Seen via Insty:
That would be what we call the Tacoma, Over Here:
Just wondering whether the roof struts are strong enough to handle the mount… not that I’m thinking of doing anything revolutionary, of course.
Sadly, New Wife is not of the Pickup Truck Persuasion, and point-blank refuses to let me get one when it comes time to trade in the Tiguan.
Too bad; I rather fancied this version:
From an earlier post: “And in other news: normal blogging service should resume tomorrow with the usual mixture of guns, rants, booze, invective and boobs.”
I forgot cars.
This one appeared at C.W.’s place, and for its full story follow the link.
As Longtime Readers know, I am generally leery of American automotive styling, especially during the decades following WWII. This Caddy, however, looks absolutely spectacular, in that “American Excess” fashion. The purple slash on the sides is the only thing which makes me a tad nauseated — white would have been better, to give that “tuxedo” look — but the overall shape of the car is quite lovely.
Even New Wife, who is still more conservative than I in these matters, nodded with approval.
Here are ten cars which fetched ridiculous prices at auction last year — most of which are unlikely ever to leave the garage for longer than a few minutes because of their now-rarified [sic] prices.
Ignoring the prices, though, I have to say that I like most of them — we all know of my fondness for the Dino 246 GT, especially — but the Merc 300 SL and Porsche 928 are also quite toothsome.
The sky-high prices, of course, are largely owing to the low mileage of each car — the Dino was calculated to have done an average of 289 miles per annum over the past 48 years — which, as I said earlier is why they’ll all be wrapped in silk and stored in a climate-controlled room somewhere.
Feel free to offer up your top 3 picks of the ten listed — ignoring the silly auction prices thereof, of course — in Comments.
Blogging has always been fun. It’s fairly easy for me to write about, well, anything, and when all else fails, there’s always this:
…this:
…or this:
In these times, however — the times that try men’s souls (to coin a phrase) — there seems little incentive to pass comment about what just happened to us, and what is likely to happen to us. All I feel is sullen rage, resentment and a burning desire to bite the head off a rattlesnake.
I wish sometimes that I could be a Lefty, and take to the streets, burn shit down and in general act like a 10-year-old child; but I can’t do that. The very thought of causing destruction to innocent people’s property, or beating people up in the streets, or doing any of that crap that the Left are so fond of doing when they feel aggrieved — well, I’m not going to do any of it. Futile gestures are not my thing.
But at the same time, I feel like I’m living in some kind of hellish limbo. I know, this is no doubt how the Left felt after Hillary Clinton lost; but the difference is that while Trump was never going to put homosexuals into concentration camps, or overturn Roe v. Wade, or start deporting people en masse, there is every reason to suspect that the new crop of Lefties really are going to raise our taxes, try to confiscate our guns, muzzle our voices and fuck up our economy under the guise of “saving the planet” or some such bullshit.
So please forgive me if over the next few days or so the quality of this blog seems to head downhill, wherein I seem to be just mailing it in instead of giving it the gas.
Normal service will resume shortly, probably with even more invective and loathing than before. Right now, however, I just feel like tying George Soros to a chair and beating him to death with a baseball bat.
And I may just reconfigure this blog somewhat, with a new, less self-pitying name. Watch this space, and content yourself with this thought:
When you set yourself up as judges to discover the “Greatest Sports Car Of All Time“, you need to use a decent track for the test. Which the guys at Road & Track did, choosing the lovely Lime Rock Park circuit in northern Connecticut (which I’ve driven round a couple times before, once in a BMW 3-series, and again in a restored ’65 Mustang), and the track is perfect for the task (right-click to embiggen).
However, in such a competition you can always count on amateurs such as I to question the choices of the finalists. Which in this case were:
I have no problem whatsoever with the first four cars and the last car on the list: all five are excellent choices, and are almost perfect sports cars. Now for the bad news.
The Beemer M5 is a fine car — I once owned a “detuned” 525i myself — but by no stretch of the imagination could it ever be called a sports car, because it has four doors. No. Just… no.
Ditto the Acura. I think that the selection committee for this exercise got carried away with engine performance which, need I remind anyone, might be a prerequisite for a track car or race car, but that’s not in the sporting tradition (as I once mentioned here and here ).
In similar vein, the MacLaren doesn’t belong here, just as the Porsche 918 or Ferrari 458 would be out of place in this company.
So scratch those three imposters from the list. Which begs the question: what three (actual) sports cars should take their place?
I don’t think that anyone would argue against the 1960s-era E-type Jaguar as my #1 choice for inclusion.
…even though its performance takes it perilously close to the “supercar” definition (and in its time, it certainly was).
No list of “Best Sports Cars” would be complete without at least one Ferrari (with the “supercar” reservation as above), and I think the 1960 Ferrari 250 California Spyder might pip all others –even the more modern ones — in the marque:
My third replacement would be the 1966 Alfa Romeo 1600 Spider Duetto:
Finally, as a concession to my Murkin Readers, I might be persuaded to substitute the 1965 Ford Mustang for one or the other of the cars — but while the Mustang is a undoubtedly fun car, I don’t think it’s really a sports car, when compared to the above.
Honorable mentions should also go to the 1959 Aston Martin DB4, the 1955 Ford T-bird, the Porsche 356, the Morgan (any year, although the Morgan is really just a perfected version of the MG TC), the Honda S2000 and the BMW 507.
If you go along with my rejection of the two 4-door models and the outright supercar, then which three cars (not necessarily listed here) would you substitute?
As everyone knows, I love me my old cars more than the modern wind-tunnel designed mass-produced homogenized blobs we see on our roads today. But there’s a problem:
Classic cars are wonderful, wonderful things. They look incredible, smell incredible, and make incredible noises. We will never see vehicles like them roll off production lines ever again.
And this is a good thing, because along with all the good stuff, they’re a massive pain in the arse.
They leak, they break down, they’re inefficient, and they’re not all that quick. You have to be committed to a classic. They need constant love and attention to make sure they run well. You can be their nurse, which requires lots of hardcore knowledge, or you can have a specialist to do it for you. And they’ll be grateful, as you’ll put their kids through college.
All true, and it’s the reason why (apart from the upfront cost) that I’ve never been that keen on getting one of the old cars that I love, e.g. a 1950s-era Jag Xk120:
I have also stated that I won’t drive an electric car.
However, it’s a fool who won’t change his mind when confronted with a different reality, and here’s the reason I could be persuaded to change my mind. (Read this before continuing.)
I foresee great things for this. It might be Lunaz’s climb towards Elon Musk-style wealth, or it could end up being a way for classic car manufacturers to get their foot into the EV market.
So allow me to alter my precious stance on electric cars.
Would I ever drive a Prius? No.
Would I drive an electric, rebuilt Dino Ferrari?
I think we all know the answer to that one. And if Ferrari were too slow to the party, then:
…or:
In Comments, list your top three favorite cars that you would drive as EVs, assuming they were affordable.