Car of the Week: Alfa Romeo GTV

There are enough Alfas to do an "Alfa of the Week" and this one will probably seem a bit blah or mainstream to some... For some reason I just love the looks of this car. Then again I like the looks of a Volvo 240 so that might explain it. Here is a pic of a nice restoration similar to the look I would go for that I found on Bring A Trailer. Just look at it for a bit and read on.

I love the subtle curve from front to back in two plains. I love the dainty pillars and that the b-pillar almost disappears. I love the double headlights with slightly smaller ones inside. I love the ridges on the front fenders and I love the one piece front end. Flush mount door handles and a cool grill. These happen to be my favorite wheels as well. Orange, maybe not but it does look good in just about any color. They made a deep eggplant purple that was nice.

Here are some facts and figures. The GTV refers to many different redesigns over the years but my interest only lies in what Alfa calls the Series 105. They were made from 1963-77. Engine was Alfa's standard 4 cylinder twin cam motor ranging in displacement from 1290cc to 1962cc. They came with a 5 speed transmission and disc brakes. A friend of mine who has one say that they are not that inspiring to drive which kind of bums me out. He was comparing it to a Datsun Roadster with plentiful modifications but the only Datsun Roadster I ever drove, drove like a truck. I still want one because they look so great and I think I could sort it to be a ton of fun.

They made a GTA which was an aluminum bodied and other lightening efforts throughout the car along with engine and transmission adjustments. There were only 500 made so these are the real collectors items. There were quite a few of the standard GTV's made and prices are not unreachable but they have been slowly increasing over the last decade. $10-20K will get you a clean to completely restored example. Small beautiful car with decent technology for the time that is usable today... Yes, I think I would drive one.

Car of the Week: AC Cobra

AC Cobra 1961-67

These cars were special when they were built and are still special today. It is an aggressive car with wonderful looks. This was in a time when there were amazing looking cars (Austin Heallys, Astin Martins, Triumphs, Morgans, Alfas, etc) but none of them could be considered aggressive performance wise. This car is a result of Carroll Shelby realizing this discrepancy. He started with a beautiful British sports car, the AC Ace, and shoehorned in a series of American V-8's. The smallest was a 4.3 liter and the largest being the 7 liter (427cubic inch) monster. These cars were fast, and they looked great. The main reason for the speed was the car's light weight. It was built with a tube frame chassis and covered with aluminum body work. With little creature comforts and no top the car was 500 lbs. less than the Corvette of the time. More horse power also helped...

The original AC Ace that the Cobra was based on. Photo from www.classicandperformancecar.com

The speed is not the only reason these cars are so desirable.  It is a great looking car and it sounded great. Current prices for a real Cobra are in 2 million dollar range. The main reason for this are the low production numbers. There were only 316 Cobras made and only 31 of those being the race engine 427. I know that I will never be able to afford one... or can I?

Real Cobra. Photo from http://scorpion-cars.blogspot.com

Because of the low production numbers and the extremely desirable nature of the car, there is a booming kit market for Cobras for people that want one but can't afford the real thing (...yeah, that would be me).There are literally dozens of companies that sell kits of every possible level. Aluminum bodies, and fiberglass bodies, with engines or without and most of them are very true to the original. This just gets my juices flowing; thinking about all the engine possibilities, wheel choices, and interiors ideas. Sure they end up costing 30 K but that will get you a nicer car than some of the original Cobras that had transverse leaf spring suspension (Yeah, I know! Ewe.)

