zagato.

[Mike W.]

No pic, but saw a VW diesel Rabbit pickup today. With one of those 6" chrome exhaust pipes coming out of the bed. Didn't get close enough to see if it was functional but it did catch my eye.

[grbbenny]

I've probably heard of it, but I don't recognize it. What is it? Looks Italian sports car from the 60s.

Lancia Fulvia Coupé Zagato.

It is actually called a Lancia Fulvia Sport. Here is a photo of mine.

[davintosh]

Saw this beauty being driven by a hot lady the other day...



Oh wait... THAT'S MY CAR!!! And my wife behind the wheel.

Drove to the Großmarkt on Wednesday, and forgot my membership card at home. Rather than drive the whole 30 minutes back, my wife met me half way. Yes, she's a keeper! In fact, Wednesday was our 31st anniversary, and we still like each other!

While at that same store I parked next to a C4 Corvette. Really strange to see something like that here. The license plate didn't have the "H" on it, so he's paying full registration cost for that car (instead of the "oldtimer" rate), which is levied per liter of engine displacement. That's an expensive car to acquire and to keep. They do like their foreign sports cars here though!

[BenGerman]

What's the reason you don't have the H plates? Not 30 yet or didn't pass the check?

That Vette costs 863€ per year just in taxes. Plus German gas prices... really gotta love that car.

[davintosh]

What's the reason you don't have the H plates? Not 30 yet or didn't pass the check?

That Vette costs 863€ per year just in taxes. Plus German gas prices... really gotta love that car.

Long story; probably could have and should have, but since we'll only be here until July and the car is going to be shipped to the US then, we decided to take what we were told was the less troublesome, non-oldtimer route. I'm not sure if we would've saved much, but not knowing the system... Ich bin neu.

[davintosh]

As I parked my car after a drive yesterday, an Audi wagon zipped by going up the hill past my usual parking space in the lot along the road. I didn't pay much attention to it, but did notice it had a healthy exhaust note. As I stepped out of the car & got something out of the back seat, the Audi came back down the hill and stopped in front of mine, and the driver rolled down the window; I heard him say, "Schones auto!" and a another phrase I didn't catch, asked if he spoke English, and we had a little chat about my car. I told him his car was pretty nice too, and he was pretty proud of it. An RS6 Wagon. It didn't really dawn on me what that implied until he drove off and I saw the V10 badge on the rear door...

Then I Googled it. Good lord almighty... A station wagon with the same V10 as an R8 & a Lamborghini Gallardo.

And I didn't even think to take a photo of it. That's ok; he's local, and I'll see it again. Now I think I want one.

[davintosh]

Saw another oddball today; a Volvo 480. Can't say I've ever seen one before, and didn't know they even existed until now. I spotted this one as it was headed in the opposite direction as we drove through some small town near Amsterdam today, and my son caught sight of the Volvo logo on it, and Google filled in the rest of the details tonight. There was no time for us to take a photo of it, so the image below is one that came up in my Google search, but it looked to be very well kept and had a nice set of wheels on it. Very cool looking cars; I wish there were more of them in the US.