Family Seating
You want safe, and you want sporty?
Volvo sports seats. Hard to beat.
Cool as Air
It almost feels weird praising an air-cooled 911. It’s like raving about The Beatles; most of the time you’ll be preaching to the choir, but from time to time you’ll meet people who get annoyed when you start prattling on about the world’s most overrated boy band.
Now that the 911 market has gone positively bonkers, it can be hard to separate the real impressions from the hype. It’s so easy to jump on the bandwagon because, realistically, these cars are currently one of the hot tickets in the car world. There has to be a point where values will level off, but as of this writing that’s not something that seems probable any time soon (check back on this post in the future for laughs).
In any case, that is exactly why right now you won’t be reading any prosaic meanderings about thin pillars, funky smelling heaters, or light front ends. I have no plans to gush about “the way things used to be”, nor am I interested in spending any time analyzing the current market for these cars or pondering the existence of three separate gauges relating to different facets of the oil.
Right now, in this moment, it’s all about the “squashed jellybean”. Introduced at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Porsche 993 is polarizingly beautiful. Some have hailed it as the most gorgeous evolution of the original 911, while some air-cooled diehards have backhandedly remarked that at least its fried-egg-faced successor looked worse.
It was still based on the classic 911, even thirty-some years after it was originally designed, but they still sought to modernize it. The narrow body car (seen here) was wider than ever, with sumptuous, straight-outta-the-90s curves. The 968-ish aerodynamic headlights, sloped tail lights, and smooth bumpers rounded out the package–quite literally–yet on the whole it was, and still is, unmistakably 911.
Inside as well, it’s unmistakably 911, little having changed since the ’60s. Gotta love the huge tachometer right in the center. The window switches migrated to the center console for the 996, but I like how they went back to the high forward door position with the 997. Predictably, they’re the industry-standard door handle type in the 991–another example of how they keep engineering the funkiness out of 911’s.
Something that is not unique to 911’s in particular are crappy rear jump seats. They’re mostly useful just for emergencies, but I have actually seen families of three or four rolling around in modern 911’s. If you’re a kid or just a shorty, I suppose you could make do back there.
When we embarked on this shoot the intention was to capture the nuances of the paint in sunlight. However, as soon as we arrived at our location, the clouds came over and killed that plan. As you can see, it looks quite navy blue in the shade. Normally I like shooting under San Francisco’s naturally diffused light, but it just wasn’t what I was after on this particular day. At this point you have to do the only thing you can do when you’re right there: Plan B.
This location was right in the center of the city: Twin Peaks. We thought that no one would bother us down this dead end, but sure enough, as soon as we moved into this position someone needed to get past us into their driveway.
Longer focal lengths are great. This was ‘only’ at 105mm but the car just looks so short.
Short focal lengths are great too–I love how funky and exaggerated cars look when shot up close with wide lenses.
One of the major challenges with shooting cloudy lighting conditions is maintaining a consistent white balance. As sunlight is diffused through clouds, it takes on a different hue.
This color, Ocean Blue Metallic, was offered for narrow 993’s in 1997 only and wasn’t particularly popular at the time. The above shot is sort-of-almost what we initially set out to capture (more or less), but the sun didn’t play for long; it actually started raining when we were at this location, unfortunately putting an early end to this shoot. Bummer, because this paint has some lovely bright teal shades hidden in there.
Setting you down gently here, I present a not-unusual San Francisco scene. His ‘n’ Hers hybrids, perhaps?
I don’t think this 993 is going anywhere for a while. Which means you’ll see more of it here in the future…hopefully with certain modifications… (don’t want to give away too much!)
People Who Drive Cars Drinking Coffee
I am not an early bird. I’m the type of person who sleeps in on Christmas morning and isn’t very familiar with the concept of “the sunrise”. Honestly, I wish it wasn’t like that–I love the cool, crisp air in the morning as well as the lovely crepuscular rays peeking over the horizon. But, quite clearly, I don’t love that stuff enough to drag my corpse out of bed in the early dark hours to experience them first hand.
