Tag Archives: automobile

Senna!

Exotics@RTC brings plenty of jazzy cars including lots of McLarens as I posted here. The one car I was hoping to see at some point was a Senna. I figured with all of the IT cash floating around the area, one was bound to appear at some point. I rode my bike down to Redmond to have a look one Saturday. My jersey only had small pockets so I left all cameras behind except my phone. Guess what car showed up as soon as I had no proper camera?

I didn’t see it initially. All I saw was a large crowd of people around one car. This is always a sign of something special and there, within the crowds, was a black car with a huge rear wing. The Senna had arrived. Getting clean shots of it was almost impossible given the number of people milling around but the wide angle lens on the phone was a benefit for once as it meant you could get closer and grab some shots. Quite a mean looking machine and one I might have to save up a bit in order to buy.

Automated Chevy Bolt

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The Chevy Bolt is not the sort of car that would normally grab my attention. This one did though. It was at The Henry Ford (even if it is a Chevy) and it is tricked out with all sorts of sensors. I assume it was some sort of development tested for automated vehicles. I could have made the effort to go and read whatever was written next to it but that seemed far to much like hard work. I guess I am the sort of person an automated vehicle is designed for if I can’t be bothered to even do that!

One of My Dream Rally Cars

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The 80s was a time of some crazy cars in the rally world. Rallying was a big deal in those days and the impact it had on car sales was significant. The hot hatches were heavily influenced by rally based marketing. One car that was a big success in WRC was the Lancia Delta Integrale. The road cars that came from homologation of rally cars were hot property. Coming across one now is even more exciting than it was back then. This Integrale was part of Exotics @ RTC. It wasn’t getting a whole lot of attention (plenty of supercars on display to attract the visitors) but there were probably a few guys my age that recognized it and appreciated what it was.

Some Old BMWs

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My visits to Exotics@RTC provide an interesting mix of different vehicles. On one Saturday morning, there were a few older BMWs on display. I have never been particularly interested in owning BMWs but the old ones catch my eye, probably more for nostalgia than anything else. The simplicity of them compared to the modern vehicles is striking. The hard edges, the bumpers, the sparse interiors – it is so far from what you get now.

Of particular interest was a racing 6 Series coupe. This was tricked out with all the normal accoutrements of a racing car of that vintage but it looks positively gentile compared to a modern racing car. The details in the rear wing were very cool and the finishes looked very well taken care of. I wouldn’t say it was a good looking car but it was definitely noteworthy.

Mustang No. 1

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Since The Henry Ford is a museum founded by a Ford, it is no surprise that they have some significant Ford vehicles on display. This includes the number one Mustang. It looks quite different from what followed it, an example of which is not far away on the display. It seems quite light and small compared to what followed and definitely compared to the current incarnation (like the pun?). It’s is always cool to see something that is historic, irrespective of what the subject may be. This one definitely led to an iconic brand.

Gull Wing Mercedes

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Here is one for those of you that know your vintage cars. How much is a Gull Wing Mercedes worth? This one is kept in the Lyon Air Museum in California. It seems to be in great condition and I assume it is worth quite a bit but I have no idea how much. It was tucked in amongst lots of valuable aircraft so is not the most expensive thing on display. Since the planes are generally airworthy, I would guess this is a runner too.

Electric Vehicles

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America’s Car Museum in Tacoma is a tribute to automobiles of all sorts. While the internal combustion engine is dominant throughout the museum, they do have a section that is focused on electric vehicles. This includes the sort of car you might expect to see and some that are a touch more exotic. The research/competition cars are strange looking things. Aerodynamics dominate in vehicles that are clearly aimed at maximizing efficiency while not worrying about things like handling or utility. Having a whole roof section of solar panels is impressive.

Not all of the vehicles are that extreme though. Others are the sort of thing you are used to seeing on the road. Some of the original electric road cars (including those from the Victorian era) are there and also some concept demonstration vehicles that are likely to lead to something in production before too long. These already look just like any other car on the road today.

Some Modern Supercars

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When a museum has a wide variety of vehicles to look at, it seems a bit cheesy to spend too much time looking at the modern supercars. It feels a bit like being a kid with a picture of a Countach on the wall. However, supercars are pretty cool and worthy of a look. On the main floor of America’s Car Museum, there were a few pretty great looking cars.

Ferrari were well represented with some lovely looking modern motors as well as a Testarossa. That car took me back to the 80s. An Aston Martin was also there along with a Lamborghini Aventador which was pretty special. Porsche was also well covered. A 918 first caught my eye but I was quickly drawn away by a Carrera GT. This was only the second example I had seen. (The first was actually driving along Wacker Drive in Chicago, something that would make me very nervous in a car that expensive!)

Ah, An Esprit!

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Since I didn’t grow up in the US, a lot of the older cars in museums are not ones that I knew about as a kid. However, a Lotus Esprit is one right out of my childhood. I fell in love with this car as a result of The Spy Who Loved Me when Bond’s Esprit morphed into a submarine. From then on, I dreamed of owning this car. The America’s Car Museum has an example of the pre-turbo Esprit in its collection and, while it certainly is dated by the styling, I still think it is a great looking car. Just don’t pay attention to the switches and knobs pinched from the parts bins of the major car manufacturers of the time!

America’s Car Museum

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The onset of shorter days and less reliable weather (or at least weather that can be relied on to be crummy) means day trips to indoor places. Nancy thought a trip to Tacoma to look at the LeMay collection in America’s Car Museum would be a good plan and she wasn’t wrong. I have seen this museum many times as I drive south on I-5 but hadn’t given much thought to it before. A couple of days before Nancy suggested it, a friend of mine back in California told me he would be going there in the spring so obviously everyone else was thinking about it but me.

The museum is a cool looking structure. An asymmetric curved roof based one a wooden interior frame, it sits on a hillside next to the Tacoma Dome overlooking the harbor. The museum is on multiple levels so, while the building doesn’t look to extensive, it provides a lot of space for the large collection of vehicles. I shall be showing a few specific examples of cars from the collection in upcoming posts but, for the time being, you can get an idea of the overall museum.