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

[bondy_1625]

i saw a few nice things and a few odd and unusual things while i was on my drive down to northmpton on the 12th.
As i was driving i couldnt take any pictures camera was in the boot as well

First of all, on the acle straight, some strange prototype looking thing, was very wedge shaped, didnt see what the writing was on it, so i'll never know
Seemed to be the shape of the Dome-o thingy :\

Further on towards thetford, i saw what was and will be my sighting of the year. I couldnt believe i was seeing it and tbh i dont think you guys will either.
An M5 safety car, yep exactly like the one made by autoArt in 1:18 scale, orange roof lights, grey 'safety car' writing down the side, no mistaking that one! (i actually shouted to myself "M5 safety car!! what the fu.." you get the picture)

a ferrafi f360 i think, in silver, not too spectacular, i'd prefer to see older classic ferraris than the newer models which just dont do it for me.

Not sure if i mentioned before that i saw a dark blue M6 putting down some revs, sounded pretty damn good

after the M5 safety car everything else i saw i forgot about as it all seemed so insignificant

Edit: duh, forgot while i was in the region i took a visit to Northampton Audi, they have a new RS4, coupe and convert (both sold) an S8 (V10 450bhp) and the new Q7 ( first of which ive seen, strangely according to their statistics sheet, the V8 is insurance group 16 and the V6, which is less powerful, less torguey, slower etc, is in insurance group 18 )
i got a few good pictures with my 20D and i'll re-size them if anyone wants to look.

oh and also i drove past a small garage with a small showroom (4 cars only), with what looked like an MG X-power SV! was that thing ever produced? i thought they just made an outrageous car to attract attention, i'll have to visit there when i next trip to the midlands.

 

[Perfect Balance]

I was at somewhat of a carnival today, and they had a Ford GT that they were giving away as a prize or something. I took some pics on my camera phone, but I have to pay to get them onto my computer.

 

[GT4_Rule]

Saw these:

CL65 AMG, black.
CLS500l, silver
'71 Nova, blue.

 

[Revheadnz]

Nice spotting Chaser_fan, that's a bad little Celica. Those TAs are my favourite type of Celica.

Chaser, what's that car next to the Maranello (pic by pic)?

Is it that a Toyota Chaser itself? Looks really nice.

Yea McLaren, that's a Chaser. Looks pretty sweet as, needs to lose the wing first though.

Also, I saw an Evo 9 today, such an mean looking car

 

[Jay]

I didn't see much except

FPV GT (290 boss)
FPV F6 Tornado
Mitsubishi Evolution IX.

I was admiring the FPV GT at the traffic lights when a blue Evo IX comes burning up, all of a sudden I lost interest in thr FPV, the Evo looked alot nastier than the GT.

Corvette ZR-1 - I hope to see it again, and get a better picture. Trust me this time, though.

I thought ZR-1's have ZR-1 badging on the rear?

 

[opendriver]

Land Rover has been out and about testing their new Freelander replacement, so there's a chance it's that, but I'm not sure. Where do you live?

A small little town called rohnert park, about an hour north from SF

 

[Master_Yoda]

A small little town called rohnert park, about an hour north from SF

More lie 1hr 45min... It takes me a 45 mins to get to rohnert park And a hour to get to SF. Your forgot traffic

 

[1X83Z]

All done! Not bad for an afternoon's work eh!?

Hell no it's not! Fantastic sightings - and the picture of the vehicle you call a Gemballa 996 911 Turbo isn't just a good sighting, it's a spectacular photograph. Bravo chaser_fan - your sightings alone are worth the price of admission! (which is free - but still - good sightings )

Seriously; an Elise would give so much more credibility for that price. Remember folks: Those who care can tell the difference; those who can't, don't. You're only fooling yourself that your fooling other people.

Truer words have yet to be spoken - let's go post that on some Pontiac Fiero/MkI MR2 kit car forum.

You may be joking, but blue is the "right" color for that car, just not for me. And the Evo MR is actually a better, more driver-oriented car. The Subaru is more well-rounded, feeling better on rough/snowy roads (in my experience), and, quite frankly, it's much better inside. The styling in either case is questionable: definitely functional, quite aggressive, but not smooth at all. At least, not Aston Martin smooth.

I think the reason I like the Mitsubishi's styling more comes down to the fact that the vehicle was so idolized for so long that once it finally came here I couldn't help but enjoy it. Meanwhile we've always had the Impreza, and the turbocharged versions of that were never that different from the base car - or not as much as the Lancer, anyway.

