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.
I had no idea how tiny Austin Sevens were either, until I had 2 encounters with them. Where I used to live, someone around the corner had a tiny enclosed box trailer signwritten “Austin Seven Car Club of Victoria’. It was so small I assumed it was probably for carrying club paraphernalia to car shows, until I came past one day and saw the owner loading his Austin Seven race car into it – the trailer was custom built with what looked like 1” clearance all the way around so it would JUST fit – nobody would ever suspect a car could actually squeeze in there!
My second encounter was when I went with a housemate to visit his parent’s place and see the Seven he was restoring, which at the time was stripped right down to a bare chassis. When he opened the garage door it looked like there were a few spindly lengths of scrap steel scattered on the floor, and I walked in to look around. When I asked where the car was, he replied ‘you’re standing in it!’ Those spindly strips of steel were the complete chassis!
Oh , and I WANT that AZ-1/F40. And it would make the start of a nice compact ‘exotic’ car collection if I could also add the Miura replica AZ-1, and a Suzuki Twin with Rocket Bunny Nissan R32 GT-R body kit!
From shower spaghetti to rear-wing sushi…my how our David has grown.
Via wheelbarrow shrimp, it’s the most direct path
Call the authorities. I just might have to steal that Silvia.
Hah, I’m with Torch on that Rolls. I’d love to see someone do a full Lowrider build on a Silver Shadow, just to really crank the weird to 11.
Also, that Silvia’s gorgeous! I knew about the later ones, but that’s my first time seeing the OG. Nissan had some amazing cars in that era – the Hakosuka GT-R still just oozes cool.
I’m sure the Silvia was worth the price of admission and travel costs alone. The rest? Meh. Maybe the rally Beetle, but I’d delete the livery and drive it undercover. No need for cosplay. The 928…hmm… I’m glad it survives, but to me restomodding is fixing what was originally wrong. This is not really the car to be changing. Just spend the energy on making/keeping it running well and reliably. A stock 928 is far more desirable than one that was goofed with. And no phone dial wheels? GFYS
15ish years ago when I was deep in the SoCal drift scene, someone brought an original Silvia to a random weekday car meet and it was the same color as this one with factory wheels. It was the first and only time I’ve seen one in person, I loved it.
Considering the California plate and rarity, I wonder if it’s the same car.
“Maybe the rally Beetle, but I’d delete the livery and drive it undercover. No need for cosplay.”
Truthfully I run the car either in all-silver, or just the black hoods with stripes. The full livery was (this time) just for Motorlux and car week, though we are driving home to Canada with it.
Originally the car was a very faithful replica of the factory rally cars, and I ran the livery full time. But the latest build brings in carbon fibre, modern PDM and motorsport harness, and more…plus the wheels are so off for a replica, so gone are the decals most days.
I think SD1s were available in the US briefly in the 1970s. There were at least a couple running around Baltimore back then
I should have scrolled down first. This has already been pointed out
I loved using that 1965 Silvia in Gran Turismo 4, 5, and 6. That color was the best as well. Oddly, they haven’t included it in the most recent GT even though it would probably look incredible with the latest graphics.
Isn’t the Rover Jason Cammisa’s car?
It’s been on Hagerty’s YT vids for quite some time.
We got the SD1 in the US for 1980 and 81, but only about 1500 were sold here, under the name Rover 3500. As you can imagine, the bumpers and headlights looked quite a bit different… https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Rover_SD1_3500_V8_US_spec.jpg/250px-Rover_SD1_3500_V8_US_spec.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=parser&utm_content=thumbnail
Worst part is they painted the sealed-beam headlight surround bezels body color when they would’ve blended in a bit better if chromed.
While I fully agree with you on the topic of the SD1, or probably any other topic, I gotta ask: was that the best blow you’ve ever done, or just really good blow?
I want to know more about driving on plush carpet! I used to keep strips of old carpet on the garage floor; sometimes they would slip out of place, and I would end up driving over them. That was just plain ol’ contractor-grade carpet though.
Go to a carpet supply store and try and get samples of their fanciest carpets. For science!
This Upstate-NYer sees minty vehicles with people ON FUCKING CARPET, and I just can’t even comprehend it. The only time I’ve seen carpet under cars is when I’m using ancient scraps to absorb leaks.
That Silvia though, my dear lord what a car.
Welcome to costal California, my friend. Now, it will only cost you another 8 billion dollars or so if you decide you want to stay and continue living at this level! 🙂
What year is that Silvia? I have never seen that, but wow is it beautiful.
65 I think
With the bonnet up, it looks like the Sta-Puft marshmallow man from Ghostbusters.
Can you explain the soup can joke? I’m lost.
I initially assumed it was because this car had been owned by Andy Warhol or something, but that’s not it. With a bit more digging, it appears much more obscure than that.
I think it’s referencing another auto journalist named Jason Cammisa who owned/owns an SD1 in the same color (maybe the same car? IDK) and apparently told a story recently on a car podcast about shoving a lady in a store over some soup cans.
Couldn’t find a burnout on carpet, but braking hard on a rug is a thing.
I have now watched this about 300 times. I might watch it again.
LOL.
Ferrari driver to Mustang driver: hold my espresso and watch this!
Thanks for that. Hehehe!
This is what my Friday morning needed!!
French yellow headlights….Can I even have those in America? Probably not, so another reason to have a cottage somewhere in Europe with a large barn/garage to house the toys I want but can’t afford
Yes, yes you can! I’ve had them on a couple of water cooled VWs. (check your local laws, though)
I used to run them when I lived in PA and had to drive on I-81 and along the Susquehanna River, which are both really fog prone. Never had an issue; back then those awful really blue aftermarket headlights had just come out and the cops were busy hassling those folks.
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.
Photos here to save a search.
Thanks
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.
It’s a cool engine. 3.5L is so small for a V8, especially a GM pushrod
Indeed, tho there were a couple 2.0L v8s that I know of, one being the 1975 Dino 208GT4, and the Lamborghini Uracco P200.
Rover bought the production rights from Buick in the 1960’s, and stuck it in a wide range of cars, so it became the ‘default’ V8 engine for swaps in the UK, because it was so readily available. There really wasn’t much other choice, V8’s were rare and expensive otherwise.
Rover kept making them until the 1990’s, and they ended up making up to a 5 litre version (that TVR used).
PS, over here we just call it the Rover V8, I’m not sure I’ve ever even seen a Buick on this side of the pond.
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….
If I ever have enough money to design my own super car, that’s going to be its name. The Flying Vagina
Also a good name for the school slut
Make sure it’s available in pink.
(Aka: light red – for the “more sensitive” guys)
The interior color would be the same that’s for sure
Alotta Fagina was a very under-appreciated joke in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
Frightening that that film is now as old as the Bond films it was spoofing at the time. Getting old sucks.
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.
It doesn’t have collector plates on it, so I’m guessing it gets out for a lot of fun.
I think it’s roughly 255,000km since it was built in 2012, 9,500km this year (having just got a full body off refresh/rebuild). It has to share time with four other cars…so it’s getting less mileage per year than it used to.