Cars and Coffee, May 2014....and the Cottonwood Arts Festival, too

My fellow motoring enthusiast friend and good all 'round guy Neil and I met up at 7:30 yesterday to oogle cars, as we do every first Saturday of the month.

It was a perfect Saturday morning to be outside looking at cars.  It was a lousy day to be trying to take photos of them....the sun was too bright and the shadows at that early hour too long.  Oh well, whatcha gonna do?

E-Type Jaguars are cool rain or shine.

Ditto for E-Type roadsters.

I'm not a big Lotus fan....they're rather fragile.  But this one, in this color, just exploded in the morning light.  I like the Tiger stripe effect, too.  (Listen to me, all artsy-fartsy!)

Umm....looks like they left the gate unattended for a few minutes and this snuck in.  ("Sneaked" in?)

Wonder if it belonged to this guy?

"Guy walks up and asks, 'Where'd ya get him?'
 The dog answers, 'Aww....I won him in a raffle.'"  :)

The German Goggomobil from last month was back.  Or maybe it never left?  Here's Neil standing next to it for size comparison.

This late model (2002) Acura NSX was a stand out.  We talked with another fellow we met there who bought one new in 1994 and uses it to this day as his daily driver.  He says it's rock-solid.  Try THAT with a Ferrari!

First you start with an overpriced SLR Mercedes, then you let McLaren have a turn tarting it up....to the tune of a cool $500K!

Pay attention kid.  Mother's Day is coming up and she couldn't be any more obvious with her hint.  Tell dad....or maybe that guy over there.  (Not sure what he's looking at behind those sunglasses.  ;)

Ahh....the Frenchies.  The Citroen SM was so far ahead of its time the rest of the world finally just gave up trying to catch them.  Unfortunately it's been pretty much downhill for Citroen ever since.

We visited with the gentleman in the background who also owns an SM and he shared lots of anecdotal stories about these odd eccentric cars.  Meeting people like him is what makes C&C so much fun.

This chopped custom began life as a 1950 Pontiac Chieftain.

Innit kewl?

My first car was a '65 Mustang, but it didn't look anything this nice!

Just FYI, this is the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang.

I'm pretty sure it didn't roll off Ford's assembly line looking like this!

There were only 6 Shelby Daytona's ever built.  This wasn't one of them.  This is a replica (kit), and a darn nice one.

I'm generally not a BMW fan, but I seriously looked at a 2002tii just like this back in 1971 (?).  I didn't buy it.  Now every time I see one I kick myself.  DOH!

It's a classic today.

I also considered a Porsche 911 at one time.  Then I could have afforded it.  Now....no way!  *banging head on wall*

A trivia question for you:  Has anyone ever seen an overflow vent hose (?) on a battery?  It left Neil and I both shaking our heads.

I hope that thing is strapped down tight.  If I ever see it on the freeway I'm gonna stay well back.

All I can say is....

And finally, here's a license plate I think many of these fancy car owners can identify with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After C&C I picked up K and we went to the Cottonwood Arts Festival.  This was the absolute best art show I've been to.  It keeps growing and the caliber of the participating artists keeps improving, too.

K was too busy watching the gander that chased his lady out of the little pond and up into the crowd with....umm...."less than honorable intentions" to pose for my picture.

Besides checking out the art I always enjoy the people watching.  And the dog watching, too.

This was taken at the Southlake "Arts on the Square" show last weekend.  Our Tarrant County neighbors can't seem to get that "Old West" thing out of their system.  (Hey, I like cows, too, but I like mine served medium rare on a sizzling plate.)

That's all the art shows on our radar until the Fall.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, too.

S

Cars and Coffee, January, 2014

But first, a conversation (soliloquy?) I had with K this morning:

K:  I only have two real hobbies....books, coffee, and chocolate.

ME:  Wha....What?  (She's like a female Yogi Berra!)

I suspected the January Cars and Coffee wouldn't be that great as the weather wasn't, either.  The temp was only in the 30's, but the wind was really kicking up making it pretty miserable.  I managed to stay warm enough, but I think my eyeballs are windburned.  Ouch!

I did manage to see well enough to appreciate this beautiful Morgan, though. It's even the right color (IMO) for an English sports car...British Racing Green.

While it wasn't cherry, and in fact looked to have been "well enjoyed", I still like this era Porsche 911.

A badge on the rear identified this car as a proud member of the "Porsche 356 Tub Club".  He/she also appears to do a lot of vintage racing.

This one is for you, Doug.  As I recall you liked the Porsche 968.

The agony and the ecstasy....those nasty 1970-ish government mandated bumpers on an otherwise very nice BMW 2002.

There seemed to be a lot of the "boy racer" types out today.

I'll at least give this Mazda owner some style points.

No points, though, for this VeeDub refugee from the frozen tundra, aka Canada. It must have been a slow trip south, what with those tires rubbing the inside of the fender wells like that.

This little egg-looking thing is winning a lot of praise from the automotive press these days.  It's a ST model Ford....umm...."egg-looking thing". 

A slick '56 Cheeeevy.

And a '57 from my yout, too.

'57 was a good year for Thunderbirds also.

I'm guessing this Lamborghini Murcielago owner, billing himself as "the Violin Guy", is writing off his car as a business expense.   That, or he's the ultimate narcissist.

There are always a lot of photographers at Cars and Coffee, for obvious reason.  This guy, however, had the coolest set up I've seen yet.  He could raise and lower his camera and still maintain the perfect  angle to view his subject.  A definite "Big Boy Toy".

You've heard of "chick cars"?  This lady wore her "chick-ness" loud and proud!

Which begs the question....why do some model cars, like this BMW Z3, get a reputation for being a "chick car"?  Another is a Mazda Miata.  Why?  What is it about a car that makes it a chick car?  Anybody....?

That's my take on Cars and Coffee for this month.  :)

S 

Cars & Coffee, November, 2012

I was out before sunrise this morning in order to attend the monthly Cars and Coffee and still have time to go to my grandson's soccer game.  Turns out he's sick today and didn't play, so I was able to linger a while longer and oogle some really cool, sometimes exotic, always interesting cars:

My first dilemma of the day....which car to take to the show?  The Bentley or the Rolls?

OK, the Rolls it is.

I guess I'm just a sucker for vintage Porsche's, like this '69 911E.

And Jaguar E Types, too.  Sweeeeet!

Speaking of Woodies....This '50's era Ford Sportsman was...um...interesting, although I doubt original.

This 1970 BMW 1600 Cabrio was never intended for the US market according to the owner.  It was imported from France in 1985, and he's had it since 1990.  It has about 250K miles on it and is still his daily driver (weather permitting).

I finally got to meet Karen O'Brien, who owns this outstanding BMW Z3 I've shown here in the past.  She is a super cool lady!

Her girlfriend brought her Z3, too.  (I guess this confirms it....Z3's are chick cars.)

*Don't tell Karen, but I think I like her friend's ride better*

Oddly enough I actually like this Screamin' Yellow BMW.  Unfortunately my local Constabulary would see me coming a mile away, something I do NOT need!

And now for some grins:

A VW "Thing" the dog let's this guy drive ^

In the rear window of a tiny little Fiat 500 ^

I understand the concept of headlight stone guards, but....

The last word....my personal Best of Show today....this BMW Z8.  

*If you're gonna dream, dream BIG!*

S