Nice example of one of the kits available. Photo from www.factoryfive.com

Car of The Week: Porsche 911

1970 Porsche 911

Oh the Porsche 911. I have wanted one since... well since i can remember thinking about cars by name. When something has been made for so long without major changes, you know it has to be good. There are things about the car that I am not too sure about but it still tops my list of cars to own. There are a few reasons for this. One, it is unique. There are not too many rear engine cars around these days... in fact I cannot think of another one sold in the US. Even the Bug has gone front engine. Second, it is fun to drive (this is a statement that is not based on first hand experience) which is probably a direct result of the engine being in the rear. Third, it is a fairly affordable piece of everyday sport scar wonderfulness. Older versions are really starting to become collectors items but you can pick up a 80's or 90's 911 for fairly reasonably money. And what you get is a car that is a paragon for sports cars. You could not talk about sports cars and leave the 911 out of the conversation. This brings me to my last reason, it is hard to drive well. 911's are know for being very drivable everyday cars... but, when pushed to the limit the have a nasty side. It takes a driver to understand the difference in weight distribution and traction between the front and the rear wheels. It is also different because it is different than any other car in the way that it handles. Today you can buy the all wheel drive, liquid cooled, turbo charged, traction controlled marvel of engineering, but what I really want is a late 60's or early 70's 911 with manual steering, air cooling, rear wheel drive car. I want to own the car that blew minds back in the day, and has classy looks too. I want to drive a car that takes effort to drive, where you can feel the mechanics of the vehicle. Not that I don't want the new, they are just way out of my league price wise and They are insanely overpowered. If I think of the 5 cars that I have had the most fun in and totaled up all the horse power it would probably just reach the new Porsche Turbo's power... and that is crazy. No I like the idea of a car you have to work hard to get to speed and the quickness is determined by how late you can brake in a corner and how much speed you can keep through the corners. The Porsche 911 is all of that, molded into the same shape that they have been making for 60 years.

2010 Porsche 911S

Car of the Week: Lotus 7

Beautiful polished aluminum series 1. Photo from wikipedia.

The 7 was developed by Lotus in 1957(!) and it has been in continuous production since. Lotus stopped producing them in 1972 but Caterham bought the rights and tooling will make you a kit or a complete car. The 7 is a sports car in very pure form. It is an open wheeled car with a fuselage main compartment. It will fit two people if they are not too broad in the shoulders. It is street legal but has no creature comforts... not even a roof. Curb weight started around 1100 lbs which endows the 7 with great handling, acceleration and braking. Downsides... well I would not enjoy the rain, the top speed is limited by a horrible drag coefficient and the front fenders produce lift at higher speeds. Other than that, I think I have been in love with this car from a young age.

Open wheeled cars have a simplistic beauty and uniqueness in the current automotive design vernacular. The 7 also consistently reminds you why it was built. Would you like to pick up some groceries from the store? Fine as long as there is none in the passenger seat as there is no trunk. Are you a little cold? maybe you would like to turn the heater on? Not going to happen, although you could just rely on the engine heat being conducted through the uninsulated aluminum body work. This of course creates another problem in the summer... Roll up windows, stereo, dome lights, locking doors, and cup holders are all purposefully left out in favor of lightness. Every time you reach for one of these things, and whenever you notice that there is no safety equipment or crumple zones it adds to the mystique, to the knowledge that the car you are driving has one purpose... To blow your mind on the road.

Why do I love it? This is no M5: it is not a family sedan with so much added that it needs 600hp to become a fast family sedan. This is not a inexpensive sports car (Ex: miata, Z3, MR2, etc.) that makes a bunch of sacrifices to be inexpensive and hence falls short in performance. This is a car with conviction. It does not apologize for not having air conditioning, it shows you why it does not have air conditioning. I also love that since Caterham bought the rights you can buy it in kit form. I love building stuff and would love to build my own car, pick the perfect engine, make my own steering wheel, lay out the controls etc.


Is it realistic? Well, money does not grow on trees as they say. So having a car that only seats 2, and can only be driven on nice days, and has to be parked in a garage... not so realistic (I don't even have a garage!) But none of this stops me from wanting one and appreciating all that it stands for. Maybe I should start designing a garage.

Car of the Week: Jeep CJ/Wrangler

The Jeep is infamous. It has spanned almost a century and is recognized by all (in the US and other countries). The new one still looks like the old one and it keeps its quirkiness. My current car search has dredged up all kinds of cars that I never thought about owning before and the Jeep is one. I just never really thought of it as a reliable, safe, versatile vehicle. This is what is so wonderful about the Jeep; it is versatile. They can be 4, 6 or 8 cylinders, gas or diesel, space for two or four or more with the new four door. Automatic or manual transmission, four wheel drive or two... took me a while to figure out why anyone would get a two wheel drive jeep. The reason is that does not matter is because you can take the top off, and the doors too!

