Well, I suppose my brief in the masthead is to highlight unique and beautiful machines, and a machine as mongrelish as the X6 with an M-Badge slapped on it is certainly...unique. Totally undecided on this one. In principle I should hate it, but actually in person it looks rather nice and I would be curious to drive it.
Autobianchi was a little known Italian carmaker, known for brutally simple little cars like this one. The Bianchina was based on the Fiat 500, and the performance stats are daunting. This model, one of the rarer 'Specials' had a 499cc engine which produced 21 horsepower, as opposed to the clearly insufficient 17hp of the base models. Charming.
A series Land Rover really might be the perfect car for New York. People love them, first of all. Also, no car thief will take one, because it's not worth much as parts, they're very unique looking, and you would struggle to find alloys or a stereo in it. In the summer, take the doors off, and the tiny wheelbase means you can park pretty much anywhere. Also, after this last winter, do you really want a car in the city without four wheel drive?
Now, at the risk of this blog becoming a bit Benz-heavy, I've added this photograph because it's one of the few biodiesel cars I've seen in New York. This is what we all should do. The engines in these things are as reliable as the planets, they're not that expensive to buy, and they've all long since worked off their carbon footprint. Buying a Prius seems to be a false economy to me. Why do we insist on something being new to save the environment? Buying a secondhand car that gets great, sustainable fuel economy is, in the long run, a better idea than buying a costly and environmentally questionable stopgap technology. Plus, what a marvelous city we would have if everyone drove a vintage Mercedes! Have one of these until hydrogen power is made more available. That's a technology that convinces me that a whole new line of production is merited. Then when you have your hydrogen BMW, the old Merc will be a fantastic weekend cruiser.
Despite the poor quality of this photograph, this Cadillac is in amazing condition. A testament to its enormity is the fact that the piddly camera on my iPhone was unable to capture its great bulk, particularly the evocative tailfins. Not a particularly rare car in and of itself, it is nonetheless a brave feat to own one in New York. Oddly enough, a virtually identical one can be seen in the East Village from time to time. Similarly, the Fiat 124 shown below also has a companion car in white that can be seen in Cobble Hill. With millions of motorists in New York, it is refreshing to know that not only are vintage cars still on the road here, they exist in sufficient numbers to ensure duplicates. One hopes that the trend will last through the winter, but many of these models will take their usual place under cover in garages.
To see one in photographs or in magazines, the M3 looks rather ho-hum, much like a fast BMW should. In person, however, it looks truly menacing. Bulging and gilled like a shark, from the gaping maw of the front diffuser to the compact and vicious looking origami of the folding metal roof, this car is mean and purposeful in appearance. Oh, and this particular one has a Police Vehicle parking permit on the dash. What human even vaguely associated with law enforcement could fill out the requisition form for his permit without blushing?
The world's most pompous and ridiculous car, parked on a sleepy, restaurant filled street in Carroll Gardens. Seems oddly at home here (although the solid silver spirit of ecstasy bonnet mascot has been thoughtfully retracted into the grille).
This is a limited edition Land Rover Discovery released to commemorate the G4 Challenge, a highly-touted off road competition, organized by Land Rover, and staged across four continents. The G4 editions were top of the range models modified and strengthened for competitive off-roading. Just 200 G4 Discoveries were produced. All were painted this rather ghastly color, so you'll know one if you see one. There are some Land Rover Freelanders (LR2s) knocking about that are bright orange as well, but these are unrelated to the G4 Challenge.
The white bread of post-war Dodge models, was simply a product of postwar demand and surplus of materials. At the time, cheap and unremarkable in every way. Perhaps the equivalent of the Mercury Grand Marquis of the last decade. And yet, someone has preserved one and still drives it regularly. It has become remarkable and charming in the way that our plastic American cars of the 1990s never will.
Seen in Southampton's 4th of July Parade. A British classic on an American holiday.
A harbinger of the M3, and even of the hotter versions of the 1-series today, the 2002tii was a fuel-injected, sportier variant of the normal 2002. That said, the mechanical fuel injection system was exceptionally temperamental. Hence this car is quite rare. BMW were always best at small, fast, light sports coupes. This one's a regular in the financial district; perhaps still with its original banker owner?
