New Years Meet 2012

Courtesy of Ka Ry

These are from a 1,006 photo set, so you should really just click the link and scroll through everything. I'm not doing it justice here.

Imposter

I'm not usually much for replicars, particularly not when it comes to the pre-war Grand Prix cars that I'm so fond of. Most involve VW running gear, fiberglass bodies, awkward proportions, and are little more than mockeries of the cars they're intended to replicate.

This home-built Maserati 250F, on the other hand, represents a very nice product that should be within the reach of lots of prospective buyers. I don't think I'll ever own a real 250F, originals are worth around ~$3 million, but it seems like this would get pretty close to providing the same visceral experience.

The car was built in the UK, is aluminum bodied, and is powered by a BMW 2.5L straight-six with three Weber 40DCOE's. It is road legal, hence the tiny cycle fenders.

While I'm not crazy about a German powerplant in a replica 250F, it has to be very quick and I bet it sounds terrific. The builder currently has no plans to sell these to anyone but I'd like to convince him otherwise.

Preview

I sold the S14 last weekend because a nice kid offered me a good price for it and realistically I don't think I was going to have the patience to finish it. It was also incredibly obnoxious on my 60 mile roundtrip commute, mainly because of the PBM's. If I decide I still want to own a nice S14, I think I'd prefer to just buy Nate's car and change a few things around.

In the meantime, I've picked up something new, and by new, I mean very old.

Photos aren't ready yet and I'm still trying to get it roadworthy, but in the meantime here is some related material.

Mercedes Motoring is an operation out in California that restores primarily W116 and W123 diesels. The work they do is *astounding* and their travel photos are terrific. No airbags or rusted hoods here, these are 100% stock restorations.

He likes it, hey Mikey

I don't generally like MX83/GX81's very much, but this is snazzy. Fender mirrors make everything better.

1JZ 5MT

Wheels are AutoStrada Monza.

Shot by Masaru

Hello BRZ

Not new information, I just like the video.

F31 Redux

This time shot by Masaru Tanaka

Hachimaru Meeting

Thanks to Ka Ry

Finally

Some surprise about pricing notwithstanding, I'm really excited about this. I'm just a little sad that Best Motoring isn't around anymore to review it.

Wat

Somewhere in Japan, there is apparently a museum that specializes in rare Mercedes unicorns, ricey Suburbans, and.....Hawaiian shirts?

Found HERE

Nakayoshi Hot Olds (2)

Nakayoshi Hot Olds

British Car Day 2011 - Swap Meet

I'm still soldiering on with this stuff because it interests me, fully aware that it probably doesn't interest anyone else.

This meet has a very substantial swap meet/sale area, which I've also noticed being the case at many meets in Japan like Historix. Whenever I go to a meet in the US, S-chassis or somesuch, this never seems to be the case, which is a shame.

I like poking through endless piles of crap hoping to find something that interests me, and it's also just fun to look at.

This guy had a lot of Lucas electrical bits, including starters, headlights, etc. I'm sure he does a brisk business as this stuff has abysmal failure rates.

Same vendor, but this table was all OEM tool kits. New cars don't really come with much in the way of tools, as no one knows how to fix anything themselves anymore.

Shop manuals, service manuals, and parts catalogs.


Diecast model cars, which was of particular interest to me as I collect old Lesney/Matchbox vehicles. I did not walk away empty handed.

This vendor probably had ten tables of random stuff, including lots of badges.

British Car Day 2011 - Engines

I think modern engine bays generally look terrible, made worse by the increasingly common black plastic covers.

Engine shots are my favorite part of this show, as there are lots of Jaguars and no one has ever made a prettier postwar engine than Jaguar has, leaving aside the fact that the car will probably only run half the time.

Jaguar E-Type

Jaguar XK140

Lotus Elan

Morgan


Jaguar XJS V12

British Car Day 2011

The Chesapeake MG-T Register puts on a British car show at Lilypons gardens that I attend every year. I'm really starting to wonder why I screw around with S14's and things when I could have a TR6 or a TC...

Go here for 2009 and 2010

This year I thought it justified more than one post, so I'll spread the pictures out over the next week or so.

These catch my eye every year, although I think they're a handful.

The parking lot is sometimes even better than the show field. This is obviously not English, but it is probably my favorite postwar car of any type, the Citroen DS.

This is apparently an MG TC underneath. Definitely my favorite car of the show.

Morgan three-wheeler. Note V-twin motorcycle engine up front.

One of the few motorcycles. Not sure what exact BSA this is, maybe a Gold Star?