My first ride in a jeep was etched in my brain because of this openness. We were going to Blakely Island in the San Juan's of Washington State. We had friends that had a cabin there where we were going to stay for a week in the summer. There is no bridge to the island so you either need to fly or boat. I think this we went by boat and then we drove this ancient Jeep to the cabin. It was amazing! It handled poorly, bounced all over if there was a bump, there was no room, I think it would pop out of gear regularly and of course no seatbelts! All I remember is the road going by so close I could almost touch it, the wind and the view of the trees that I had never seen. The wind and the view were unparalleled in my car experience up to that point. Why weren't all cars topless?

I have countless Jeep experiences and all of them were great. My uncle Bob had one with a V8 that was so loud. My uncle KL had one that we took out wheeling. A friend Kristy had one in high school and one time she was driving a bunch of us around and it started raining. None of us cared, were were all singing along to Dave Mathews Band and loving the feeling of rain in a car.

So why the jeep? It is an archetype. They can go anywhere, not like a convertible sports car that you have to be careful with. The feeling that you get while driving around in a jeep is just so unique. You feel more in tune with everything. People can see you, you can see them, you can see the trees overhead or the clouds, and you feel it all, wind rain, heat, cold. Everyone needs a ride in a jeep. I am buying one this summer if I can find one for under a $1000!

Car of the Week: Chevrolet Suburban (NOT the new one!)

Stay with me here! I know this is a big stretch but this is only because you are thinking of the last decades of horrible monstrosities from GM. Lets go back to a time when cars were designed to look amazing. In the 30's most of the big companies built a suburban carryall that was a large inclosed cargo area surrounded by windows and  based on a truck chassis. GM had theirs as well and it was a beauty. My favorites came later on in the fifties when most other companies stopped making the suburban and GM latched onto the name that they would later get the exclusive rights to use.

In high school the first car that I bought was a 1953 Chevy Panel truck. This looked exactly like the Suburban but it did not have any windows. I am sure that looking at that thing for so many years has given me an appreciation for that particular vintage but... From 1949-1954 Chevy built the best looking Suburban of all time. Here are some pics:

Look at that thing! There is no way you could think that this was designed recently; it speaks of a time period and instantly takes you there. It is too beautiful, too much metal, too curvy to be contemporary. The looks were not the only thing going for it. They were good and useful trucks that were easy to drive. I drove my Panel truck everywhere (as long as it was in town. The top speed was about 50 mph.) There is no way that I can convey the way it felt to drive this truck. The only thing that made it difficult was seeing out of the back, and hence the reason for my love for the suburban. This experience can not be matched by the horrible beasts of today. The new ones really do not handle much better, though they do have a faster top speed. Here is a comparison of the old and new:

I dream about getting one some day, I mean what a cool family rig! I saw one on ebay a while back that was an old Fish and Game truck. I got so sucked into thinking about the history of that truck and the fact that it had seen more years than me. I love old stuff: I have old cheese graters because they are simple, they work.  I have a spatula from the 50's. How old is you cast iron pan? I see no reason to buy new crap that was made in China that will not last because there is no connection between the makers and the customers. That is how I feel about the new suburban, it is plasticky crap, made by people I do not know and it will not last very long and does not look good doing it.

My struggle would be to restore it to original condition, or add just a few creature comforts, or completely update it. I like the idea of trying to keep it as stock as possible but I would need to increase the cruising speed. Then what about a stereo that communicates with my ipod? Or what about air conditioning? What about safety features? Will all this stuff ruin the character and feel? I don't think so, I think I could restore it and keep the cool quirky stuff like the starter pedal and the manual windows and then hide some goodies behind the scenes. Air Conditioning using older controls and hiding the vents. Better brakes etc.