I swear there's a GT2 around, but that may just have been passing through. I could have sworn I had a GT3 photo (actually both 996's) somewhere...

I'm sure Denver has a GT2, but I've never in my life seen one. I've seen leagues of GT3s (by leagues I mean four) but no GT2 still.

Audi S4 Avant - non-V8

The rare sort! Made only for 2001. 👍 That's not a rare color though - blue is second-most common to silver - but definitely less than 5000 of those were made that year.

Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 - Trying to catch all the SRT, which now makes the SRT-4 hard to find these days.

It's unbelievable isn't it?!?! I tried to catch all the SRT cars on one night (though just seeing them - didn't want to waste the photos ) and I was short a Ram and a Neon. Not even a Viper. I'm lucky though because I know where a Neon lives - the Ram is just difficult as hell.

I swear when the Neon came out I saw one every week. These days I'm lucky to see one every three weeks.

Jeep Grand Cherokee Tsi - is this for real? (whacked out picture angle)

Yes for real and sadly not as rare as I once thought. That one's also in the most popular color combo - black . The other colors were purple and silver. Regardless when I say "not as rare as I once thought" I still mean quite rare - it was made in 1997 only and probably less than 5000 were made. I haven't seen one in months, but I'm considering (sort of) buying one. Thanks for the pic.

I thought ZR-1's have ZR-1 badging on the rear?

It was subtle - debossed into the back bumper and unpainted. And the ZR-1 was only stylistically different for its first year or two in existence - then they restyled the Corvette to look just like the ZR-1 (which is most of the reason why it failed).

I'm being summoned again so I'd better delay my sightings until then.

 

[SagarisGTB]

lol, I should have posted here on the day of my day-trip to Maranello. Coincidentally, there was also a group of British people there that day that liked Furballs and mispronounced TVR. They brought Radicals, TVRs, an Ariel Atom and several other nice sporty cars. Racked in several hundred pics in a matter of hours.

 

[1X83Z]

there was also a group of British people there that day that liked Furballs and mispronounced TVR. .

How can you mispronounce TVR?

(I'm a cheater, I know - so sue me)

 

[1X83Z]

TODAY'S SIGHTINGS:

August 15, 2006 - Denver, Colo.

Not bad right? Two of the toughest three AMG models (the other being the G55) plus an 850R wagon ('96-'97 only) and the new RS4. But it gets better:

August 15, 2006 - Denver, Colo.

This is an incredible car. Why? That's what we call a Porsche 911 Turbo 3.6 - you can see the badge above the car. So what does that have to do with anything? I'll let Wikipedia do the talking: Porsche released the 964 Turbo 3.6 ... in 1993. Now featuring a turbocharged version of the 3.6 litre M64 engine and producing 360 bhp, the 3.6 litre powered Turbo was produced only for the 1993 model year, with fewer than 2,000 of them produced in total, making it one of the rarest cars Porsche has produced since the 959. How about that one?! I'd never seen this one before - plates say the car was purchased in the rich area of town back in January or February 2000, so the owner's not original but he's had it awhile. Verrrry cool.

That one doesn't come last - it's my best sighting in a while - but I just felt this was too cool not to save for last. I talk up Colorado a lot, but I think this picture and none other gives the very essence of Colorado summarized by one photograph:

August 15, 2006 - Denver, Colo.

Yes folks - that's a 996 911 Turbo. WITH SKI RACKS. He's got Pirelli performance tires on the car too. And it's August. Oddly that's not the strangest car I've seen with ski racks though - that title went out this winter when I viewed a rack-equipped E36 M3. Convertible. Still, the 996 911 Turbo is one hell of a sighting.

 

[Rue]

Effing brilliant spot with the Turbo 3.6 there Doug! A real cracker! One of my all time favourite cars.

 

[Rue]

This evening's cars and an SL55 from this afternoon...

Did an AMG CLK32 even exist?! And is that a 930 Turbo or not? I was thinking it is, but to me the wing looks a bit lean...

EDIT: Correction, that's a 930 SC not a turbo.

And I made a wallpaper after M5Power's nice comments...

 

[McLaren]

Caught a Ferrari that looked a little like one of the 1st 308s made.
Been seeing a bunch of those Toyota FJ Cruisers too as well as good variety of C6 Coupe Corvettes.

