Out for a stroll... [exotic car spotting]

[Sherlock]

Ho hum...

While out for a stroll on a beautiful spring day, spotted a Mercedes-Benz 300SL gull-wing, just an "ordinary" car, probably the same one I saw at an indoor show earlier in the year, I think there's only one around here.

Anyone have any great stories of exotic car encounters "in the wild"? (ie. non-car show setting, out in public)

One I'll never forget... Following a Lamborghini Miura, I think sometime in the mid-1990's. It happened by sheer chance, turned onto a local road to head home and there was a Miura two cars in front of me

The car just happened to follow the same route I would normally take home... The pickup truck in front of me eventually turned off and I was directly behind (saw it was running Alberta dealer plates)... car turned off into the same community I lived in but an earlier turnoff than I normally take, didn't follow!... one right turn later went into the labyrinth of roads in my community to find the car and was successful!... Saw the car nose first inside a garage at a house and the guy was headed into his house, apparently didn't feel like talking... Did talk to his wife on the front lawn briefly and she said something about the car heading over to Japan...

Any more spottings "in the wild"?

 

[UltimateQuestion]

Way back in 1984 I was riding on the back of a motorcycle with an Air Force buddy out in Sacramento CA. We pulled up next to some girls at a light and then raced them through traffic for about 5 minutes until we were thoroughly lost. (Warning: Don't try this yourself - it was stupid and dangerous!) The "race" had probably topped 80 mph at some points and the car easily kept up with our bike. They were driving a Jensen CV8! At that time I didn't really know what exactly it was but it was fast! Now I know it was rare too!

[ 04-26-2004: Message edited by: UltimateQuestion ]</p>

 

[mongoose]

A family in my parents neighborhood is a dealer, and they regularly have something exotic - typically Italian - in their driveway: Lambo Count, Diablo; many Ferraris; always an Alfa, even the late model stuff.

 

[Steve]

Sounds like Reina. Am I close?

 

[William]

There is a De Tomaso in regular use around here. Not a vintage Pantera or Mangusta, but the late model one the name of which escapes me ATM (I believe its the model that MG is basing the SV on). Saw it yesterday, in fact, and it needed a bath, which made me feel better. There is also a Panoz Esperante around here-I usually see it in traffic on the way to work in spring/summer. I've also spotted a Maserati 3200GT around here. I almost hate to say it, but Ferraris are almost common around here-not that you see on every day or even every week, but there's an exotic dealer near here and a lot of people who have made a lot of money in the last few years. The only vintage exotics I've seen around here tend to be old prewar American cars (which is why I desperately need an Auburn 851 now) and, inexplicably, an Alfa Romeo Montreal.
-William

 

[Sherlock]

Related to that last post...

I did also see a Ferrari this past weekend on the same stretch of road (I think F355 Spider or something like that) but it wasn't as worthy of mention here. Newer exotics like that don't usually get me going as much as the older exotic cars.

For one thing, by and large the older exotics look far better than the newer ones, IMHO.

 

[Bruce Bowker]

Being a "garage groupy" whenever I am back in my area in New Jersy, I visit the small garage where my cars get worked on, nearly every day. Not the cars being worked on every day, me visting every day. Seen too many exotics to name but some would be a genuine Cobra, a beautiful Lamborghini 400 GT, numnerous Miura, an Aston Martin DB6 and what was apparently once Cher's DB5. What I really want to see is a Ferrari 250 GTO. Doubt I will.

 

[mongoose]

Steve, you're not close. You're right on the mark.

 

[SoloSpridget]

Couple years ago I went out to Aspen skiing for spring break, on the way we stopped in Vail for gas, and I saw a Lamborghini LM002 running around, a black one. Something like 365 produced.

Then when we got to Aspen I saw a red Ferrari F50, twice. That car has the best sounding engine ever! Also under 400 made, 395?

I also saw a Murcielago, way, way early. I don't consider them common, but now that they're out there in the world, I wouldn't mention it, but it was early, before I knew they were in the US.

[ 04-26-2004: Message edited by: SoloSpridget ]</p>

 

[sammyb]

On Friday I saw a '68 Lamborghini Miura driving the other way about 3 miles from my house...and I saw a Pantera today.

Both are owned by friends of mine, but they both were out driving... It's only the second time I've seen the Miura out since I drove it last year for my column's profile.

The Pantera is in regular use in nice weather.

