And… I saw a blue one today.
A VW Phaeton W12, in a tiny Swiss mountain town.
Mercury Marauder, the 2003-04 version. That is the very definition of a sleeper. I heard a car with a loud, aggressive sounding exhaust note a few cars ahead of me. I scanned the traffic up ahead too see what was making all that noise, expecting to see a performance tuned Mustang or something, but I didn’t see anything that looked like a high performance car. Surely that sound couldn’t be coming from that Grand Marquis (I assumed). When I got closer to it and realized what it actually was it all made sense.
At the trailhead in Felton this morning, I thought this truck was pretty interesting.
Visited the new Thunder Road car museum in Enumclaw today. Lots, lots of Mustangs, but for me the most interesting cars were a Fiat Topolino and an old-style Fiat 500. Fascinating gems.
My friend Jerry, looking at a huge old Ford: “Yeah, I used to…” [gets better look at year of manufacture on the data sheet] “…not own a Ford like this.”
Me: “That’s not exactly a compelling story, Jer.” 
A Citroen 2CV, in a rusty orange color, in quite good shape. It was being passed by an 80s Ferrari, maybe a 308.
An honest to dog Delorean, right here in my 'hood!
Early '70s Mustang Mach 1. Yellow with black accents. The paint was a little dull so it was either a survivor or an older restore.
First interesting car I saw this week was my new Kia Niro EV. My daily driver since February is a Model 3, previous was a BMW 4 series which has been sitting in the driveway depreciating since I got the Tesla, so I sold it and put the money toward the Kia. I’m officially all-electric now. I got it mainly for doing Lyft/Uber, which is a new hobby/retirement fund boost, some volunteer driving, hauling things, etc. I see Model 3s everywhere in Boston but yet to see another Niro EV. If you’re looking to get into an EV and want something not as “different” as the Tesla, or looking for a crossover, or looking to spend a bit less money, check it out if you live in a ZEV state. Tough to find one for under MSRP but they have the full $7500 federal tax credit and many states have incentives. You can get one for around $30k after incentives, but you’ll have to add $1-2k if you live in a colder climate and want the optional heat pump and battery heater. It’s not as silly-fast as the Tesla but I’m seeing excellent efficiency, around 4.5 miles/kWh which equates to 288 miles range.
Yesterday while Lyft driving after work, I saw a Lamborghini I had never seen before. After some googling, I found it was a Diablo VT. No wonder I’d never seen one before, only around 200 were made.
And if that wasn’t enough, when I went out to dinner after Lyfting yesterday, as I was leaving I saw a right hand drive S-Cargo in the parking lot!
It was a good week to be a car nerd.
I always liked the Mustang Mach 1 when I was a kid. There was a blue one I’d see on the way home from school.
(I also remember that headrests were showing up on cars. I always imagined the seats were robots.)
A beautifully restored Renault Dauphine Gordini, outside the highest pub in Europe.
I saw a Suzuki X-90 this morning.
A spotless 1963-66 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III, making its stately way north on I-45 in Conroe, TX.
We have almost exactly a year left on our Bolt lease. I love the Bolt, but we’ll definitely consider both the Niro EV and the Hyundai Kona next year. But the bit of pep the Bolt delivers has me wanting even more zoom-zoom, and the Tesla is soooo tempting. I can’t quite justify the price, but man it would be cool.
Sometime in the '90s, I was heading north on Sepulveda just north of Venice Blvd (in L.A.). There’s a hill there. I saw a similar classic Rolls-Royce ahead of me. It got about halfway up, and then erupted in an enormous cloud of steam. Seriously, the whole car was engulfed. Pretty impressive.
The Model 3 and the Niro EV actually start around the same price. The Niro does currently qualify for the full $7500 federal tax credit, while the Tesla is down to $1875 credit, so there’s that. The combined $9k between the federal credit and $1500 incentive offered by MA definitely helped drive my decision to pick up the Niro.
So far, I love both vehicles, for entirely different reasons. If someone asked me to recommend one or the other, it’d probably be a fairly long conversation. ![]()
Yesterday I saw a late sixties Nova that had been “tubbed”. That’s when they modify the rear wheel wells and shorten the differential to fit big rear tires completely inside the body. I’ve seen that many times over the years (and hated it). What was interesting about this one was how big the rear tires were. At first glance it almost looked like one big rear tire going all the way across. Beautiful car otherwise and from the sound of the motor, could probably light those big tires right up!
Interesting. The only time I heard ‘tubbed’, it meant completely disassembling a car so that all you have is the ‘tub’. Then you can start the restoration.
Do a Google image search for tubbed Nova. I’d do a link but I’m on my tablet.
1973 AMC Gremlin. Green with white stripes. Driven by late 20-ish looking man.