Chaser, I don't think that's a turbo of the 930 model.
930 Turbo

It doesn't appear to have the blackness right head of the rear wheels or blackness around the whalefin.

 

[Rue]

Caught a Ferrari that looked a little like one of the 1st 308s made.
Been seeing a bunch of those Toyota FJ Cruisers too as well as good variety of C6 Coupe Corvettes.

Chaser, I don't think that's a turbo of the 930 model.
930 Turbo

It doesn't appear to have the blackness right head of the rear wheels or blackness around the whalefin.

You're right. The oneI saw must've been an SC. Cheers!

 

[Master_Yoda]

Chaser_fan Do you ALWAYS see super nice cars all the time?
And what do you drive?

O yeah, IM GTP's Master Jedi

 

[Rue]

Chaser_fan Do you ALWAYS see super nice cars all the time?
And what do you drive?

O yeah, IM GTP's Master Jedi

Ha ha! Still not as many as I'd like to.

What do I drive? Nothing as there's really no excuse to have a car in a city with probably the best and some of the cheapest public transport in the world.

Buying a used car in Hong Kong is great value, but owning a car in Hong Kong isn't cheap - parking, tax and fuel are all priced to prize as much money out of the motorist as posible. The only people in HK who drive are well off and that's why the majority of cars you see here are nice-ish.

 

[Master_Yoda]

O get it now. That sucks!

 

[bondy_1625]

ahh a few of what i forgot to mention the other day.
On the back of a truck a new Z4 coupé (non M version) and an M3CSL that i was following for some time.
cell phone pics = crap quality

 

[Viper_Maniac]

2005 Ferrari F430 (at least it looked like one. it was headed in the opposite direction of me. )

That makes the 3rd Ferrari I've seen. I've seen a 360(I think it was a 360. I cant remember ATM) and a Dino(I got to see this one real good. It was in the lane next to me. ).

 

[harrytuttle]

Truer words have yet to be spoken - let's go post that on some Pontiac Fiero/MkI MR2 kit car forum.

Deal. Wait, does such a forum even exist?

It's unbelievable isn't it?!?! I tried to catch all the SRT cars on one night (though just seeing them - didn't want to waste the photos ) and I was short a Ram and a Neon. Not even a Viper. I'm lucky though because I know where a Neon lives - the Ram is just difficult as hell.

I have seen a 300C SRT-8 just once, and a Charger SRT twice. Since that time, not only have SRT-4's disappeared, but *all* Neon's seem to be hard to come by. Strange days, indeed.

I thought ZR-1's have ZR-1 badging on the rear?

It was subtle - debossed into the back bumper and unpainted. And the ZR-1 was only stylistically different for its first year or two in existence - then they restyled the Corvette to look just like the ZR-1 (which is most of the reason why it failed).

It had the side badging and the side vents, but all I could get at the time was the rear. It was at a garage where all sorts of Corvettes are worked on. There's always a red '57 (or '58) there, and usually one or two others. It should show up again. Every spring, the good stuff gets checked up on. All sorts of Barrett-Jackson goodness goes through there.

The stuff below goes as far back as March. Hey, pikchers is pikchers. I'm just going alphabetical with the old stuff.

Audi A8L W12 - rarer than the Passat W8 Wagon
Volkswagen Passat W8 Wagon - Okay, so it's not all alphabetical.
BMW 2800CS - rusted, but running
Buick GN/GNX - redneck car in a very non-redneck area
Cadillac CTS-V - the rest of the V's are out there somewhere, hiding with the SRT-4's. There's a guy who drives a CTS-V from his house to the train station every day (but this isn't him). That train station parking lot will appear here quite often.
Dodge Viper RT/10 - heh, "red heat". The slapped-on hardtop looks awful.

 

[1X83Z]

This evening's cars and an SL55 from this afternoon...

Did an AMG CLK32 even exist?! And is that a 930 Turbo or not? I was thinking it is, but to me the wing looks a bit lean...

No - no such thing as a CLK32 - that's probably a CLK320 where the owner removed the zero and threw on the AMG badge. Could easily be a home-made CLK32 though: all a 32 AMG model was was the regular 3.2-liter Mercedes V6 with a supercharger so theoretically you could do one up yourself - but that gen's CLK AMG was the naturally-aspirated 5.4-liter V8.

And I made a wallpaper after M5Power's nice comments...

