Did You See Anything Good Today? [Read First Post]

[exigeracer]

The Canadian Golf looks so ridiculous. Crazy Canuks!

That was called the City Golf, released alongside the mkV lineup (and City Jetta respectively). They're slightly rebodied mkIV cars sold at discount. We still got everything else. In fact, they still appear to sell them along with the mkVIs, but 5 grand cheaper!

And yes, they both look ridiculous.

 

[astrosdude91]

I'm going into the car spotting archives from the past year.

From my trip to California last June:

F430 Spider at the Santa Monica Pier:

Aston Martin Vanquish, in Beverly Hills:

Maybach in Beverly Hills:

Nissan R32 Skyline GT-R on Hollywood Bl, infront of Grauman's Chinese Theater:

Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 tuned by BF Performance:

From Houston:

Ferrari Daytona, F430, and 360:

Blue Lambo's, Murcielago and Gallardo:

 

[buickgnx88]

I don't know, some big station wagon

Roughly a 1969 Chevy Impala Wagon

 

[Vince_Fiero]

I warn people to be ready to take pictures, but:
1) I did some motorcycling recently, considering a helmet video camera, but otherwise a no go. Sad for the Ferraris I saw on Saturday.
2) While I was tanking Friday eve I thought, looking at the road, what if something spectacular comes up, won't happen, big mistake as usual, could just grab the phone for:

This 1930ies Bugatti:

On the motorway Saturday going to my parents:
Looks like the drive under the covers would be a lot of fun on a circuit:

Driving to work on Friday Mercedes Benz SLK 55 AMG:

and this Ferrari 599 California with a Porsche 911 GT3 RS MKI:

At lunch Friday Bentley Continental GT (you can see the reflection of my car in the first picture):

For the Dac in silver this time, Renault Megane RS:

On my walk Thursday an old beer truck (gives me an idea):

Quite a while ago, an Audi 200, looks impressive with the 4 small exhausts:

Thanks for all the input of the others here (fotos and comments), makes it a fun place to be.

 

[KM964]

astrodude,I know the person who owns the R32.
Vince,thats a California,not a 599.

Anyway,my spots from yesterday.

 

[Joey D]

Snakeskin Green Dodge Viper

Ferrari California

Convertible Mustang

Hummer

Dodge Charger

Isuzu VehiCROSS

 

[E38]

Audi S8 V10

another Audi S8 V10 actually drove by as I took the photo of the parked S8...

Aston Martin DB9 Volante

 

[Vince_Fiero]

Audi S8 V10


another Audi S8 V10 actually drove by as I took the photo of the parked S8...


Aston Martin DB9 Volante

So you did not move and saw 3 super cars, great place to be!

Like the Vettes above, simple but what it should be.

A non post that was open:

MX5 with hard top:

MK I

MK II

MK III (could not find a soft top, with the extra top yet)

 

[E38]

^ Yeah, it was really odd. S8s aren't that common here as most people prefer the bigger Benzs or BMWs so to see two so closely together was a real fluke.

I had to go back down to the waterfront again today, but it was raining so I wasn't expecting much. But I figured I'd take my camera anyway.

2009 BMW M3 Cabrio

Apparently the wet weather meant that the Volante didn't get an outing today. It seems that the DBS is a better wet weather car

2001 Maserati 3200GT

2001 Mustang GT - This is one of the few Ford Mustangs officially imported to New Zealand by Ford. They were first shipped to Australia where they were converted to RHD. They had to meet Australian Design Rules which meant the inclusion high-beam headlights in the front bumper. They aren't very common in New Zealand as they cost $100,000 new, and you could import a LHD one directly from the US for much less.

2005 Subaru Impreza STI

2003 e46 M3 Cabrio in Phoenix Yellow

 

[astrosdude91]

The front end of that Mustang looks different. And I like the plate on the DBS. I wonder how many times that has been registered to a DBS Probably alot!

 

[E38]

I would imagine that it would be a fairly popular number plate

The Mustang has additional lights in the front bumper. They were put there as part of the conversion process by Ford Australia.

The conversion process was far more involved than I realised

The modification involved the manufacture of 150 major new components and 200 minor components such as brackets, as well as the modification of a further 50 existing parts to turn the LHD Mustangs into RHD. More than 250 documented process were involved with the process starting on the US assembly line where the electric drivers seat is wired to the right hand side as well as the fitting of an Australian ADR-compliant windscreen, seatbelts and a Japanese-spec exhaust system along with the Japanese headlamps and tail lamps which are closer to meeting Australian design rules but are still modified in Australia.

Once the cars arrived in Australia the engine, gearbox, seats, carpet, steering column and dash are all removed to start the conversion. A template was used to cut the holes in the firewall for the pedals and steering wheel while a plate was welded and glued over the old holes on the left hand side. Moving the steering wheel to the right caused a domino effect under the bonnet and dash as now the steering column and master cylinder are now in the same position as the air conditioner once was. Again the A/C had to be modified and moved to the left side of the car requiring all the hoses and cabling for the A/C to be rerouted also.

