I haven’t seen one in person, but I just watched this video about the McMurtry Spéirling Pure, a single-seater RWD electric that can do 0-60 in 1.5 seconds, thanks to the fans that suck it down to the ground. It weighs about 3,000 pounds and has two tons of downforce at any speed. It can (and has) literally drive upside down.
Top speed is 190 mph. Range is 40-50km at LMP2 race car pace.
Yours for only £995,000, exclusive of applicable taxes, shipping & selected options.
I was driving on a country-ish road and there was a car stopped on the side of the road, with three people outside of it (I don’t know what they were doing). It was really wide. It’s along the lines of this:
I have never seen a car that wide before. It was pulled of the side of the (narrow) road, but still I had to slow down to go around it. I don’t know how it would work if it was on the road.
The original Hummer H1 was 86.5" wide, probably the widest normal passenger vehicle out there. I assume this was appreciably wider than that?
When I saw the car I was thinking about twice as wide as a regular car. Doing some checking and it could be close to 12 feet (a lot more than the 86.5). Then checking and roads are around 12 feet. I did see the car at a distance on a regular road and it seemed to be almost the entire width of the road. So, maybe 11 feet, give or take.
I saw a custom, hot pink $200,000 McLaren 540C apparently belonging to Jordan Fink, who is the son of Lord Fink. I found this out by googling the license plate number, believe it or not.
On the commute home tonight I was behind a Porsche Taycan 4S electric sports sedan, which starts at $130K.
I think I’ve seen this one before, but a pristine 2nd generation (1993-2001) Honda Street, the passenger van version of the Honda Acty.
A red Porsche 928, and Lori Schutz
I hadn’t seen a Porsche 928 on the road in a while, until just now. And this one is very clean and straight.
All 928s are now at least 31 years old and many approach 50 years old. They were manufactured from 1977 to 1995, back in the day when Porsche was considering ending the iconic 911 (air-cooled, rear-engined) and moving to water-cooled, front-engined cars like most of all the other cars on the road.
Porsche fans and owners were up in arms about that 70s and 80s decision and they convinced Porsche to not only keep the 911, but to ensure it remained the company’s marquee model.
In 1981, American Peter Schutz, previously an engineer with Caterpillar Tractor and then corporate strategic planner and VP of Cummins Diesel Engines, became CEO of Porsche and he insisted they keep the 911 and he helped to re-establish it as the quintessential Porsche. This decision helped to turn around and restore the then-ailing company.
Schutz ended his run as CEO in 1987, and in 2017 he passed away. Today his daughter, Lori, is an acquaintance and a fellow member in the 356 club. She has delivered presentations reviewing her father’s efforts restoring the company and the revered 911.
Here we are with Lori Schutz (center) and with the in-laws and we’re holding books and pictures of her father, Peter Werner Schutz, and Ferry Porsche (gray hair in the picture), son of Ferdinand Porsche who was the founder of both Porsche and Volkswagen, and also creator of the VW Beetle in the 1930s. Lori signed this book for us. This photo is from April 2025 in Walnut Creek CA.
Late 40s/early 50’s Chevy Suburban rat rod. Loud as hell and a whole lot faster than I expected it to be.
Also, while posting the pictures, I noticed it has an old Thermador swamp cooler (AC) mounted to the window.
I actually saw a Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster in traffic today, and thanks to this post from a few months back I actually knew what it was.
When they were first released I saw maybe 3-5 out there. They’re rare. And it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any Ineos Grenadier out ‘in the wild’.
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Last night we drive down to LA. 350 miles south of San Francisco. When we arrived we spotted…
South Pasadena Police drives Teslas
My pics here (imgur):
South Pasadena’s was the very first police department in the country to fully adopt Teslas (or any electric vehicle; as per the Internet). They made national history by launching the country’s first 100% all-electric police fleet, primarily utilizing Tesla Model Y cruisers.
We arrived last night and spotted this in a store parking lot (and no, it wasn’t a donut shop). When the officers came out, I asked them if they were a fan of this car, and no they weren’t. It was a brief conversation and they didn’t get into details, but essentially they said that Teslas weren’t great for their safety.
It’s an opinion and everyone has their opinion. It’s simply one data point.
Asking Google, What cities’ police departments drive Teslas? I got these results:
➤ Several city police departments across the United States have integrated Teslas into their law enforcement fleets for patrol, detective, or administrative duties.