👍 Much appreciated.

Deal. Wait, does such a forum even exist?

I'm sure it does - they have forums for everything.

I have seen a 300C SRT-8 just once, and a Charger SRT twice. Since that time, not only have SRT-4's disappeared, but *all* Neon's seem to be hard to come by. Strange days, indeed.

Only one 300 and two Chargers? Deprived!! Not that they're anything special (as far as styling). The 300 is a bit rare but I've come to disregard the Charger. A Grand Cherokee SRT-8 passed me on the highway tonight and I was struck with the realization that it's quicker than every Ferrari until the F40. I think.

The stuff below goes as far back as March. Hey, pikchers is pikchers.

My sentiments exactly - keep 'em coming! (love the 2800CS - I know where there are three in Denver - they all look pretty nice - the real coup is seeing a pre-E28 5-series )

 

[Alex.]

CL55: i was in a rush so i quickly jumped out the car when my dad stopped and jumped back in again (pretty good for a shot taken in mid flight!


And a really bad pic of a bentley continental flying spur: you can see me hand aswell!, i saw it upahead in traffic but my dad drove too close so we had a mass argu,emt about how i should'a teakne it and so on, made an exit on junc.10 so i used the wing mirror:
MEGA bad pic but i had to have somthin to show for todays camera carrying efforts!

 

[GT40 MKII]

well i did get to see a 2006 ford gt in person, ill try and upload the pics when i can. the car was sitting in the showroom of lewis ford in fayetville Ark.

 

[daan]

I've just re-found this photo on my pc that I took a while ago.

It's a Golf Rallye. One of only 5000 built (only 70 officially imported to the UK).

I seem to be rubbish at the "today" bit of this thread! Anything good I saw today, I'll tell you about next year!

EDIT: I did see a TVR Tuscan today, but I was driving and it was going the other way.

 

[harrytuttle]

I don't know if this is covered before or not, but I don't think dealerships should count (unless it's a Veyron, or few-of-a-kind top-shelf stuff). It's kind of like going to the zoo and claiming you went on safari. The real "thrill" is when you see this stuff being used & driven. Otherwise, I could hop over to Greenwich and fill this forum from here to GT5's release date.

Just my opinion. In fact, just forget I said anything.

I'm sure it does - they have forums for everything.

Yeah, I suppose they do. People will talk about anything. Next thing you know, they'll have a forum for people who play just one title of video game....

Only one 300 and two Chargers? Deprived!! Not that they're anything special (as far as styling). The 300 is a bit rare but I've come to disregard the Charger. A Grand Cherokee SRT-8 passed me on the highway tonight and I was struck with the realization that it's quicker than every Ferrari until the F40. I think.

The 288GTO does it quicker (5.2s compared to 4.9s), but there wasn't a non-supercar Ferrari that could beat it until the 348, and even that wasn't by much. The 308's of the time were in the 6-second range. Still, for a car that weighs so much more, that's just astounding. I would like to see track times, though, since I can't see any SRT8 being a better track car than even a 1976 Dino.


Something old, something new, but none of it's blue

New:
Pontiac Trans Am Firehawk 1995 - had to really search to see if it was real or not; it appears to be.
Porsche 911 GT2 996 - okay, so it's at a dealership. I couldn't resist!

Old:
Ford/Saleen Mustang S281 - all the options
Ford GT
Ferrari F40 - the S281 and a Vanquish can be seen here, too.
^^^ All owned by the same guy. And that's not all. The neighbor (a client of mine) says the guy's retired. There's a large garage "somewhere" with another 8 Ferrari's (including an Enzo and 550M, which were there when my camera battery conveniently died), and then 10+ "other exotics". (My client doesn't quite have the same passion some of us do for cars, so his memory is selective, but accurate.) The owner's retired, and on nice days drives to the garage, picks something out, then does a few errands in it. Or just shuffles them back & forth for fun.

Yes, the cars vastly out-value the house, even in that neighborhood. I go by every so often for a look-see, but I don't want to be considered a stalker. The house is at the end of a dead-end street, so I can't just be "passing by".

 

[GT4_Rule]

Saw:

- a late '80s or early '90s Cadillac Eldorado
- Nissan Altima SE-R!
- Scion xB
- three Porsche Cayenne
- two BMW 330Ci convertible
- a silver Porsche 356 Speedster

and I forgot a lot more....

