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, July 2013

I think we're in the summer doldrums.  It wasn't that hot yesterday morning, but it was uncomfortably muggy, the kind of muggy that makes you just wanna stay inside.  Still there were some diehard car aficionados like me who ventured out to see and be seen.  Some highlights:

The British contingent was rather skimpy this month.  I did see a few that turned my head, though, like this Aston Martin Vantage in the right color.  (That would be British Racing Green.)

Ditto for this modern-but-old-looking Morgan.

But what happened here?  This is a right-hand-drive Morgan with a back seat (why?) and this ridiculous looking tarp canopy.  And that color!  *gasp*

Not to worry, however, as this nice Jaguar E-Type saved the day for Her Majesty's Empire....

....with an able assist from his E-Type Coupe chum.  (Leave it to the Brits to re-define "hatchback".)

The Germans were present and in fine fettle, showing off this classic 30's era BMW 327 (?).

Kudos to whoever restored it.

And at the other extreme....

....was this little BMW Isetta 1300.  These little micro-cars are turning up more at shows here.  Wonder where they've been before now?  This one was a 3-wheeler and was actually tagged as a "Classic Motorcycle".

It adds a whole 'nuther dimension to the term "Spartan", doesn't it?  Love the little gear shift sticking out the side panel.  Haha!

How about a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of BMW Z-8's?

Raise your hand if you've ever seen one of these?  (I haven't.)

It's a 1986 Renault (French) Alpine.

And for something American I offer you this very nice Ford Model A (?).  This one was blue.  I thought Henry Ford said "You can have any color you want as long as it's black"? Maybe not the original color?

  
Or you could have this V-10 Dodge Viper in Wallflower Green.  "It'll pass everything but a gas station."

Bazinga!  Fiat 500 Abarth.  Nice wheels.

But my personal favorite of the day was one of the aforementioned BMW Z-8's....

It's hard to believe this is a 13-year-old design!

Think it will ever depreciate enough for me to afford it?  (Short answer:  NO!)

Back home later I tried to tell Luke about everything I'd seen, but he didn't seem too interested.  I guess he isn't a "car guy".

Enjoy the rest of your day.  ;)

S

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