quote:
Originally posted by France
Michael, funny you should mention the e-type, our other daily driver in Sarasota. We never, never see other e-types; in fact they are so rare that young men often gather around the beautiful parked car to admire its lines, yet they are surprised to find out it's a Jag.
As for the killing-off of old cars by climate, that's unusual in FL because anyone with an old car has a de-humidified garage. We stored our cars for two years in a non-climate-controlled garage before noticing any mold, so we corrected that. I suspect that Michael's analysis is correct--they are just distributed thinly.
Trice
1968 280SL US, signal red/bl leather, auto, kinder
Every once in a while, when we have nice weather in the summer, you are just driving along, and all of a sudden you see something so unique and DAMN! It just eludes you! Like all the scenes in "American Graffitti" when the young Harrison Ford spies Suzanne Sommers driving around in the Corvette, and he can never catch her. I've actually seen some Pagoda's passing me (opposite direction); early 1960's Mini Coopers, E Types, old Triumphs, an occasional Bentley. A rare Daimler (not the Benz; just the Daimler). All going about their business when you wish you could flag them down and talk to them and get their story. Sometimes you see the same car more then once, and you just KNOW it lives around here but you don't know where. In JANUARY, in the DEAD OF A MICHIGAN winter one sunny day, I spied a rare-around-these-parts Porsche 914 (for you European types, a VW-Porsche 914) getting washed at my car wash! Obviously I stopped to talk to the guy and asked him what on earth was he doing out with that car in this weather? You could HEAR the salt eating away the car! He had fallen on hard times and it was the only car he had to drive! (I gave him a free wash.) Around the corner from where I used to live, in a working class neighborhood was a guy with two snot nosed kids, living in a dinky and ugly little house, with a dinky little garage. Inside that dinky little garage was a car that lived under cover. Under the cover was a pristine original DeTomaso Pantera. Probably worth as much as the house. These kinds of experiences make summer fun. You never know what you'll find where! In the land of good old American Iron, where big block Chevys, blown street rods, and 1960's Mustangs of all kinds are so common, these foreign beauties are rare treats indeed.
Last week I paid a visit to my friend Satish at Motorwerks. Along the back wall of his shop was a drop dead gorgeous Ferrari Dino (Fiat Dino for you European types)sandwiched in between a Testarossa and a Diablo. When you see these cars all lined up like that you tend to ignore the 745i's and S600's, M5's and AMG's that are on the
other (business end) side of the shop. Ohmygod.
Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored
