Hey all
So things have been a bit busy of late with a mix of Uni work and the return of my father from hospital, so just trying to get back into the swing of things once more.
So I was thinking of a new photo topic to share and why not have it based on one of my passions, Cars!!
Nooo, not Lightning McQueen, although I do have a soft spot for the film series.
But a visit to the Petersen Collection in Los Angeles, where they hold some extremely rare and sometimes one off examples such as this soft top Toyota S2000GT, known from Bond's You only live twice.
Now interesting fact about this car, only two exist and it's not a real soft top. The retractable roof under the cover is just for show as it was made to allow Sean Connery to fit into the car as he was too tall for the regular version.
There were a number of film cars on display in the collection, including this Keaton era Batmobile.
The fully restored Delorean A car from Back to the Future
The level of work gone into bringing this car back to such a level was amazing, and to see a real film used car in person rather then a replica was just something special.
Now the one that was really amusing was this version of Herbie.
Where the producers of the film made this Beetle comply with Nascar scrutineering requirements.
Outside of film cars, We have some exotics such as this.
The Fisker Karma
An early Hybrid EV with the engine used purely as a generator to charge the batteries for the EV Power train (think of the BMW i3 as another with this type of setup)
Now onto a couple of Jaguars
This Jaguar XKSS had quite a famous owner, in Steve McQueen
The second Jaguar is that of the XJ220. A 90's skunkworks project that just so happened to gather a lot of attention when put on display at the British Motor Show in 1988 in concept form, of which that model is held at Gaydon in England.
The 90's production model is quite a different car from that of the concept car, in a number of design areas, including the use of stock Rover parts, such as the rear tail lights of the Rover 200/400! But also the switch from a V12 to a V6 twin-turbo (heavily modified version of the Group B rally MG Metro engine).
The Ford GT40 (mk 3 in this case) was a vision to behold. And possibly the first time I had seen one too. Surprising considering their massive significance in lemans racing history. Where I don't recall seeing one on display at their museum (a photo set for another day 😉)
Of course, right next to it had to be the latest version of the Ford GT all set for another Lemans outing once more.
Overall though, a wonderful contrast to have them both together.
As seen earlier on, with the Bond edition GT2000, we have the proper Coupe edition here.
Porsche were hosting a special exhibit at the Petersen during my visit, and first, we have the RS Spyder from the American Lemans Series which amusingly competed with now sister brand Audi for top honours.
Every Lemans car Porsche brought is a special one, with the 919 hybrid being a lemans winner.
Like this 917 in Gulf livery
Which might be recognisable to fans of the film Le Mans featuring Steve McQueen.
Outside of Lemans they had the Paris to Dakar rally 959 in display
With the collection leaving it in the condition it finished the race in, dirty with sand and with damage all over the bodywork.
There were some oddities on display too, including this 928 5 door concept car
Which when looked at, at least personally, I am glad this never went into production as the proportions just do not seem right.
Although one that did feel right, is the Carrera GT
With the one on display being the prototype
What really made this car so special was the engine. Derived from a V10 project for Formula One that never went ahead, the engine survived in their engineering division forever being tweaked, first for Lemans and then into something suitable for production.
People often wonder why car people say an engine sound can elicit a sense of joy in the note it produces. But the V10 in this car is pure musical in tone (and you are hearing this from someone doing a Masters in Sound Design!) when the revs reach their higher pitch, it becomes something soprano like.
A total contrast to its 3cyl 1ltr turbo cousin in my Seat Ibiza that is for sure!