➤ South Pasadena, California: The South Pasadena Police Department made history as the first law enforcement agency in the country to replace its entire fleet with zero-emission electric vehicles, operating 10 Tesla Model Ys for patrol and 10 Model 3s for detective and administrative duties.
➤ Bargersville, Indiana: The Bargersville Police Department began adding Teslas to its fleet in 2019 and now operates a growing fleet of over a dozen Tesla Model 3 and Model Y cruisers (including a specialized Model Y K-9 unit).
➤ Westport, Connecticut: The Westport Police Department added a Tesla Model 3 to its local patrol and community policing capabilities. (If you’re in Westport CT, have you seen this Tesla 3?)
➤ Fremont, California: The Fremont Police Department was an early pioneer, deploying a used Tesla Model S as a pilot patrol vehicle in 2019 before later adding a Tesla Model Y to its active patrol operations.
➤ Other Cities and Agencies: Additional departments—such as Huntington Beach and Menlo Park in California, Cary in North Carolina, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department—have utilized or tested Teslas for selective patrol, traffic enforcement, or administrative assignments.
A Merkur XR4Ti! Very rare, very uncommon!
Web pics; from imgur:
(These are web photos — I usually don’t do this, I usually don’t post only web photos; sometimes I’ll include some with my own photo(s), but this is a rare instance because…)
Last night we drove down to LA. On I-5, in the afternoon before the sun set, on the other side driving north while we were driving south, I spotted a white Merkur XR4Ti.
Wow!
Its front end is very distinctive and it caught my eye as I saw it approach. Then as it passed I clearly spotted its unique bi-plane rear spoiler. The Merkur XR4Ti!
It went by so quickly that I couldn’t get a photo (of course), so that’s why I’m posting web photos of it. I still only post about cars that I see out ‘in the wild’.
The Merkur XR4Ti was manufactured for the 1985–1989 model years. It was a Ford product, specifically, assembled in Germany and from Ford of Europe. They were largely hand-built by Wilhelm Karmann GmbH in Rheine, Germany. They were brought to North America to compete with sporty luxury imports like BMW.
In German, ‘Merkur’ means Mercury, and the cars were sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealers. Ford’s projected sales targets were never met. Both the XR4Ti and its larger sibling, the Merkur Scorpio (remember those?), struggled to establish their identity in the North American market, both with the public and with dealers. They both were very niche vehicles.
As per wiki, the XR4Ti was the last vehicle imported by Ford into North America from Germany until 2016, when the Ford Focus RS was introduced.
One final note — my brother once owned a Merkur Scorpio and he really liked it. So did I. Larger than the XR4Ti, the Scorpio was the luxury sedan for Merkur and I remember it being very comfortable. And the rear seat was an electric reclining seat! Very nice for the late 1980s (the Merkur Scorpio was only sold for the 1988-1989 model years).
15 years ago or so, the Breckenridge Colorado police force drove Range Rovers. Not only are the easy to spot, they scream “Yeah, we have plenty of money”
LOL!
Last night at Dodger Stadium for the SF Giants game there was an INEOS Grenadier.
The VW Saveiro
(my pics + web pics)
The Volkswagen Saveiro is a compact, front-wheel-drive pickup truck built in Brazil and sold across Latin America and select markets.
This was the first time I ever saw one. We saw it on the LA freeways on our way to Dodger Stadium to see the SF Giants get crushed for the second game in a row.
➜ https://www.volkswagen-stmaarten.com/en/models/saveiro.html ◆
GO GIANTS!
That’s a car even I consider ugly! 
I saw an old Saab 900 on the road this morning. Based on a quick check of Wikipedia it looks like it was from somewhere between 1987-94. From what I understand most Saab enthusiasts consider these (and perhaps the 9000) to be the last “real” Saabs, as they were the last cars they designed before GM took over.
I saw a six wheeled Jeep Gladiator at a light. I tried to get a picture of it, but I couldn’t before the light changed.
In the past week, I’ve been seeing the new pattern regularly. From AB to AH. I haven’t seen AA yet.
We have a neighbor who always has a Saab or two in various states of decay parked out front. My kid, who does not seem to care about cars, specifically asked about the Saab 900, and commented that they really liked it.
A few blocks away is a house with a Saab 95 (or 9-5) wagon. Nextdoor to the 9-5 house is the Volvo house, that has among others a V70 or V80 wagon. All kinds of Scandinavian wagon action from the 90s or 00s going on, and they’re both drivers.
