Back in ‘65 I bought a brand new Morris Cooper from the dealership in Narrabeen, a northern beaches suburb of Sydney (Australia). As yet, there are no Scapes for that area of Australia, but there are quite a few from Victoria.
Here’s “my Cooper“ on the Great Ocean Road. I even remember the number plate 😂
Tech specs. This had the short stroke 998 cc motor. I asked the famed tuner, Bob Holden, to work a little affordable magic, and his work on the ports and head boosted the top speed from 86 mph to 99. At that speed, it had pretty much run out of revs. Fitted with Michelin radials, (a hand-me-down from my previous Morris 850), the handling was a lot of fun.
At times during replays, the trackside camera position goes really high. When it does, hit pause ⏸, then the camera icon, then choose camera number 1. Compose it and finally zoom out as far as possible to emphasize the feeling of height.
Back in the late 90‘s, I was the ecstatic owner of a base model 993 coupe in my favorite color, Speed Yellow. The 993 was the last of the air cooled 911s, and the sound was so awesome that I usually wound the windows down before starting it up.
Back in those days, roads way out in Central Australia had no actual speed limit, we just had to establish that we were driving “safely”. Over several days, I pushed my comfort zone higher and higher until eventually I discovered the car‘s limit. After long periods of driving at 260 km/h, slowing to 130 felt like it was crawling.
On the track, the handling was incredible, right up to that moment when snap oversteer set in. 😳
The two cars below ⬇️ were bought hoping I could strip off the wings and reproduce “my” 993. It didn’t work, but they’re still beautiful. The floor they stand on is evocative of the red Australian desert.
From the era that gave us the E-Type, Toyota offered this beauty. I find the interior quite compelling, with an extraordinary amount of timber. Not only that, but in stock form it's just a nice drive, with good manners. Last price I saw was only 982,000.
I love the details. The elegant doorhandles. The swooping line of the doors themselves. The wheels with lettering on the hubs saying which way to undo. "RIGHT SIDE * TOYOTA * → UNDO" (clockwise on the right, anti-clockwise on the left).
This paint color does it no favors. I would wait until it becomes available in something more appealing, such as my choice, which is white. I wonder if it ever comes with red seats. Mine are grey. (I'll post my car below):-
So many interesting Jaguars. Now for the D-Type. One of my best purchasing choices in this game, and you'll see why without even driving it...
Scroll down to see a very short video showing that the almost-invisible fan behind the front radiator is actually rotating. I'f I hadn't been crawling around on the floor at Hagerty's, I'd never have noticed it.
Buckle up, this is a long post precisely because there's a LOT of detail to love
It looks even better in the flesh. The lighting in this room makes for difficult photography so I used a lot of post-processing to highlight detail at the expense of aesthetics
