Tag Archives: exotics@rtc

Italian Day for the Cars

I’m heading back into the summer for an event that I have taken some specific topics from but for which the larger event has not yet been the subject of a post.  We are back in Redmond for Exotics@RTC again and, specifically, for the Italian Day.  This is always a popular day as it means quite the selection of the more spectacular examples of the Italian car industry.

I will always like to see some rare cars, even if I am not a connoisseur and I certainly am not able to identify which ones are particularly special.  However, I am more than able to decide which ones I like the look of.  Of course, when they are given pride of place at the center of the event, I am not going to fail to understand that there may be some significance to them!

Obviously, the sportier cars are very common at this event but there are others there too which are unusual and Italian.  Some of these are the sort of car I might have seen a lot of as a kid in the 70s and 80s when they were just a usual vehicle in the UK – Italian brands were sold extensively in the UK, even if their design for warm Italian climate meant they dissolved in a UK winter!  Here is a selection of some of the lovely vehicles that were in display for this year’s Italian Day.

What Makes One Dino Get Prime Spot Over Another?

This is a perfect example of my ignorance regarding some of the things I see.  The Italian Day at Exotics@RTC was on and this meant a bunch of Ferraris of varying vintages.  In the prime spot at the center of the event was a Ferrari Dino.  I may not know much about Ferraris, but I do know that the Dino was a famous car.  There were actually a few of them scattered around.  I don’t know whether prime spots were based on when they arrived or whether one of these is more important than another.  Is one more authentic or was it just luck?  Maybe some of you know.

The Craziest Abarth Cinquecento I’ve Ever Seen

When I was a small kid, we owned a Fiat 126.  My friend’s mum had a Fiat 500.  It was the old car compared to our “newer” one.  A tiny little vehicle but a cute one.  Of course, as with everything these days, the 500 made a reappearance more recently as it got a makeover.  It also spawned a range of derivatives taking it well away from the original concept.  I had never considered the original car to be too sporty so was in for a surprise.

Exotics@RTC had this amazing vehicle on display.  An Abarth Cinquecento, this thing is seriously souped up.  Forget a back seat.  Don’t expect much in the way of creature comforts.  Probably come up with a plan of how to get yourself in and out of it for that matter.  This thing is quite unlike any old Cinquecento I have ever seen.  It looked amazing.  The back end of it seemed unable to hold what was included so it was just open to let everything hang loose.  What a contrast to everything else that was on display.  That is what makes Exotics@RTC so cool.  You get these really unusual vehicles showing up.

Cars With Fins

When it comes to classic American cars, I know next to nothing.  I didn’t grow up with them and I haven’t studied them since so put me in amongst a bunch of these cars as was the case for the Exotics@RTC Classics event and I will just focus on what I think looks cool.  These cars could be the rarest of items or the thing you could see at any local car meet and I wouldn’t be any the wiser.  The only clue to me that they could be a significant vehicle would be that a huge crowd of people was hanging around them.

The Classics Day certainly did bring out any number of cool looking old vehicles.  To be honest, some of them don’t even look that great to my eye but they are of an era and show where car design was at that time.  They might be chunky and huge but that was what cars were like back then.  Others have some more interesting styling features like the fins I mention in the title to this post.  That is something that I would previously have found rather crass but, as the time has passed, it is now more of a cool styling cue.

I know quite a few people that are petrol heads that will recognize these vehicles and possibly their years.  The only way I would identify them was if the name was written on the side – which it usually is – or if the owner has a sheet in the window with details of the vehicle and its history.  That will be plenty for me anyway.  Hope some of these chunky or swoopy shapes appeal to you.

Two Old Esprits

My soft spot for the Lotus Esprit has shown itself with various posts over the years with historic shots or more recent images of preserved examples.  Most of these have been of the later versions of the Esprit when the styling was slightly more curved, and the bigger engines were installed such as the Turbo SE or the V8.  The Classics Day at Exotics@RTC provided two of the original versions of the Esprit.  They were parked in the prime spots in Redmond Town Center and garnered plenty of attention.

Yellow and red are two colors that will definitely get attention for a sports car and there were lots of people checking them out.  The red one had the tartan interior which really tells you the era when this car was produced.  I bet you weren’t seeing that sort of finish in the late 80s!  I had got there early so did okay getting shots without too many people in the way but as the morning wore on and more people showed up, the shots got harder to make.  A little Photoshop effort would be needed.

Can You Make Your Mini Look Retro?

I had no idea what this car was when I saw it.  There was something familiar about it, but it was still a mystery to me.  Then I overheard a conversation from someone, and they explained that the underlying car was a Mini and it had a body kit added to it to result in this outcome.  I have no idea why that seemed like a good plan to the owner, but I guess they like it.  Once you know it, you center of the vehicle is definitely recognizable as a Mini.

Well This is Saving the Planet!

In the outer area of Exotics@RTC I saw this EV Hummer.  The move towards electric vehicles is a positive step to reducing our emissions and trying to address the climate change challenges we have but there was something about this behemoth that made me feel that we are missing the point.  Sure, an EV Hummer is less polluting than the original Hummer, but this thing is huge and is surely not a good idea.  Finding a way to have the most inefficient EV you can is kind of missing the point.

Is a Bugatti 57 Valuable?

Only my second visit of the year to Exotics@RTC and it was another special day.  This time it was Classics which seems to be a rather generic term but does provide for a bunch of older cars or all sorts of origins to be included – particularly stuff that wouldn’t normally have its own day!  A star of the show was this Bugatti 57.  I had got there early to try and get some shots before the crowds built up and it arrived while I was walking around.  I got some shots of it driving up and then once it was parked.

It rapidly got a lot of attention.  Later on, when I was trying to get some shots of it from above, I realized that there was always such a throng of people in the vicinity that my usual technique of blending multiple shots would not work.  I was glad to have been there early!  I don’t know how these cars get valued.  I looked up sale prices for these vehicles and there were some that went in the millions and others that were in the hundreds of thousands.  Where this one sits in relation to all of those, I have no idea.  I do know the owner was very happy to let people sit in it and have their picture taken which is the great thing about events like this.

German Day at Exotics@RTC

My first visit to Exotics@RTC this year was delayed.  Early events were canceled for weather reasons and then, when they got going, I was doing other things and couldn’t go.  The first time I was able to make it was for the German Day.  I have done this day in previous years, and I like the types of vehicles that show up.  Yes, there will be a lot of modern Audis and BMWs but there will also be some far older and more interesting vehicles.  A Porsche tractor was one of these.

I won’t go into great details about any individual vehicles, not least because I am not very knowledgeable about them.  If they are in the center section, my assumption is that it is because they are unusual, rare and expensive but maybe something lesser can sneak in too.  I wouldn’t know the difference.  Here you go with some images of the various vehicles.

Do You Really Need Four Wheels?

Another feature of English Day for Exotics@RTC is the occasional Morgan showing up.  If a Morgan three-wheeler makes an appearance, it is guaranteed to garner a lot of attention and this event was not different.

Another feature of English Day for Exotics@RTC is the occasional Morgan showing up.  If a Morgan three-wheeler makes an appearance, it is guaranteed to garner a lot of attention and this event was no different.  We actually got several of them.  Trying to get some clean shots of them was tricky given the number of people that were checking them out.  I am not a massive fan of Morgans per se but they are still something different to see amongst a sea of modern McLarens.