To close, this is my Car of the Week for two reasons. First, its brother was my first car and there are lots of memories that go along with it. Second, to coin a phrase; they don't make them like they used to. They really don't, this thing was designed to look stunning and it was "just" a work truck. Work trucks now are like manifestations of machismo boy wet dreams. Tonka toys where everything is overstated and reiterated. No longer is there quiet beauty in things. I look at cars (and other things) and wonder how someone could have "designed" them. Some one intentionally designed this and it shows. The Suburban stirs me and it is more than just looks. If you have or could drive one you would notice the deliberate nature of the being the driver. You have to set the choke, you have to remember to turn it off, you HAVE to check the oil, tire pressure and coolant. You do not just jump in and go, you have to warm it up. It is a lively experience for those interested in living. Go buy an old car, there are cars older than you that are still ticking that we can learn something from.

Car of the Week: VW Alltrack (and a rant on lame car companies)

Car shopping has to be one of the most frustrating things ever. You would expect that if you had a stack of cash containing over $30,000 you could get the car you wanted. There is not a single new car available to me that meets all of my requirements and so car shopping becomes an exercise in settling and trade-offs. I would buy a Subaru outback if they sold a diesel. I would buy a Jetta diesel wagon if they sold it in an all-wheel drive version with some ground clearance... What is that you say? They make that car? You are correct, VW is making a beautiful thing called the Alltrack.

Photo from the VW UK web site

The Alltrack is a Jetta wagon with a diesel engine and all-wheel drive and ground clearance. All of this from a company that has a reputation for making cars with great fit and finish as well as cars that are alive with nice handling and good driver feel. Sounds like the perfect car right? You can't get it.

It will not be sold in the US. Aaaaggggghhhh! Why is this so ridiculously backwards and lame. I have money and I am stupidly willing to strap myself with a car loan so that I can have a reliable car that does what I want... But the car companies don't want my money. The list of cars that I would buy if they were shipped to the US is long: Audi Allroad diesel, Subaru Outback diesel (near 48mpg), Toyota Rav4 with a 2.2 liter diesel (40mpg), Nissan X-Trail diesel, Honda CR-V Diesel and on and on.

The real insult to injury comes with US car companies that make diesel cars that are not available in the US! Though I loath most US cars as they are cheap unreliable and not very well engineered, I find myself willing to buy one if they would only offer what I want. I stooped so low the other day that I was on the Jeep site trying to see if I could get a wrangler in a diesel. It meets one or two of my needs but fails most, and I was still considering it. Why? Because I am so desperate for a diesel off road car. Cars that I would love to own are available but they are luxury cars way above my pay grade. Think BMW X-5, Audi Q7, VW Tourag or Mercedes-Benz suv's and crossovers which land in the $50,000 and above category. Even used ones are too much.

I cannot justify spending the $30,000 unless it is a car that will meet all my needs. The closest I get is the Jetta diesel wagon; room, over 40 mpg. The problem is that I will never take it up to my dad's house (rough dirt road) and so it becomes a $30,000 car I can't use. Instead I spend my days searching for used cars and weighing the trade-offs. I land on 1980's Mercedes diesel wagons. They offer good fuel mileage, have room, and they are cheap enough that I would be willing to drive them on dirt. Of course they are aging and while they are reliable, with so many parts that are now 30 years old it is only a mater of time... weather stripping is aging, I worry about the lack of safety features and where are all the creature comforts that society says I need?

So here is a message to all car makers (if only they would read it), What does it say about your car company if I would rather buy a 30 year old car than buy a new one of yours? Hint: it says that you have no clue about your market and your company makes cars they think the public will buy and not what the public wants. Let me give a few examples of how car companies are clueless. The Toyota Prius is a car that was not supposed to do that well... All the critics said it would not sell because no one would pay more for a car that was small and slow just to get better mileage. Shocker, lots of people bought them. By February 2012 over 2.5 million were sold world wide.

Example two: There are endless car journalist that can be sited as saying that Americans will not buy diesels. And yet, VW diesels account for 23% of VW sales in the US. I would also be willing to bet that this number is low as they do not offer a diesel engine in all their models in the US. If I wanted the minivan I would not even have the option to buy a diesel version. If we could I bet the numbers would increase. There is a Facebook page titled "Bring Subaru Diesel to the US!" where they tout sales figures and goad Subaru that they are missing out. And they are. I would buy one.

