Did You See Anything Good Today? [Read First Post]

[1X83Z]

Just one word today folks...

FINALLY!

I saw it coming and thought it was a V8 Vantage. Upon it getting closer it became extremely obvious it was the elusive Vanquish. I pulled a ridiculous U-turn (in which I cut off a 350Z which later passed me in a turn lane to get me back) and followed the Vanquish. Some observations on my first Vanquish in the wild:

1. Stylistically, the rear end looks a little unfinished, specifically on the bumper where the two exhaust pipes come out of an unpainted (or at least, non body colored) and un-conformed (to the shape of the car) surface. That's weird and it's very noticeable on the lighter colored car. Also, the wheel arches are just a bit big. But, they lend presence.
2. Speaking of presence, this car lacks none. Other Astons may blend in but this thing, while it may not be noticed by everyone, is unmistakably badass. The noise is up there with the top five cars I've ever heard - a list which includes the Countach. It's not as raw as that car - it's different - but it's comparable in its awesomeness.
3. We raced twice. Not officially of course. I was actually directly behind him and we both floored it off two lights. Let's just say that the Aston Martin Vanquish is a bit quicker than the 2001 Audi A4 2.8. He was so gone that if I didn't have the aid of traffic lights, I would not have gotten these photos. The thing MOVED, period.

Prices are coming down. I've always thought my first exotic is going to be a Ferrari 355 F1 GTS, but the Vanquish is a challenger. It's absolutely spectacular and completely gorgeous. I'm very very proud of this sighting and very happy to have seen this car. Five months ago I had not seen a single Gallardo Spyder - now I've seen ten. Hopefully the same thing happens with this beast.

Other sightings today (which for some reason was a VERY British day)...

Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Volante

Jaguar DB7 Vantage Volante

BMW Z8

Lotus Esprit 25th Anniversary Edition

new Jeep Liberty

Hope you enjoyed today's spots!

 

[Matt R]

I don't ever seem to catch the sightings you do Doug. Where do you catch all of these?

I mainly stay on whatever road Lenox and Phipps Malls are on. Maybe a side street or two. My doctors office is on this road, and I dislike straying to far from it for fear of getting lost. I'm an idiot in the city.

Over near IKEA where Atlantic Station is is another place I've found to be frequented by exotics. Would you believe I spotted two identical Lingenfelter Vettes there last week? They were cruising together and they sounded amazing.

 

[Casio]

The winter is finally over and all the real toys start coming out to play 👍

 

[Speedster502]

Jaguar DB7 Vantage Volante

Congrats on the Vanquish! 👍 I still long to see another one, such beautiful things...

You thought you would get away with that stab at the DB7!!!! Grrrr......

 

[Alex.]

Doug, when you said FINALLY
















I was expecting a Viper Coupe


IN OTHER NEWS I have a couple of photos from yesterday. On the way there a diablo with the built in headlamps passed us on the other side of the highway, but it was too quick to get a picture, so so loud (we had window open). It seemed like i was totally on its own on that side ofthe road, the other cars just seemed to fade away (you've heard it all before) anyway I have pics of another car which I will post later, nothing special though!

 

[Joey D]

A few cool spots this morning.

SRT-10

911

Z8

 

[McLaren]

Play with as in drive or photograph?

Well, as in photograph and ride shotgun around the park roads.

Some other interesting cars there.

 

[Keef]

Doug, when you said FINALLY

I was expecting a Viper Coupe

Ehh. I guess you can't win 'em all, huh Doug?

Saturday, in front of the dealership where I was installing my clutch. Because I work on my own car, Doug.

 

[Rykon Zero]

oh, snap!

 

[Alex.]

DONT TELL HIM! POST UNTIL THE NEXT PAGE!

he's gonna flip

 

[1X83Z]

Obviously the Vanquish was higher on my 'must-see' list than the Viper, but that doesn't make your spot sting any less! Haha - it's actually funny because I saw the 599 GTB within seven months of launch, I saw the Audi R8 right around launch; I saw the Veyron during production... yet some cars are so elusive. The Gallardo Spyder eluded me for thirteen months of production before I saw one. The Vanquish debuted and was updated; its engine was enlarged; it was featured in a movie, and it was cancelled. And then two years later I saw one. I don't pretend to be able to explain why I've seen three different Porsche Carrera GTs and three different Mercedes SLRs and no Viper coupes... but such is life.

