As you may recall, I’m at Monterey Car Week this week, along with my Autopian co-founders and the various personal assistants, gurus, medical handlers, process servers, and parole officers that form our entourage. Last night was the first big event of the goings-on, the swanky Motorlux show that is held at the local airport.
We were able to bring our tiny Mazda 787B tribute car, the Autozam-with-a-Liberty-Walk-bodykit we’re calling the 787bb, to the show for people to enjoy and scrutinize and poke at, and it was very rewarding to see how many people were taken by that little kook.
Also, I think this is the thickest pile carpet I’ve ever had a chance to drive on when I parked it, which was a treat:
When it finally came time to leave, I was very tempted to do a burnout on that carpet, just because I’ve never done a burnout on carpet. But I didn’t, because I was raised slightly better than that, but not much.
We did find that the 787bb’s rear wing is about the perfect height to eat sushi off of, which is a very nice feature to have in a car.
There actually seemed to be less cars at Motorlux than last year, and perhaps more airplanes? It seemed that way. But here, let me show you some of the cars that did catch my attention!
Okay, look, I’m still me, despite having to be dressed better than normal, so this Beetle caught my attention. I recognized it right away – it’s a recreation of the famous Salzburg Rally Beetles, which were campaigned by Austria’s Volkswagen and Porsche importer.
These Super Beetles (1971-1972 flat-windshield 1302s were used, then later the curved-window 1303s) were specially prepared for rally racing and Porsche Austria managed to massage the Beetle’s 1600cc flat four to give between 120 and 133 horsepower, which was more than double the stock output.
These had a good amount of success rallying, even winning the 1973 Rally dell’Isola d’Elba, where they beat out teams from Lancia, Fiat, and other more expected entrants! This is a very faithful reproduction that I think was built by David Hord of Canada. It’s fantastic!
Oh, let’s jump back to the Motorlux parking lot before we go further. There were some great cars that rolled up there, too, like this Ford Ranch Wagon that was really a modern Dodge Charger underneath! The owner told me this has been a five-year project, and I can believe it. This thing was bonkers and fun.
Look at this classy combo! This is how you showed people you made it in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in both American and German flavors. I think that’s a 1970 Lincoln Continental Mark III coupé there, looking handsome and stately and long, and next to it is what I think is a 1963ish Mercedes-Benz 220 Fintail, here done in a wonderful purple.
Look at this fantastic little Austin 7-based roadster! The Austin 7 was a really influential car – BMW and Datsun started by making Austin 7s under license, after all – and I always forget how wonderfully tiny they are. I love that someone drove this to the event, with that exhaust pipe just snaking along the whole side of the car there.
Okay, fine, we’re back inside. Keeping things British, yet here somehow America-branded, we have Ken Block’s Mark II Ford Escort, which I’m told makes 333 hp from a 2.5-liter four! Holy crap.
These are just some lovely French selective yellow headlights on a Porsche 911. I’m just a sucker for yellow lights.
Since I’m already talking about lighting, this very heavily restomodded Porsche 928 had lots of novel details, especially when it came to lighting. Some were sleek and subtle, like how the indicators/sidelamps were handled:
These are lovely, and I appreciate how well that little air intake was incorporated into the unit.
Some were less subtle, like this bonkers take on the iconic 928 flip-forward headlamps:
These look so unashamedly mechanical and – while not exactly clunky, just maybe proud of their mechanism. The way the heat dissipation fins fit into those slots when closed is pretty fun as well.
They did keep the rear sun visors, so good on them, too.
I’ll admit, I know very little about the Lotec Sirius supercar here, which seems to have been built in 2000. It was a one-off with an 850 hp Mercedes-Benz V12 engine, a lot of curvy body panels that all seem to flip up and open, and was very much a racing car sort of tamed for the road. They said it could do 242 mph, but I’d be skeptical if that was actually tested.
There was a re-imagining of Edsel Ford’s famous 1934 Special Speedster, which is the kind of thing you get to make if your dad is Henry Ford. Based on what I know about Henry Ford, I suspect having a car like that built for your kid is given in lieu of any hugs.
I mean, Edsel was president of Ford at the time, so it’s not quite like that, but still. This one is a recent Argentinian re-imagining, with a body of carbon fiber and a Coyote V8 under that long hood. It’s cool, though I’m not sold on the headlamp choices and the overall carbon fiberishness of that whole body? Still, an impressive machine that I suspect must be bonkers to drive.
I think my favorite car of the night was this Nissan Silvia. I’ve seen Silvias before, but I forgot just how perfect they are. The proportions, the clean lines, that sharknose, the subtle detailing – I’m not kidding, these things are just sublime
Albrecht Goertz, the guy who designed the incredible BMW 507, started a sports car project with Yamaha that eventually morphed into what became the Silvia, and you can feel some of Goertz’ aesthetics in the car. These are just understated yet striking-looking gems, and I’m always happy when I get to see one.
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It’s also fun to see people doing silly things with Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows now that they’re getting cheap. I just saw one in really nice shape for $14,000 – that’s like half of what most “cheap” cars cost today!
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I also saw this lovely Rover SD1 – and yeah, the Sterlings we got in America weren’t the same car, they were the closest we got to these, I think. The soup can thing was a bit of a joke, but IYKYK, as the kids say.
That Lincoln is gorgeous! But I’d take the Silvia home
I dunno, I feel like I’ve been seeing that kind of work on Silver Shadows for 20yrs. The album cover of The Streets’ The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (2006) featured Mike Skinner standing next to his murdered-out, slammed Silver Shadow. Iirc, the “plan” was to complete the restomod and use it as their tour vehicle around the UK. Lucky for them I don’t think it was ready in time. I believe in the end he gave up and it showed up on an auction site.
That special speedster looks a lot like a Batmobile from that angle!
“We did find that the 787bb’s rear wing is about the perfect height to eat sushi off of, which is a very nice feature to have in a car.”
I thought that’s what rear wings were for?
“…this lovely Rover SD1 – and yeah, the Sterlings we got in America weren’t the same car, they were the closest we got to these, I think.”
No – We got them here in the States – but badged as Rover 3500 with open quad sealed-beam headlamps.
If you hadn’t taken a photo of the rear, I’d have believed that the Sylvia was a Lancia Fulvia – because Sylvias are rarer.
And I’m pretty sure that Mark III is a ’69. Because license plates don’t lie.
Fun fact: It’s also a Buick V8! Thanks Jason Cammisa!
The Buick 215 was quite popular in Britain at the time – More popular than it was here in the States.
What is it with Edsel Ford and ugly-faced cars?
What do you have against flying vaginas?
I bet you don’t say that about Alfa Romeos….
Is driving on thick pile carpet a similar sensation to driving on wet grass?
I think the carpet under the Silvia steals the show. I need to carpet my house, or at least parts of it, in that.
The rally Beetle looks like fun.
Honestly, I think if I was there I’d spend the most time at that car, wishing it was mine.