To close, I have chosen the VW Alltrack because it seems like the most likely of the diesels (that I want) to have a chance of making it state side. I like VW cars and have been impressed with the quality of their current models. I have driven the new VW Golf tdi and the Jetta tdi and I love the feel and handeling. I bet VW $30,000 that they don't bring the Alltrack to the US.

Car of the Week: Volvo 240 Wagon

Volvo 240

Our 1991 240: 16 inch wheels from a 740 and IPD sway bars

You knew the day would come! How could I not review a car that has been with me through most of my driving life? The Volvo 240 is a wonderful blend of reliability, safety, comfort, and driver feel. I also like its looks. Some crazy people will say that is a box but that is not true. There are wonderful lines that hide the hugeness of the car. It you want to see a poorly designed box look at a picture of the Volvo 740 wagon... yuk. Its reputation cannot be understated. Click and Clack (The guys of NPR's Car Talk) have recommended it as a the perfect car for the young driver. They are inexpensive, reliable, slow and safe; just what you would want from a car for a reckless teen.

The 240 was produced from 1974 to 1993 with only minor changes. The engine had already been around for decades before the 240 started production. The world record for the most miles (2.5 million miles) is a 1966 Volvo with the same basic engine design. Of course there were changes over the years and there are more desirable years but any 240 with a 4 cylinder can be bullet proof. The best were the B230F engines produced from 1985 to 1993. I won't bore you with too many more details but the internals were optimized and a new fuel injection system made these the best.

I am going to pay special attention to the wagon because of its versatility. With the back seats folded down it will fit a twin bed and make a comfortable camper. With the seats up it will swallow gear. I tested many of the newer wagons out there including Subarus, Audis, Mercedes, 850 Volvos and the new V70's and NONE of them can come close to the amount of space in the back of a 240. I have owned 3 different wagons in my life and each holds a special place in my heart. I wish I had my pictures with me so I could scan some of each of these beauties!

The first wagon: 1982 240. This was a project from the beginning. I bought the car without an engine and the engine from a 1978 242 gt. Over a summer I did the engine swap where I had to rewire the engine compartment as the engine had a different fuel system than the car. I put a bunch of money into suspension because the 240 handles remarkable well with larger sway bars and some bracing. This car got me through some fun times at Cal Poly, trips to bike races almost every weekend, two trips to Washington and many trips back and forth from college to my Dad's house. When I sold this car I immediately started having 240 withdraws and soon bought my next one.

1985 240 Turbo: My next project... this thing ran but barely. I would come to a stop and it would hesitate, cough, and die. Many hours of tinkering and fixing the many issues that it had made it drivable but it would still do weird things. I did not care because this thing was fast. I don't mean fast like V8 muscle car fast but more like I have been driving an underpowered Volvo wagon and now this seems fast. There was some turbo lag, so when it finally started doing its job it was impressive. This was a work truck for me while I was at Columbia Junior College. I ended up selling it when I moved up to Arcata.

My family car: 1993 240 (this is the car pictured here). This was a solid running memory maker. At 260k miles it survived a trip up to Canada and back. Jessica and I reupholstered the seats which made it a special one. When we found out we were pregnant with Lola we decide to sell it and buy something with working AC, updated safety features and with less miles on it. We ended up with a 2003 Audi A4 wagon which was nice, and fast, and new... but it was no 240.

A Picture of the reupholstered seats and the white faced gauges.

After periods without a 240, when I buy a new one and slide into the drivers seat and it just feels right. The driving position is more upright than other cars and all the controls offer wonderful feedback. The brakes are amazing for an older car, the steering is precise and gives you a feeling for the road. If the suspension is in good order, the car handles well and is very predicable. With a few upgrades the car becomes impressive in its road holding ability. The turning radius is unrivaled in any other car of similar size which gives it a maneuverable feel. I test drove the new Mini Cooper and its turning radius is way bigger than the 240.