The LHS footwell was slightly larger than the RHS footwell to improve drivers comfort, this meant Tickford had to now modify the RHS footwell to improve comfort for the Australian buyers as well. The footwell mod involved adjusting the shape of the transmission tunnel and removing the right hand offset of the engine and gearbox by replacing the brackets that held the engine and gearbox in place.

Once all the under body modifications were carried out the car was put back together with a new specially developed right hand drive dashboard, new pedals and a new steering rack that is mated to the existing steering column.

Once the car was back together in one piece each Mustang was road tested before being sent to the dealers for sale. If this sounds like a huge effort, you would be right as each car took 55 man hours to complete, Ford Australia aimed to produce 250 RHD cars a year using this method. Unfortunately sales were slow perhaps due to the cars AU$85000 price tag, with production of RHD cars stopping in 2002.

I guess that explains the price, each car was effectively built twice in two different countries before arriving in New Zealand!

 

[astrosdude91]

I went spotting both Saturday and Sunday, so I'd thought I would combine the two days into one post. It's a long one!

Saturday

Prowler:

F430 Spider, from the second story of a two story McDonalds:

Old Mustang Convertible:

Lorinser tuned CL:

V8 Vantage:

Yellow 360 with a painted diffuser:

360 Spider, 996 Cabriolet, and Bentley GTC:

Jeep Cherokee SRT/8:

911 Turbo and S65 AMG:

Lambo Gallardo:

Panamera 4S

Another old Mustang convertible with Magnum 500 rims, the same rims as my Ranger!

Maserari Quattroporte:

Another orange Gallardo:

240SX with a Silvia front end:

Brand new red GranTurismo:

Sunday

Lambo Gallardo Spyder with a yellow interior:

Panamera Turbo:

Yippee! The new Maserati GranCabrio:

Bentley GTC with new rims:

Rolls Royce Corniche:

DB9 Volante:

Another Prowler. This one was two-tone and driven by a woman!

997 GT3:

Maserati Quattroporte:

Vantage and Bentley GT:

Different Vantage:

Last, a BMW M5:

Big post, but a good post I'd say!

 

[Serge.D]

ML 63 AMG.


B.C.GT.


911 Turbo.




Morgan.


XKR.

 

[NISM0_SKYLINE]

Old Chevy or Ford

Fastback Mustang

Old RX-7

Lingenfelter's Maserati

Headless Cobalt

F430

Maserati, barely

Aston

Lotus

Old Van

Maserati 'vert

Not too bad Subaru

Malibu I think

Cougar

Soltice with an aftermarket hood, maybe packing some other goodies. It was out in front of the GM Proving Grounds

Opel/Buick with a fake front logo

Old Conti

 

[Perfect Balance]

240SX with a Silvia front end:

Umm. They came with that front end here. They all have "Silvia" front ends.

 

[astrosdude91]

Umm. They came with that front end here. They all have "Silvia" front ends.

Whoops. Thanks for the clearing that up.

 

[Rue]

Haven't been here for ever. Got a lot of reading to do to catch up in the meantime if you've been keeping up with my camera saga, I got it back from the repair centre yesterday (16 days later than they said) and you'll never guess what... Yes, they haven't fixed anything. In fact they told me on the phone that they'd updated the firmware (the G11 doesn't have any public FW update yet) which I imagined to be their in house Beta version. On the report it simply said they'd reset the camera settings. Didn't they stop to think for one second that I might have done that? WHen I called the engineer yesterday he confirmed that no they didn't do a firmware update and yes they just reset the camera settings. So, basically they lied to me... twice.

The reason why my photos are no longer visible is because Photobucket's service is so shoddy I'm switching to another host even though I'm paying them money for the next 7 months.

So, I do apologise for not updating this thread for so long. Blame Canon and Photobucket. I implore you to never use either of them as they are utter rubbish. Anyway, I digress. After a couple of hours spent on post production to make the photos look better than the crap they started out as here are my photos from yesterday afternoon in the rain.

I was stuck under a bridge drinking beer and eating biltong for much of the afternoon as the heavens dropped on Hong Kong hence the photos of rather mundane stuff such as vans and standard Mercs and Bimmers, but I think the photos turned out ok so I'm putting them up anyway.

 

[E38]

2010 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed.

Two black sports sedans: HSV Grange follows AMG E55

2001 HSV Grange 250 LS1

I also saw an Aston Martin AMV8 N400 but wasn't quick enough to catch a photo of it

 

[harrytuttle]

Alfa Romeo Giulia Super 16

Cute, but must be a blast to drive.


Audi RS4 Convertible 2008



Audi S8 2009



Bentley Continental T

Bravely holding out against the VW/Audi horde....


BMW M3 Convertible 2010



BMW M6 2008

Maybe the fact that I haven't seen much of anything made me post this. The car isn't really all that.


