Cars and Coffee, June, 2013

If this month's Cars and Coffee lineup was a sports team, I'd say their starting lineup showed lots of talent, but their bench was weak.  It's no secret I like old sports cars, and those seemed to me to be in short supply.  

Of course my friend Robert was there with his immaculate Jaguar E-Type V-12.  (Truth in journalism....this photo was from a few months ago.)

This superb Austin Healey 3000 had me drooling.

The Italians were well represented:  This Alfa Romeo Spyder was nice, but fell short of what I would call pristine.  Maybe it's a project in the works?

This Alfa Romeo Alfasud was a gem!

So was this award-winning Alfa Romeo Montreal, another Cars and Coffee regular attendee.

I took this one for Doug, who I know is a Porsche 928 fan.

While not at all exotic, I'd take this MGB in a heartbeat.  Much maligned by some, I was always rather fond of them.

And another British Leyland product, a Triumph Stag.

Now for some newer aluminum:  There were several new Jaguar F-Types there.  This is the first time I'd seen one "in the flesh".  IMO the front end looks nice....

....but the rear end looks spectacular!  ;)

The newest Ferrari Supercar was presented to me here today, too.....the LaFerrari.  While I like it, it looks like it would probably be a royal hassle to get the groceries into and out of the back seat.  I'd better pass.

Not to be upstaged was the McLaren MP4-12C Spider.

BAM!!  Fiat 500.  Didn't see it coming, did you?  ;)

OK, there's "oddly eccentric" and then there's "bizarre".  This would fall into the latter category.  It's a Lamborghini Murcielago painted up by the owner as a rolling billboard for his "violin for hire" business.  (Oh....California plates.  'Nuff said.)

A Mercedes 220 inviting us to join in a picnic.

Hmmm....I wonder where he got the idea?

Lots of Detroit iron present, the most interesting being this '57 T-Bird.

And now back to that "oddly eccentric" thing I mentioned...how about this '91 (UK market only) Datsun ____.  (Can't remember the name.  Somebody help me out?)

For his mother-in law?  (Bad news, dude.  She fell out.)

And if not one of the best restored cars on display yesterday...

....it certainly had one of the most interesting owners.  This is Rob, an Englishman by birth, now retired and living north of Dallas where he buys and restores these fun micro-cars.  The one pictured is a '50's vintage Isetta "limousine" (because it was "stretched" for a back seat) built under license by BMW.  He also showed me a photo of the body of a car which is his next project and asked any of us standing nearby if we could identify it.  I did....it was a Citroen 2CV....and we struck up a lengthy conversation afterwards.

Turns out he's also a pilot....see his DC-3 belt buckle?  He became an aircraft mechanic after WWII, then worked for an air freight company this side of the pond, then learned to fly and started his own air freight business hauling mostly auto parts.

And here's where it gets almost freaky....we've worked together at airshows!  He flew his DC-3 as a jump plane (for the opening act parachute/flag ceremony) at the Dallas Air Show where I was the Ramp Boss.  We laughed about how his pre-jump streamer-drop (to gauge the wind for the parachutists) landed about 3 blocks east of Lemon Avenue.  Ha!  What fun reminiscing with this fine gentleman.

That's enough for this time.  If they have a Cars and Coffee event where you live, go see it.  And if they don't, come see me and I'll take you to ours.  I promise lots of fun.  :)

S