 

[Guest]

This past summer I saw a Ferrari F50 twice on the road !! I gets serviced by the same shop that ported my cylinderhead. I also saw a Cream with Plaid interior 300SL Gulwing. It was in heavy traffic while I was on my way to school. I gave him a tumbs up and he waved and smiled back.

 

[sammyb]

Come to think of it, last week when I drove up I5 to Seattle, there were two Ferraris -- a F355 and F40 going southbound in tandem. There are a bunch of F40s and F50s and Enzos in Seattle.

 

[MattP]

My favorite sighting was a DeTomaso Pantera. It was about mid 80's and the thing that really made it stick was looking over to the driver and seeing a "Just shoot me" expression. He and his wife(?) in the passenger seat looked like they had been to heck and back. The 3 yr old with them was fresh as a daisy. As they pulled away, the rest of the story was the California plate in Dallas, TX. I hope they hadn't come all that way like that, but they sure looked it.

 

[waltesefalcon]

Got ya all beat. When I was a little kid (5) I remeber my dad had a job putting in some playground equipment in at a dude ranch in Colorado, don't ask me where I can't remeber. Anyway we stayed there for a week and while we were there we meet the guy who at the time (1986) had the largest collection of Duesenbergs in the world, and he happened to be driving a 1936 SJ. He took my dad and I for a ride, and I've been hooked on cars ever since.

Cheers,

Walter

 

[aeronca65t]

Both of these places are near my house. The Stable has a nice Ferrari GTB/4 right now and High Marques has a new Aston-Martin convertible in the window.

https://www.stableltd.com/inventory.aspx

https://www.highmarques.com/

I saw many of the classic racers and their cars in the '60s / '70s. Mark Donahue in his Camaro, Graham Hill in his last F1 car, Jim Hall in his Chapparrel and so forth. One year when I was in college (I think '69) we were at Watkin Glen and we saw an actual Mako Shark (GM Corvette concept car) with Zora Arkus-Duntov driving it. I recognized him and we went up and talked to him for a minute....he was a nice fellow.

I rode in a GT-350H a few years ago. It was owned by Greg Kolasa, who is an officer in the Shelby Amercian Automobile Club (I'm a friend of Greg's brother). The ratcheting Detroit locker sounds cool.

I'm sort of a Bugatti nut and I was overwhelmed by seeing seven Type 35Bs at Lime Rock last year.

 

[sammyb]

In our region of classic car club we have a bunch of Duesies, three or four Bugattis (and they get driven,) some Merc 540Ks, and the obligatory gaggle of V12 Packards, Caddies, Auburns etc... It's so great to see these cars out being driven.

 

[Eric]

Around here, my GT6 counts as exotic.

A really cool ride is considered to be a 1 ton diesel pickup with duallies. Sigh......

 

[Sherlock]

... Up here in the frozen north (wet snow in the forecast tonight!

) we don't get to see that many ultra-exotic cars out and about, somehow doubt if there is a Duesenberg in the province - with the exception of the one displayed in a museum. I'm almost envious of some of you guys sometimes hearing stories like that.

But overall Calgary is still a great place to live and on a nice clear day there is a great view of the mountains, even from within the city here

The best beauty of all, even better than the most beautiful cars in the world.

[ 04-27-2004: Message edited by: Sherlock ]</p>

 

[huck6]

We used to see a lot of neat classics in the Copper State Rally as it came through Flagstaff, but I've seen little other than typical Detroit iron since moving to Ohio. Maybe they will sneak out during the summer months.

 

[rulle7]

Well, I've lived in Tokyo since '91, with a year north of Toronto in '02-'03.
Used to pedal my bicycle to Shinjuku station every morning in the early 90:s.
Most mornings I was side by side with the same (vulgar) Testa Rossa, needless to say, I always beat him to my destination. Tokyo traffic...
Tokyo, being a big city, exotics are not all that exotic...Murcielagos, Modenas, Astons...can all be seen regularly on the roads here.
But my most memorable encounter was only a few months ago.
Driving back late at night, a Toyota 2000GT was in front of me for a good half hour.
A true beauty, never seen one one the road before or since. What surprised me most was that at all the red lights I was pulling up alongside admiring this fantastic car, tons of people crossing the streets...and no one, NOT A SINGLE PERSON, took notice.
It seems in Tokyo, a city of 20 million people, only a pasty Swede will oogle a 2000GT.
After more than 10 years in this country, I have yet to figure things out...