 

[1X83Z]

I don't know if this is covered before or not, but I don't think dealerships should count (unless it's a Veyron, or few-of-a-kind top-shelf stuff). It's kind of like going to the zoo and claiming you went on safari. The real "thrill" is when you see this stuff being used & driven. Otherwise, I could hop over to Greenwich and fill this forum from here to GT5's release date.

I'm completely with you - we all kind of agree to that (I think it's in this thread's first post). The only time I value dealer sightings is when the vehicle wasn't sold in the country it was seen in - a U.S. dealer sighting if a Maserati MC12, for instance, would be just as good as a street sighting of the vehicle, since it shouldn't be in a dealer OR on the street.

Yeah, I suppose they do. People will talk about anything. Next thing you know, they'll have a forum for people who play just one title of video game....

And those people will spend all their time on that forum posting in a board about a basically irrelevant topic!

The 288GTO does it quicker (5.2s compared to 4.9s), but there wasn't a non-supercar Ferrari that could beat it until the 348, and even that wasn't by much. The 308's of the time were in the 6-second range. Still, for a car that weighs so much more, that's just astounding. I would like to see track times, though, since I can't see any SRT8 being a better track car than even a 1976 Dino.

Some of those old Ferraris were track snails - but you're likely right. The Grand Cherokee is HUGE. By the way, Chrysler quotes a sub-5sec 0-60 time for the Grand Cherokee SRT-8, so it'd give the 288GTO a run for its money as well. The 308 was really that slow?

Yes, the cars vastly out-value the house, even in that neighborhood. I go by every so often for a look-see, but I don't want to be considered a stalker. The house is at the end of a dead-end street, so I can't just be "passing by".

You can be "lost!!" There's a very rich (VERY rich) area near my house (but in a different neighborhood and a much different league) where all the homes are worth $20m+. We know of at least one supercar rego'd in there - a Lamborghini Diablo. I've never photographed a Diablo, so I'm quite interested in doing so; as a result, I drive through there every few weeks hoping to get lucky. Whenever I do such, I go past huge signs that say "NO TRESPASSING," etc. I just pull out my cell phone and pretend I'm talking on it, so if I ever get stopped I'd just say I was lost and pretend I was asking my friend on the other line where I'm going. I haven't had to use that excuse yet, but it'd work for sure.

By the way - fantastic pictures - particularly the F40. I don't know if I'll ever see one, but if I did, I'd go absolutely freaking nuts. I mean just LOOK at the damn thing.

TODAY:

August 17, 2006 - Denver, Colo.

That's the same 911 Turbo 3.6 from before - the guy owns the car six years (locally!), I haven't seen it once in that timeframe, and I see it twice in two days. Weird. Also:

August 17, 2006 - Denver, Colo.

That's a strange shade of yellow, is it not? Plate was "2BAD4U"

 

[TheCracker]

Some of those old Ferraris were track snails - but you're likely right. The Grand Cherokee is HUGE. By the way, Chrysler quotes a sub-5sec 0-60 time for the Grand Cherokee SRT-8, so it'd give the 288GTO a run for its money as well. The 308 was really that slow?

To be fair, those 70's & 80's Ferraris that you got over your side of the pond were strangled by emissions regulations. Your 308's had little over 215bhp compared to the rest of the world's 255bhp. The 308 QV was a little better at 240bhp and the 328 better still at 270bhp. Still well down on the SRT8's 420 from a 6.1 so its hardly surprising.

Doug - did you know that there's a Denver plated McLaren F1 running around? I was looking at an old copy of CAR magazine where they had a little snippet of pictures of F1's spotted worldwide by readers.

 

[McLaren]

To be fair, those 70's & 80's Ferraris that you got over your side of the pond were strangled by emissions regulations. Your 308's had little over 215bhp compared to the rest of the world's 255bhp. The 308 QV was a little better at 240bhp and the 328 better still at 270bhp. Still well down on the SRT8's 420 from a 6.1 so its hardly surprising.

Doug - did you know that there's a Denver plated McLaren F1 running around? I was looking at an old copy of CAR magazine where they had a little snippet of pictures of F1's spotted worldwide by readers.

While true, it may be gone by now. Many McLarens usually don't stay in 1 place too long if it gets daily driven. It could be in a garage, in Woking, or somewhere else.

But I'm not trying to discourage Doug. I'd give major rep. if he was able to find it.