And that is why, believe it or not, I had NEVER been to a Cars & Coffee meet before 2015. Part of it is because I don’t have much interest in static car shows, but mostly because I just didn’t want to wake up so early.
But on February 1st, I awoke in darkness and headed to San Francisco to meet my buddy Art and his newly acquired oil-cooled Porsche. After a few snags getting out the door, we managed to be on the road around 7:40. The meet, held at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, was supposed to start at 7:30 AM, but people always show up much earlier than that in order to get a good spot in one of the main parking areas.
I was a bit deflated after we got there, it has to be said. Despite the fact that we were turned away from entering any one of the “show” lots in the 993 because there were so many cars there (some said it was the largest Blackhawk C&C they’d ever seen), there were these sort of “quality” vehicles and their equal amount of respect toward parking.
It’s very easy to pick nits and notice the things you don’t like, especially at Cars & Coffee, which has an “everybody’s a winner” attitude. If you show up early enough, you can park literally anything in the show lot. One day I’ll test this by bringing my mom’s 2004 Volvo out there…but I digress. You have to really look to find your personal stars in a place that has everything, so the point here is simple: Challenge Accepted.
I was actually pretty intrigued by this thing, and not just because of the fender mirrors. Sure, it looked like a high school student had gotten ahold of it, but at least they were comprehensive.
Functionality? Surely reduced. But when the rest of your high school parking lot is filled with ten-year-old Camrys and Accords, you can imagine how much of a splash this makes.
Ah, to be young again. This thing is impractical, unsafe, and ridiculous–but isn’t that the point? The owner was even friendly enough to invite me to open the doors and look inside, which was unsurprising. After all, he probably built it for attention, and that’s what it was getting.
For better or for worse, that was the only homegrown contraption I saw. There were quite a few cars that looked like they’d only been driven on Sundays, like these Trans-Am’s for example. Now that’s something you don’t see every day.
As always, it’s the little details in this hobby that really create the immersive effect; the more you look, the more you see.
This was another standout for me, and entirely for personal reasons: my dad had a 1965 Chevelle hardtop when I was growing up.
Save the best for last? Eff that. On the heels of the last paternal vehicle comes another one: this 1936 Ford Pickup that I’ve seen many times before. Over on Ellis Street in San Francisco between Larkin and Polk is a shop called “Allied Engine” and this truck is usually sitting outside, as well as other cool vintage cars. Anyway, I actually own a ’36 Ford pickup, a “barn find” of sorts; my dad bought it in 1972 and after his stroke in 1999, it has never been driven. My truck, however, is a bit sacrilegious: back in the 80s it was hot rodded with…a small block Chevy engine. Swapping SBC’s into the “wrong” chassis is definitely nothing new, that’s for sure.
No worries about any of that here! Quite clearly, that is a supercharged Ford V8. Hell yeah!
Sidestepping in time, there was a lovely Cord.
Just another nicely modded 911.
Strangely, for how many E30 M3’s were made and how their popularity has exploded in recent times, there was only one in attendance.
After all this, you may be wondering why I decided to wake up at 5 AM on a Sunday to see these things. Well, part of the catalyst was to see my friend Brendan and his BMW. He had recently done a few things and I was anxious to see. Plus, it’s always nice to catch up and get some face time with friends.
Speaking of E9’s, there was one in attendance that could be legitimately considered famous. This Atlantik Blue (NOT Atlantic Blue, which is a very different BMW color) 2800CS was the sixteenth E9 ever made! Even more remarkable, it was driven over 400,000 miles by the original owner, Murray Fowler. He passed away recently, but the new owner is an older lady who definitely loves and appreciates it. (If you’re interested in this car, get on Google and type in “Blu Max BMW”)
What an incredibly clean interior for any car from 1969, let alone one that has 425,000 miles on it!
Finally, spots started clearing up, and Art moved his 993 into the actual “show” lot. By then, most of the attendees had left, even though it was only 9 o’clock. Where does everyone need to go on Sunday mornings?
After things cleared up even more, he parked his Carrera next to this Carrera S so we could do a bit of comparison.
