1970
Body by Karmann in Western Germany. Any guesses as to the car?
You may have guessed a Karmann Ghia, 911, or 914. If you got that close, you’re good. But you’re still not quite there…
Yep, that’s the outline, but there’s a little more going on.
Check out the old-school “cold air intake”. I love the gentle patina on everything–well, everything except the brand-new oversized radiator and the fan and shroud that go with it. Gotta keep cool, ya know.
But you’d be mistaken if you thought it was all old car problems all of the time. Actually, it’s just old car problems some of the time.
Brendan picked me up and we headed up a classic Nor Cal road to our destination, Foothills Park. Between some sketchy lap belts (“I’ll make sure not to crash”), period-correct body roll, and a carburetor soundtrack, it was always going to be exciting at any speed. And if you can understand that climate control, you’re a better man than I.
Although it was dark down between the trees, up in the hills it was still quite bright. Don’t forget the ashtray–one of three I spotted.
Automatic, eh?
Well…not quite. In addition to a five-speed swap (with a nifty dogleg first gear), it has Weber 32/36’s in place of the original Solexes, the head from a later M30 variation and a lumpy Schrick cam that doesn’t really lend itself to getting off the line well.
However, from the outside, it looks almost showroom fresh.
Okay, it does have the US-spec reflective scabs front and rear, but those are just pointy elbows from where I’m standing. Not like it’s impossible to shave them, either.
Rear seat ashtray, check.
There are the worthless seat belts. And some funky seat covers that are at least protecting the immaculate leather underneath.
This car is from a transitional period in the history of personal motoring. As far as that world is concerned, 1970 is still firmly part of “the good old days”.
Although it actually does have “bumpers”, it’s from an era where designers were pretty free to do what they wanted with styling, having much less concern for (or perhaps even knowledge of) safety and aerodynamics.
At this point, we ran into a little wrinkle in the park…from our previous location I’d noticed a photographer shooting some newlyweds in the grass, and when we turned the corner there it was: their mundane people carrier, parked in a prime spot!
Alright then.
Well, luckily this park is beautiful in every direction.
Now that is an iconic face.
Everything seems to be more interesting on an older car, even simple vents.
One of my favorite pieces of design on this car is the tail lights. The proportions on this car seem to be unorthodox at first yet flow naturally the more you study them.
Of course, I can’t talk about proportions without throwing it off and showing some bulgy wide-angle shots!
Unfortunately I’m not a wood expert so I can’t tell you exactly what we’re looking at, but I do know it looks great in the sun.
There’s so much wood everywhere that it’s almost shocking in the current world of plastic. But it works…
Eventually the sun went behind the hills and it was time to head out. The roads up to and around the park are just as exquisite, just don’t try them on the weekends…trust me on that one.
Heat Cycles
Man, I love the look of tortured tires. Not only is there something extremely interesting in a fractalized sort of way about seeing the actual tire compound transform from smooth to stippled, it’s also a clear indication of the amount of energy put through them–energy that can only come from spirited driving.
In this context, it’s also nice to see these tires because I know they’ve been recycled. We get plenty of take-offs from track-used cars, like the set you see here. Instead of sending them to the big tire fire in the sky, we slapped them on our demo 650S to essentially get some “free” miles out of them. Another benefit, if you’d like to look at it that way, is that the car moves around a bit more on the ‘normal’ P Zero compared to the stickier P Zero Corsa that are a no-cost option on the 650S. Grip is great, but so is sliding around…the trick is to find the balance. Easier said than done, for sure.
The Color Gray
The C6 Corvette. You see them all over the roads or, well, at least I do here in California. Most of them are narrow-bodied, tan on the inside, with only two pedals. But that’s okay, because even in stock form they’re svelte-looking and plenty potent from a performance standpoint. Plus, the voluptuous Grand Sport is a fairly common sight, and the Z06 isn’t particularly rare either.
But the ZR1? Even in the land of supercar daily drivers they’re an incredibly rare sight. In the five model years it was sold, they built 4,684 of them, all for the USA. But I still never see them. Maybe they’re all being babied and preserved, like this one; 7800 miles and it’s still wearing tires made in early 2008.
It’s not just rarity that lends extra appreciation; it’s the performance. The standard 6.2L LS3 is already potent, and the Z06’s 7.0L LS7 is a big lumpy monster. But the supercharged 6.2L LS9 in the ZR1 is just wild; power and torque figures that rival a McLaren 650S, for a fraction of the cost. And don’t make the mistake of seeing “leaf springs” in the spec sheet and assuming this is some outmoded American beast. It’s an American beast alright, but one with incredible handling and brakes to match its rubber-roasting torque output. And did I mention it has quite possibly the finest feeling manual transmission and clutch ever fitted as stock to a production car?
Gray is a color without color, an intermediate neutral gradient on the way from black to white. Or so they say, anyway. GM’s Cyber Gray Metallic tends to look a bit weak in photos to my eyes, but when I saw it in person, I was shocked! It’s multi-layered, richly-hued, and color changing. Plus it has a treasure trove of blue and gold flakes that really make the color pop.
Most Corvettes have a pretty silly looking ride height. Driven by the needs of consumers who don’t want to rip their bumpers off on every steep American driveway, most Corvettes depart from Bowling Green with enough space in the wheel-wells to warrant checking the tops of your tires for stray cats every time you set off. But the ZR1? Carbon fiber lips be damned–this is performance-optimized. And hey, it happens to look pretty damn good, too.
So why didn’t they sell more of them?
Ninety Degrees
I very rarely take photos in portrait format; it seems to me that cars are best shot in landscape. But here’s a photo of my car in the street at a time when I felt like it was appropriate to turn the camera on its side.
Sometimes you have to stop in the middle of the street and take a picture. It helps when the street is wide enough so cars can drive past in both directions, too.
Star Road 