Cadillac CTS-V 2010

Current version keeps the older version's face (for good reason).


Citroen 2CV

Waaayy back there in the corner of the mirror. I'm sure you can see it. I can. Sort of.



Datsun 510 1980

Looks half its 30 year age and only recently showed up.


Dodge Viper RT-10 1992

An original, curvy and low-slung. And in a hurry.


Dodge Viper SRT-10 2008

Faster, better, but not better-looking.


Ferrari 355 Berlinetta



Ford Expedition FMF

Was there a special edition, or is this just a FMF wannabe?


Ford Sport Trak Adrenaline

>extreme!!<


Ford GT

I think this guy thought I was racing him. I honestly wasn't (I couldn't stand a chance, nor do I condone such things), but I really wanted a good photo. I think I got one...or two.


Ford Mustang Boss-Shinoda ~1995

Speaking of unknown special editions, was there ever a 'Shinoda' version of the Mustang? I can't imagine any one individual having such a thing for Larry Shinoda.


Ford Mustang Saleen S281 Extreme

This actually was an Extreme, but I couldn't catch the side-marker badge on film.


Ford Mustang SVT Cobra Convertible

This guy was cruising fast for mile after mile. Only traffic allowed me to catch up.


Honda Civic GX

Natural gas FTW!


Lamborghini Gallardo Spider

Why so serious?


Lexus IS-F 2010



Lotus Elise



Maserati Gran Sport



Mercedes-Benz 560SEC

Old-school thugg-mobile.


Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG

New-school mom-mobile.


MG MGA/MGB



Pontiac Le Mans Sport 400 1971

For Cano. And everyone else who loves older cars.


Porsche/RUF 911

I hope this actually is a RUF. I saw him once going by and thought I'd have more time to photograph. He left in quite a hurry. Timing is everything!


Porsche 911 Turbo 1986/2010



Porsche 944 Turbo 1989



Saturn Vue Red Line 2009

What part of this holds true to Saturn's original mission statement, and what part led to it's demise?


Volkswagen Eos 3.2

I thought this was only available in 2.0T; obviously not. Still sounds the same, though.


Volvo P1800

Kind of like 'The Persuaders' on a budget.

 

[astrosdude91]

Does anyone car spot on google street view? I do when I'm bored.

 

[Rue]

Does anyone car spot on google street view? I do when I'm bored.

I found an MC12 on a trailer in Tokyo

 

[NISM0_SKYLINE]

Does anyone car spot on google street view? I do when I'm bored.

Rue's MC 12 is on the second page.

 

[Jondot]

Please tell me that numberplate isn't Photoshopped

 

[buickgnx88]

Ford Expedition FMF

Was there a special edition, or is this just a FMF wannabe?

Yes there was!

Ford Mustang Boss-Shinoda ~1995

Speaking of unknown special editions, was there ever a 'Shinoda' version of the Mustang? I can't imagine any one individual having such a thing for Larry Shinoda.

Also yes!

 

[E38]

2006 Smart Roadster

2008 Jaguar XKR Convertible and 2008 Bentley Continental GT Convertible

2001 Ford F150 SVT Lightning

1979 Landrover 88

2000 Nissan Stagea RS-Four

2009 BMW M3

2009 BMW 750i

2005 Maserati 4200GT Cambrio Corsa

 

[NISM0_SKYLINE]

Vantage

Old Beetle

MG

Mahindra Scorpio

 

[Rue]

F430

Rare as anything Bentley Turbo S with a clamp... Oops!

Bentley Continental T

 

[Vince_Fiero]

I
Jeep Cherokee SRT/8:

Had one of those in my US car overview, did not even see it as special.

I tried to Google Earth some rich area's for exotic cars, but no success there. Maybe should try streets once.

Nice posts here.

I had more quite days:

This Nissan 350Z was stuck in front of me in a traffic jam, I started appreciating the lines more and more while seeing them. Then he let himself run backwards a bit, but did not notice it is seems, I needed to push the horn so he stopped:

Started to like cars like this Kia Soll 4U, quite unusual:

But better: coming back from a meeting in Belgium I saw at the border this old Renault NSU TT in rally colours:

and yesterday evening going out on the bike I first saw this old Opel Kadett in rally colours:

then noticed I was parked next to this Opel GT:

Always loved this model as you notice.

also on this motorbike trip a Porsche 911 quite well placed for a picture:

Final picture on the motor trip: New BMW Z4 S-drive 35i, seems no M version would come and this would be the top:

Going home yesterday,

the good old BMW Z8 parked in an other positition again:

little detour to put paper in recycling bins, I came across this Audit TT Cabrio, Lotus Elise show down scene:

Not certain what the supercharged on the Elise means, but really liked the colour:

You might have noticed, I really liked the Elise

 

[TheCracker]

Vince, your 'old Renault' is an NSU TT

 

[Vince_Fiero]

Vince, your 'old Renault' is an NSU TT

Sorry made me think of this one: