Spotting thread! Did you see any special cars on the road today?

Discussion in 'Other Cars' started by Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Jul 3, 2023.

  1. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    A Maybach-Mercedes S660 with a matte black paint.
     
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  2. Merkey

    Merkey Active Member

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    Saw a canary yellow wrap on a Cybertruck. Best color I've seen so far.
     
  3. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Today I saw a Lucid in a beautiful shade of brown. Also saw a Fisker Ocean just 5 minutes later.

    I was in a rented Nissan Sentra at the time. It's been a long time since I drove one of those, and I came away with a pretty good impression of the car. I think Nissan woke up and realized "Oh crap! We're Nissan! We'd better pack these cars with features if we're going to stay in business!"

    One way or another, it was a pleasant small sedan packing a lot of modern technology done right. I did not like the bulky center console, but... they're popular with lots of other drivers. I really like the ultra-tiny one in our Prius c.
     
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  4. AVTrainz

    AVTrainz Junior Member

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    Today so far, two Corvettes (a C7 and a C8), a tri-wheeler on the I-15, an SN95 Mustang Mach 1, and a Shelby GT350.
    20250628_105811.jpg
     
    #604 AVTrainz, Jun 28, 2025
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2025
  5. AVTrainz

    AVTrainz Junior Member

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    Today so far: another GT350, quite a few C8 Corvettes (including a white Z06), a new Porsche Cayman, and an Aston Martin Vantage.
     
  6. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    I saw a BMW i7 the other day. Good looking apart from the grille. I think BMW has partially recovered their styling groove but they're still stuck with ugly grilles.
     
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  7. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    I saw a Jeep XJ on the ride to the airport this morning. Couldn't say which year but it looked early, so 1984-1988ish.

    That isn't terribly rare, but this one was pretty special for the details: Factory suspension height. Factory-sized wheels and tires. Body and paint in very good condition- most of these are nasty rust-pits by now. It really looked like a barn find.

    I never liked them as much as the SJ series but they certainly developed a following of their own. Neat blast from the near-past anyway.
     
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  8. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    I've been working in San Francisco for a few days.

    I spotted a beautiful Porsche Taycan this morning. The dark green paint finish was just amazing.

    Also I've noticed many Waymo robot cars driving around, more empty than occupied. They seem to have excellent driving manners. I also saw a car similarly festooned with sensors that said it was Nuro brand. It was suspiciously still in the middle of a street.

    And this morning I had my first ride in a Tesla Y. Much more comfortable than a 3 with lots more leg and headroom in the back seat.

    One thing puzzled me; it had a very noticeable *THUNK* every time the driver accelerated from a stop. It reminded me of a Prius starting its engine on acceleration, but if anything it was harsher. It seemed out of place.
     
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  9. flim

    flim Active Member

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    #609 flim, Jul 6, 2025 at 2:23 AM
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2025 at 3:11 AM
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  10. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    One of the Disney Machinist runs a Pro Stock Vega - 7's in the ¼ mile. Highly modified obviously. Body is not original but yes it's definitely got to be one of the worst cars ever made, having the disgust & sad experience of owning one. Like all of those crappy aluminum engines, it blew up just a few miles after the warranty expired.
     
    #610 hill, Jul 6, 2025 at 9:06 AM
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2025 at 9:15 AM
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  11. AVTrainz

    AVTrainz Junior Member

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    Sounds devastating. What did you do after it blew?
     
  12. flim

    flim Active Member

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    Wow! In the 70s, my older brother had a choice to buy a Chevy Vega or Mercury Capri and I was glad he chose the Capri.

    At about the same time, my gf had a Ford Pinto and when I drove that Pinto, I was always worried in getting rear ended and exploding the gas tank!:(

    Another one of the worst car ever made!
     
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  13. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    (after paying for) The wrecker - took it to the Chevy dealership where I got the bad news - & from there - we paid the wrecker to take it to the junkyard where almost all of them ended up. They made a Cosworth Vega that was a little bit better then typical junk Vegas but it would actually cost as much or more than a Camaro of that era. Unbelievable. It took over 35 years before we'd get another Chevy.
     
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  14. AVTrainz

    AVTrainz Junior Member

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    A few interesting cars today, a C7 Corvette Stingray, a Maserati convertible, and a little 80's-90's Voltswagen diesel pickup (it rolled coal at a light). Would anyone know what that was? It was about the size of a Tacoma from that time.
     
  15. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Those were known as the Rabbit Pickup in the USA, but in Europe it was known as the Caddy and now that they are all old classics the Caddy name has become more popular worldwide.

    Introduced in 1979 and offered through 1984. The optional diesel was quite weak, either 48hp for the 1.5L or 52hp for the 1.6L. But they were wonderfully simple and turned in fantastic fuel economy. They were fairly prone to corrosion so most were lost to rust rather than mechanical failure.

    USA models were built in Pennsylvania to dodge the chicken tax.

    They were quite slow and had terrible crash safety compared to anything modern, but compared to other vehicles from the early 1980s they were actually pretty good. Nice spot.
     
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  16. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Learned to drive stick in the hatchback with a diesel. Original owner had installed a 5 speed in it. What I heard since then was that it was a good thing it was under powered. Like GM, VW had reused some gasoline engine parts for the diesel(IIRC, the lower block).

    Saw a white 911 in town. It took a longer route, and later passed me on the highway.
    Porsche SUVs are uncommon, but I see them enough to not note them. There is also a "4 door coupe" at work.
     
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