Ultimate Aussie Dealer-Installed Option

They're called, for reasons that should be fairly obvious, "roo bars." After failing to get photos of the late-model Holden Commodores and (maybe) Ford Falcons I kept seeing fitted with slick, flush-mounted, body-colored ones, the real prize turned up parked in front of a foofy restaurant in Brisbane: this W124 Mercedes outback-burner with the full road warrior treatment. Roos beware.

Click on the pic for a closer look

Read more »

"They Don't Make Em Like This Anymore": 1978 Volvo 280E

Indeed, they never made them at all!

Click on the pic to check out the auction

Read more »

It's a Wolseley ... why?

Read more »

Scene Report: Island of Valiants

American flavor...



...and homegrown.

Read more »

Scene Report: Ute-opia

Why do I have no sympathy for the plight of the American auto industry? Because if you totaled up all the money those jackasses forfeited by not selling these things in the U.S. for the past two decades you could bail 'em all out twenty times over.

Spotted around Sydney during an hour-long walk this morning:

























Holden or Ford, take your pick (they're virtually impossible to tell apart). This one even has its Chevy bowtie already in place!

Read more »

No Accounting for Taste Department: 1984 Lotus Turbo Esprit

Presumably Giugiaro wasn't responsible for the typesetting.

Click on the pic to check out the auction.

Read more »

I ♥ the 80s: 1982 Ferrari 400i

Ferrari has yet to build a prettier four-seater. A bargain at twenty grand, and you'll only have to pay fifteen more for the engine overhaul. I'd still prefer a five-speed.

Click on the pic to check out the auction.

Read more »

O.G. "Four-Door Coupe": 1963 Aston Martin Lagonda Rapide

Am I the only one who finds the whole "four-door coupe" meme completely retarded? And not helped at all by the tacky Mercedes for which the marketing goons invented it? Not that there's anything wrong with a low-slung sporting four-door sedan, mind you. I'd take this one in a heartbeat. Just don't call it a freaking coupe.

Click on the pic to check out the auction

Read more »

I Know That Someday Will Never Come: 1957 Lancia Aurelia

"Q: 25.000 USD to buy your car"
"A: Bidding STARTS at $25,000.00 USD. I do have a reserve set. The reserve price is NOT $1 million dollars like the buy it now price."

Cheeky.

Honorable mention to the guy asking if a small-block Chevy would fit. Except he seems to be serious.

Click on the pic to check out the auction.

Read more »

Fishy: 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel Pickup

As has been established on these pages, there seems to be no little enthusiasm for old diesel Rabbits at present in this country, and even more for the diesel Rabbit's unibody pickup variant, so when this newly listed craigslist ad, showing a seemingly immaculate example and asking less than three grand, caught my eye I was ready to head on down to the bank for a cashier's check with the sole intention of immediately flipping it.

Curious though, I thought, looking closer, that the ad listed no location (usually a tip-off that something's less than kosher in craigslistland). Still more curious was what I found over on ebaymotors when, just to see what kinda windfall I could be expecting, I searched on completed auctions for Volkswagen Rabbits: a listing for the same truck, with the same photos, clearly written by the same person, ending five days ago with a winning bid of over eight thousand dollars.

Huh?

Somebody wanna email the guy and find out what the deal is?

Read more »

Fresh from the Göteborg 500: 1986 Volvo 240 DL

I've never been much of a raised-white-letter guy, but c'mon, how bitchin' does this look?

Click on the pic to check out the ad

Read more »

If Only I Had a Boat

Click on the pic to be confused

Read more »

Scene Report: Eugene, Oregon

V-12 E-Type Jag outside local NPR affiliate, two a.m.




Eighties 7-series. Something quaint now about top-of-the-line German luxury sedans from this era, at least to me; now they all seem like Imperial Battlecruisers or something, almighty techno-behemoths, but then there was something still human about them at least. I have a hard time imagining a current S-class seeming like that, even twenty years from now.




Alfasud? Fiat? What is this? Parking garage, two a.m.

Next day, another late XK-E, this one a convertible. The bumpers and bulbous headlights are unfortunate, but they're less awful in real life, and some of the detailing around those fugly headlight bezels is even kind of elegant. Love the redline tires.

Read more »

Scene Report: Portland, Oregon

Seems like you hardly ever see original Hummers around anymore. Obnoxious, sure, but it at least requires a certain degree of commitment on the part of its driver, unlike subsequent progeny.

No such sacrifices necessary for the owner of this vintage Datsun King Cab.

Read more »

Scene Report: Vancouver, British Columbia

Spotted: the elusive Toyota TercEl Camino! Sadly I could only get photos from the back.

Read more »

Scene Report: Anchorage, Alaska

Spotted! O.G. Audi Quattro in totally cool stealth-mode no-stickers silver. Nice.




Not just a Miata being driven in Alaska in February, but a Miata that's apparently been driven from Pennsylvania to Alaska. A veteran of more than one transcontinental journey-by-Miata, I'm here to tell you that hardtop or no, if dude actually drove that car here he is very macho indeed.

Finally, from a souvenir-shop storefront downtown:

Read more »