Frankly, there are a dozen cars I'd rather see before the Viper coupe (Enzo, F50, McLaren F1...), but price tag and rarity can explain away my lack of sightings of those vehicles. Not so with the Viper coupe.

Where do you catch all of these?

Trial and error. But if you want to know a certain route...

Up Lenox Road and check out Lenox Mall, then across the street and check Phipps Plaza. Then take Wieuca Road to Roswell Road, and take Roswell Road south to Sardis Street. Then hop back onto Peachtree and run it down to the Intercontinental. Then get back onto Lenox heading north and take it back past 400 to Piedmont. Then back to Peachtree. Repeat over and over. If this gets boring at some point take Paces Ferry from Peachtree to 75. You might see a car or two (an MC12 was spotted there last week) but just take some time and gawk at the houses. Then take it back to Peachtree and keep repeating. Never go past Wesley on Peachtree and never go past Druid Hills the other way.

Basically... be in Buckhead!!! And ALWAYS keep a sharp eye on ALL traffic and on ALL parking lots. You never know when a DB7 Vantage Volante might be sitting in a Kroger parking lot 200 feet in from the road.

 

[Keef]

Everyone knows how bland those Jags are. They just blend right in with all the other cars in the lot. Plus, they're low, so they're hard to spot either way.

 

[Danny]

 

[Metar]

La sexy. 👍

I wish I could see cars like that, "just like that".

 

[Roo]

2. Speaking of presence, this car lacks none.

Really? I saw a black one this afternoon going int the opposite direction, and only noticed it because we were both stationary for about half a minute.

No pictures, 'cos my camera battery was dead. Plus it was right outside Brands Hatch, so in my interpretation of the rules, it doesn't count.

 

[Speedy_E]

ok well i jus about shat my pants just now. It all started when i was pulling into my driveway, i have a neighbor that owns a nearby Volkswagen/audi dealer and from time to time has a nice s4 or GTI or something at his house. Today turns out hes got a brand spankin new R8 for use as a display, or somethin to that nature. Black with silver side panel, pure sexiness lemme tell u. now im not fortunate enough to have a nice camera, but my phone should suffice. So im snappin and talkin away and outta the blue he asks if i wanna go for a ride. I coulda jumped through the freakin window but i figured i'd better not, so yea we go for a ride round the block and while doing so we pull onto a pretty straight, and most importantly, empty road. He went through 1 and 2 gear pretty aggressively, then mashed it in third, only for about 2, 3 seconds max and we were goin a touch over 200 kph. my god the blood pulled right outta my face. he told me u can count the number of ppl who have rode inside one of these (in ontario) on two hands, and now im one of em! well thats the story, heres my incredibly sharp and clear as diamond cell phone pics!

 

[ExigeEvan]

Not a fan of the silver on black look, personally.

 

[Speedy_E]

man, in person this just looked absolutely amazing, such a presence...

 

[BigdaddyGT]

ok well i jus about shat my pants just now. It all started when i was pulling into my driveway, i have a neighbor that owns a nearby Volkswagen/audi dealer and from time to time has a nice s4 or GTI or something at his house. Today turns out hes got a brand spankin new R8 for use as a display, or somethin to that nature. Black with silver side panel, pure sexiness lemme tell u. now im not fortunate enough to have a nice camera, but my phone should suffice. So im snappin and talkin away and outta the blue he asks if i wanna go for a ride. I coulda jumped through the freakin window but i figured i'd better not, so yea we go for a ride round the block and while doing so we pull onto a pretty straight, and most importantly, empty road. He went through 1 and 2 gear pretty aggressively, then mashed it in third, only for about 2, 3 seconds max and we were goin a touch over 200 kph. my god the blood pulled right outta my face. he told me u can count the number of ppl who have rode inside one of these (in ontario) on two hands, and now im one of em! well thats the story, heres my incredibly sharp and clear as diamond cell phone pics!
*pics*

Oh, you saw an R8. Cool.
And then you got a ride in i-WHAAAA?!?!


