Harry takes us through his garage in a 2023 review. The maintenance costs are staggering, underlining that owning exotic sports cars is not for the faint of heart (nor of wallet).
The interesting thing is that of all his cars, I’d only want to own one: the 1968-70 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato (but with LHD, thank you). Watch the video to see its (too-brief) cameo (or the whole Zagato episode — headphones recommended if you’re not alone; that little 1600cc engine shouts, oh yes it does).
Want.
I see with some regret that Audi is discontinuing both the R8 supercar and its baby brother, the TT sports car.
For obvious reason$$$ I was never in the market for either, but I still feel somewhat melancholy because the thought of the loss of any car built for the pure enjoyment of driving is not a happy one.
A hundred years ago I talked about the joys of open-topped sports cars, and my feelings have not changed one iota. If anything, my desire to own a convertible sports car has increased, not lessened, even though I know that I’d probably need some kind of crane or lift to get my decrepit fat ass out of the thing.
Hence my lottery dream of the exquisite BMW Z8:
(horrifyingly, since sold)
…or more reasonably, the Mazda MX-5:
Which leads me to today’s little thought exercise.
Below is a list of 20 sports cars (not supercars). Assuming that all were driveable and in excellent condition, and had assurance of some kind of reliability (and please note that last factor)…
…rank your top 5 of the 20 (and only of these 20, no substitutions) with reasons if so desired. Consider whatever factors you feel are important: “wow” (that feeling when you walk into your garage and realize that it’s yours, all yours), reliability, chick-appeal, speed, handling, trunk size, whatever.
Note that there’s a mixture of old and new. Feel free to mix ‘n match. Also, I’ve left off some obvious ones (pure performance cars like the E-type, Corvette, Ferrari, AC Cobra etc. so that you end up having more choices).
Sunbeam Alpine
Honda S2000
Austin Healey 3000 MkIII
Jaguar XK120
Mercedes 230 SL
Alfa Romeo 1750 Spider
MGB GT
VW Eos
Toyota 2000 GT
Audi TT
Morgan Plus 8
BMW Z4
Ford Mustang
MG TF
Toyota MR2
Lotus / Caterham Seven
Triumph TR4
Fiat Dino 2400 Spider
Porsche 356 C
Jensen Interceptor
My Top 5 below the fold:
Stephen Green takes a long-overdue look at the inevitability of electric cars and such, and comes up with this priceless observation:
We need to talk about the word “inevitability” because when it comes to electric vehicles, I do not think it means what supporters think it means.
And then the killer:
Inevitability, you see, is when government spends money we don’t have and passes laws that won’t work to bribe or force people into buying cars they don’t want.
Like Karl Marx’s sense of inevitability — the inevitable fall of capitalism and the inevitable advent of its replacement — such things which go against human nature always need assistance from the firm foot of government to be applied with a heavy hand.
If the above is slightly incomprehensible to you, you need to read Stephen’s whole piece.
Here’s an unfortunate train of events. When examining Chris Rea’s Driving Home For Christmas song, scientists at the University of Sheffield in the UK found the following (links included):
Well, yes. That “carbon footprint reduction” thing is doubleplus virtuous, of course.
However, as with all ivory-tower cogitations, Real Life™ has an unfortunate knack for making such conclusions look ridiculous:
Needless to say, the Eco-Loons don’t care, because not being able to visit your family at all on Christmas means that your carbon footprint would be lower still.
Which is why scientists should stick to things like discovering a better adhesive that sticks wood to metal, or improving the taste of Slim Jims (to give but two examples), instead of trying to add to the Smug Index of Virtuousness.
Just a thought.
Then again, we have another solution for this bunch of wokey watermelons, to make their carbon footprint go away completely:
…but no doubt someone is going to have a problem with this.
A Reader (lost yer email, sorry) sent me this little look at The Most Odd-Looking Vintage Muscle Cars Ever Made. I have several problems with said list, mostly because more than a few of the cars cannot be termed “muscle” cars by any stretch of the imagination, e.g. the Heinkel Kabine of the late 1940s:
…which featured a 174cc engine which generated 9hp. That’s “muscular” only if you’re a Gen Z snowflake or an eco-moron.
Of course, there are a few strange ones on the list, but I have to say that more than a few did catch my eye, and I would have no problem owning / driving one of them, even today. Here they are:
BMW Z1 (early 1990s)
Sorry, but that’s just lovely. The retractable doors (!!!) make it strange, but I’d still take one in a heartbeat.
E-type Jaguar (1960s)
That’s not “odd”, you morons, it’s a classic. Even back then, it wasn’t odd, just beautiful (pace Enzo Ferrari, who knew a thing or two about the topic).
Lotus Europa (1970s)
Yeah, it looks a little strange, but it handled better than any road car of the time. You could take corners at speeds that would have killed you in any other car.
Corvette station wagon (1970s) 
Yeah, I’d have one of these. It looks a little like the Europa, but it solves the perennial problem of “How do I fit both my girlfriend and my rifle/shotgun cases into a sports car?”
Toyota 2000 GT (1970)
Sorry, but 150hp in a car that weighed almost nothing, handled like a dream and should never have ceased production? That’s not weird; the decision to stop making it was weird. Like the E-type, it was a classic.
The one that really caught my eye, however, was this one:
Buick Centurion (late 1950s)
I think it’s glorious, not weird — and I’d take one in a heartbeat.
Feel free to peruse the others, and make your own choices in Comments if you want.
There’s also a list that contains some weird motorcycles, but to me they all look the same (like people in various non-European racial groups), so I couldn’t pass judgment.
Okay, so you have an old Alfa Romeo 105 GTV rust-bucket body (is there any other kind?), and you decide to rebuild it, only instead of the original four-cylinder two-liter engine, you say, “What the hell, I’ll just drop a Ferrari 360 V8 into it and see how things shake out.”
Here’s the result. Take the 15 minutes out of your day, and feel better about the human race, that it can still throw out men like this.
And he’s Strylian, which makes it all the more memorable. Best quote: “I had to make everything!”
Including handmaking the leather seats. (!!!!)
Alfarrari? Why not?