Obviously not everything is amazing, there are some issues. The are getting old now. Even the last one made is now 20 years old! So there are rattles, broken seat springs, a bad AC system design, the wiring the the trunk hinges is probably broken, suspension bushing are probably gone, there is a drive line support bearing that will need replacing, the vacuum line are probably shot, and the odometer might not work. Most of these are easy fixes especially if you know what to look for and once they are taken care of you will have a nice car that will do exactly what you want. For a dose of reality, it will never be a nice car in the way a BMW is a nice car. The 240 has a cheap plastic interior and there are no creature comforts like dual climate control and memory power seats... but one does not need to borrow $30,000 to buy a used one. Despite the issues I would take the 240 over any other Volvo. After the 240 was the 740 (similar mechanically but horrid looks and bad suspension) and then it just started going downhill. The 850 was a move to a front wheel drive 5 cylinder that killed the neutral handling of the 240. The current issues with Volvo transmissions make the newer ones at the bottom of my list of cars to own. As a rhetorical question: What is it about this 20 year old car that makes it more desirable than many newer cars?

I still shop for 240's out of habit and still peruse the IPD web site to check prices (they make the suspension upgrades for Volvos). I hover over the bid button on ebay when I see a 240 with 60,000 original miles and daydream about how I would have it delivered to my house so that when I come home for the summer I will have one to drive... I have a collection of old 240 dealer literature, a model of a 240 wagon and a Volvo key fob that lays in wait to keep the key for the next 240 company. For those interested the price of a good 240 is on the rise. 5 years ago you could pick up a clean one for $2000 and now is is creeping up to the $5000 mark. Sure you can still find the deals for under $1000 but the interior is shot, plastic pieces broken, suspension shot and over 200,000 miles. Not to say that they should be sent to the junk yard, they are still great cars that with some money would be solid. But for the price of the "deal" and the money to fix all the problems you could buy a nice low mileage one that has been sitting in some old lady's garage for the past 20 years and is in great shape. There is no other car out there in this price range that will do it all the way the 240 will... I wonder if there are any new ones on Craigslist?

Car of the Week: Lotus Elise

If you were one of my Auto students then you would know that I am in love with the Lotus Elise; ever since its introduction in 1996. It has gone through a few design changes, but the central ideas are still there. Small, light, and nimble 2 seater with a mid engine. Weighing in at 1,800lbs it is about half the weight of a normal sedan. Where did all the weight go? It is mostly aluminum and it has gone without a lot of excess weight like carpet, power windows and complex traction control bs. Check out this pic of the interior:

The engine was either a normally aspirated Toyota inline 4 or a supercharged version of the same layout. The Elise has become a cult classic for people that want something that handles well and is inexpensive to run. The MSRP is around $45,000 making it an affordable sports car that will blow away most anything as long as there are corners involved. Specifications are also not too bad: 0-60 in 5 seconds or less and a top speed of 120 mph. Gas mileage is around 30mpg which is best in the sports car class. Used ones are still in the $30,000 range and don't seem to depreciate like other cars (yes, I have been watching!). Some day...

Car of the Week: Mini Cooper (The real one)

The Original Mini Cooper

The first Mini Coopers were a revelation in many ways and were so successful that they were built from 1959 until 2000 with only minor changes. The Mini was voted the second most influential car of the last century behind the Model T, and just ahead of the VW Beetle. For those that have never seen a Mini in real life they are little anomalies. The are small on the outside but surprisingly roomy on the inside. In 2000 the mini was redesigned resulting in a larger car and a smaller interior... how do they do that? (probably as a result of improved safety features but still...)

Here is the interior of the original. Notice the thin seat backs and the large amounts of space behind the front seats.

This is the interior of the new Mini. Notice the 2 inches of rear leg room that make the back seat a padded luggage shelf or a dog run for your purse dog, not a seat.

The Mini was a giant slayer. Upon its introduction it became a successful rally car, beating v8 powered cars. It was what cars should be; small, light, nimble, good on gas and easy to maneuver. Even the new Mini is a pain in the butt to drive because it is uncomfortable and it has a larger turning radius than a Volvo 240! Don't even get me started on the other behemoths on the road. Literally tons of metal that have to pushed around for no reason. One person in a Ford excursion when all it would take to is a Mini. It is brilliant!