Do you prefer the narrow body with no accoutrements, or the wide body with some aero?
As we were getting ready to leave, Brendan mentioned that he had two free tickets to the museum for us, since he wasn’t planning on going again anytime soon. Unfortunately, the second floor was closed for repairs, but who cares? It was free! Pictured above is NOT a Ford GT40, believe it or not. It’s actually a Mirage M1, which was based on a Mk1 GT40, at least.
Other highlights included this Jaguar XKSS…
…and these crazy Bertone-designed Alfa Romeo “BAT” concepts from the 50’s. (and no, that’s not “Bring a Trailer”, it’s “Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica”)
Judging by the amount of time I spent taking in its majesty, my favorite thing in the museum had to be this 1933 Packard Sport Phaeton. Only two were built that year; not surprising for such a ridiculous car built in the depths of the Great Depression. Not sure I’d want to be exposed to the elements in such an ostentatious beast.
Next on the Star Road menu is that 993 in a bit more detail. Watch this space.
Twenty Four Hours?
If you want to go out and see some racing, just go to your local track this weekend. “This weekend??” I hear you saying, “There’s no IndyCar or NASCAR or F1 or WTCC at my local track this weekend…”
Who cares? You want to see racing. And that means screaming engines as cars piloted by maniacs are flogged within inches of their life. Which happens most days of the year at the “big” race tracks, especially on weekends.
On this particular weekend, there was a “24 Hours of LeMons” event at one of my local tracks, Sonoma Raceway. They actually name their events; this one, dubbed the “Good Effort Grand Prix” (complemented by the “Arse-Freeze-Apalooza” a month previous), was held over two days in January, 2015.
So it’s a 24-hour race? What’s the deal with that?
Well, not exactly. The racing itself actually lasted closer to 14 total hours–the sessions began at 10 AM, and stopped right around sunset, which was a little after 5 PM.
It’s less of an actual race than a way to just spend a bunch of time battling other people wheel-to-wheel on a closed course. Supposedly, you need a theme and a car that costs less than $500, but something tells me they are less than strict about that.
For example, this team didn’t seem to have much of a theme at all. They also dominated the first day, lapping (at least) a few seconds quicker than the next team in their class (yes–there’s an app for that!); however, a mechanical failure which led to a crash dropped them back by the end of the second day.
I’ve seen many types of racing in my life, but absolutely nothing sounds or smells like a LeMons race.
Take this 912 for example. Apparently it was powered by…some sort of turbodiesel?
Wow. It feels really strange saying that a Porsche was a unique sight at a motorsport event, but a water-cooled TDI 912 at a $500 crapcan event is, well, a unique sight.
One more pic of the 912 battling with a Volvo 240 wagon. Spectacular.
I was attending the race in support of my friends, “Team Surf Bums” in their Half Moon Bay surfer bro-themed E28 BMW. Actually let’s rewind a bit here. This is the part of driving a race car that’s not so glamorous–the part where you actually have to create your race car.
Enter this checklist. After work on Friday night, three of us (me being little more than a casual observer/documenter) arrived at the shop ready to work. As you can see, the wheels needed to be swapped (for a cheap set with fresh rubber); brakes needed to be checked (pads and rotors turned out to be fine, although the LCA bolts were loose); change diff (it was having major issues…I’ll come back to this); control arm bushings (they were destroyed, and solid bushings the cure); lastly, the exhaust was hanging down after two of its hangers in the rear broke, and needed to be secured. All that stuff, and then you just have to pack the truck and trailer for the drive to the track the next morning! Brilliant.
Immediately, the wheels were removed and the box of bushes was attended to.
The old bushes were torched, then yanked out.
The inserts were then Sawzall’d off (not shown), and the new bushes were pressed in.
In case you were wondering where race car work gets done…well there’s an example.
Here’s a quick glance at the interior; pretty gutted.
Since I love panning shots, here’s one of Art making a diff by carrying a diff. Unfortunately, this was the only thing that didn’t get done that night–it would have to wait for the track.
Anyway, we were loaded up and out of there by around 3.