I now officially hate you

 

[Rue]

 

[TopHat]

Speedy_E, thats a once in a lifetime experience. 👍

 

[1X83Z]

Looks like Alberta tags on the R8. What's the story behind that?

 

[Speedy_E]

verry good question as i jus noticed that myself. He told me that the car was shipped here from across the pond, there was even an article in the local paper about it, and there was some promotional stuff he was doing with it and tonight he was driving it to toronto where it would be picked up and apparently shipped back to a buyer in europe. I have no idea why there would be alberta plates on it, that was the last thing i was looking at at the time lol.

 

[exigeracer]

Odd, I was just walking down College towards my place and an all silver R8 booked it up Spadina. It had some corporate logos on the side, couldn't catch what it said or what kind of tags it had.

 

[harrytuttle]

ZT 260? That's the one where they said "Why develop a RWD chassis" and kinda just forced Mustang bits in it, right? And then it amazingly came out as a pretty cool car? Speaks volumes for British ingenuity.

Sure does, but it's not unlike the AC/Shelby Cobra. Oh, wait, that was an American idea....

Not the V8 doesnt have quad exhausts,if it was it would have been 1 of 27 which last time i checked is pretty rare.

Right. Corrected, then. Still, it's not exactly high production in England, let alone the US.

Blech! I hate non-stock wheels.

Agreed. I actually try to avoid photos of cars that are non-stock in any way. It just lends itself to a sense of illegitimacy.

Just one word today folks...

FINALLY!

Like everyone else: congratulations.


For me, though:

AMC Ambassador 1967

I thought they all rusted out ages ago. Seen in City Island, though, so I guess it's appropriate.

Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG & Bentley Flying Spur9

Perfect composition for the two cars, as if they're sizing each other up or something. Both large luxury cars, both ~500HP, only about $100K between them.

Maybach 62

It may not be a 62; it's hard for me to tell. But the arrangement's perfect again: uber-expensive limo waiting outside GCT with driver waiting beside.

Jeep Cherokee Tomb Raider edition

Looking this up, it seems you can get all the kit to re-create this version. Not sure why you'd want to, although he did seem to have all the necessary gaudy badges.

Dodge Ram SRT-10 Quad Cab

Stuck in traffic, so it constantly rumbled by. Silver doesn't look half as good as red.

MG TC 1947

The car hiding behind the SRT-10.... There were at least 4 other MG's on this highway over the course of three hours. This was the only one I could catch for some reason.

 

[1X83Z]

The Maybach is a 62, yes. Good spot. Did you take the Bentley/AMG picture with the knowledge that you'd get both or was the Bentley just a bonus?

 

[Joey D]

It's a Wrangler not a Cherokee just for the record.

 

[Dougboy]

Odd, I was just walking down College towards my place and an all silver R8 booked it up Spadina. It had some corporate logos on the side, couldn't catch what it said or what kind of tags it had.

I saw a black R8 last week around St. George and Bloor. There is also two at my local audi dealer. So i duno whats the big deal about R8's in canada

 

[UnoMOTO]

=

One of my neighbor's lives in harmony

 

[1X83Z]

So I'm sitting at a light, and I'm looking around.

What's that white thing there?

Oh right. Murcielago Roadster.

Owner was a young black guy sitting in it and doing something on his cell phone. I made quick work of photographing the car. He looked at me then got back to his cell phone usage.

Beautiful pearly white color. Not an LP640 (still no LP640 Roadster spots). My twelfth Murcielago (seventh Roadster). They're not as cool as they once were to me but seeing one still gives me a rush. Again I hate non-stock wheels but this time I'm inclined to approve (still they're not as attractive as stock wheels, but they're better than lots of custom wheels). A very cool car. And admit it, you like that first picture.

Other spots today...

Two Ferraris mean just three since arriving here nearly a month ago (ALL were F430s). Sort of a Ferrari drought. Lamborghini has picked up the slack though. These were nice.

I'm mad at you, Viper.