Mini was also influential because of its transverse mounted front engine and front wheel drive setup. A setup that most car manufacturers are still emulating today. Though mini was not the first to use this layout, it showed the rest of the automotive world that it could be successful.  Now for some specifics: Engines were inline 4 cylinders from Austin (the British manufacturer not the town in Texas) and came in 970cc, 997cc, 998cc, 1071cc, and 1275cc sizes. To give you some perspective three of those are smaller than a lot of motorcycle engines. 0-60 times were slow (12 seconds) and the top speed is only 100mph (faster than I need to go). Fuel mileage is a respectable 30 but I am sure with a modernized injection system that number could be much improved. Over 5 million mini's have been produced!

The potential was recognized by a few people and tuned versions of the mini became available. John Cooper being the most famous, but others jumped in too: Jack Knight, Innocenti. The added a second cam, or supercharged them, tuned suspension etc. These are the cars that are really exciting. While these specialty cars a hard to find and expensive, regular minis can still be found relatively cheaply and are good fun for the money. You will never get the feeling you get driving a mini from any other car, maybe a go-cart but not a car. Think of the space you could save in your driveway...

Car of the Week: Triumph TR6

Two beautiful examples. The one in front is pretty much my dream settup: factory hard top, minilight wheels and the frond bumper removed. Photo from http://classicmotorsports.net/reader-rides/948/ unknown photographer.

I have decided to make this Car of the Week a more accessible car, something that I might actually own one day. The Triumph TR6 has always impressed me as a beautifully simple car design-wise. The amazing thing to me is the masculine look which is odd for a small two seater. Think of all the Miata, Afla spyders, Fiats etc. which are hard to picture men driving. The TR6 was (and is) a lot of car for an affordable price. It was built from 1967-76 and sold new for $3,300. For this you got a carbureted OHC inline 6 engine that produced 104 bhp (Eurpean models were fuel injected and produced 150 bhp) independent rear suspension, front disc brakes and a 4speed gearbox with optional overdrive. The 0-60 time was a respectable 8.2 seconds (more like 10 for the US carbureted version) and a top speed of 120 mph. This thing was not a road carver or a drag racer but it looks good and I bet it would sound great blowing through some twisty sections of road.

Another nice example this one is from http://kevinwarrington.blogspot.com/

Car of the Week: Alfa Romeo 4c

I know, two Alfas already... I can't help it they are gorgeous! As the guys from Top Gear say, "You are not a car nut until you own an Alfa." (I am still working on this Alfa owner thing...) This particular one is a concept car that is supposed to be on sale as a 2013 model and even available in the US! It is a small, light, mid-engine car. Only 4 meters long and weighs a light 900kg! The engine is a turbo charged 1.7 liter four cylinder that makes 230 bhp. While the statistics are pretty exciting (0-60mph in 4.5 seconds) it really is the looks that make this thing so desirable for me. It looks like my favorite car, the Lotus Elise, only the Alfa did a much better job with the design. MSRP? Supposed to be in the $50,000 range... almost... nope, can't afford it. Here are some pics from the Top Gear site and an add off of YouTube.

Love the pillar-less look and all the subtle crease lines.

What about in a matte red?

The most beautiful door ever?

Alfa 4C add.

Car of the Week: Jaguar XK120

The jag that I have always wanted...

Unknown photographer

One of two LT 2's left (Jag's light weight racer version) If you have a good eye you will notice that there are no fender seems as this car has a one piece magnesium body!. Photo from www.conceptcarz.com

Built from 1948 to 1954 and beautiful from front to back. Upon its introduction it was the fastest production car in the world and as you could guess, had a real world top speed of 120 mph. How? Streamlined shape, aluminum body and a 3.4 liter DOHC straight six. I love this car for the way it changes the way you feel about driving. If I were behind the wheel I would take the long way home, I would dress up just to drive it somewhere and I have to buy some driving gloves... alright maybe not the driving gloves. A neighbor in Ukiah purchased one a few years ago and the thing is just amazing in real life. I will always want one but probably will not be able to afford one. Basket cases are $12,000-20,000 and nice ones are up into the $100K mark.

From the 2009 Wine Country Classic.  Photo by: Will Campbell