On Sunday morning, this happened. I decided to get a good night’s rest so I wasn’t there when the green flag dropped, but I did get there to see Art’s stint.
Unfortunately, they didn’t replace the differential before the first session. At some point in its life it was an LSD, but after 400,000+ miles it would kind of lock and unlock sporadically, and given the torque of the straight six combined with the leaning nature of the suspension meant the inside wheel would spin helplessly if any throttle was given out of turns.
Despite this, they still battled flat-out. After all, that’s the point, right?
And really, that’s the draw of this sort of racing. You spend a lot of time actually on track, surrounded by like-minded lunatics, and instead of politics or cashflow, you can really concentrate on having fun.
Even if you’re just a spectator like I was, you can find a way to have fun at a LeMons event. The pits and paddock are completely open, so you can wander around and chat with people; it’s a great atmosphere.
Every garage is filled with snacks, tools, and all manner of gear and gadgets.
And you’re guaranteed to find laughter too.
The number of spectators was probably somewhere in the dozens, so you could get right up close at all the good locations where people usually pile up during major events.
The middle of the bridge is normally covered with ad banners during races, so you can’t capture shots like this.
Personally, I just like being close to the action, and luckily Sonoma is really great for that. I took this photo from a normal public viewing area.
Speaking of getting close, as one of my friends likes to say, “If you ain’t rubbin’ you ain’t racin’.” There was definitely more than a little rubbing here. Another car had outbraked itself and run into the E28, launching it into another car in the braking zone.
As you can see, everyone is concentrating on the front, which is where the major apparent damage was.
The rear quarter panel had crinkled up; it was the sort of thing that would total a regular road car, but didn’t really seem like major damage on this race car.
In any case, they raced on.
Golden hour was beautiful on this particular day, but unfortunately the car was pretty haggard. All they needed to do was limp it to the end and they could spend some time working on it for the next day’s action.
The last rays of light over Turn 2 were beautiful to behold, but it must have been a pain in the ass (or eyes) to drive straight up in to the setting sun.
This Mini Moke was slow, ridiculous, and awesome. It was definitely a rolling roadblock, but at least it was amusing and very much in the spirit of the event.
I just thought this thing was totally cool.
At this point, the track was starting to get nice and shady, but the day’s session was about to end, so it was time to head back to the paddock and see cars rolling back in.
This Citroën SM was leaving the paddock right when I showed up, driven by none other than…well, keep reading.
Our garage neighbor was this Volvo team, who were in for an unscheduled pit stop.
I thought their team was pretty cool, especially because I’ve spent a good amount of time hanging out in Bernal Heights in San Francisco.
This widebody Honda thingy was pretty rad; unfortunately I know nothing about it.
Then I saw the Citroën again!
Kind of a bummer that it was on stilts, but it’s still a beautiful design.
At this point, the owner got in and started to drive away. I positioned myself to get a good panning shot…
…and right after I captured a frame he slowed the car down, and stopped. Dammit! He looked at me and said, “Hey, you look like you know what you’re doing. Can you send me those photos?” So he gave his phone number and he told me to text him; he then introduced himself as Alex Roy. It didn’t ring a bell at first, but after he drove away, that name sounded way too familiar. I googled it and–wow! It was THE Alex Roy, the infamous dude who did the Cannonball Run (aka driving from NYC to LA) in 31 hours, as well as some other crazy/illegal stuff. Cool! I hope he likes these pics…
Anyway, so at this point I was just pootling around the paddock, taking in the sights.
This 964 belongs to one of the dudes on the E28 team. Yup, those are the new Fifteen52 52 Outlaw wheels.
I really like narrow 964’s.
Although the track was silent, the garages were buzzing. I thought it was pretty awesome that they get to use indoor garages instead of an outdoor paddock.
After a day of racing, the sun was setting, and the real work was to begin. Finally, the differential would be swapped out for a proper working LSD. As for me? I was outta there; prior commitments. The next day they were significantly faster, like 3-4 seconds per lap. With consistency in car and driver, these guys think they have what it takes to bring home a class win next time out. Let’s see what happens, eh?
Star Road 