2011 Norcal Japanese Car Meet photos

Japanese Nostalgic Car's Event Horizon feature lists a bunch of car shows on the calendar.  We went to one today at Lake Del Valle Park in Livermore.

 This Datsun 1600 pickup truck caught my eye.

There were quite a few RHD models, including this first generation Skyline GT-R.

It never ceases to amaze me how much room engine bays had for people to work on stuff.  This is a first generation Dodge Colt/Mitsubishi Galant/Plymouth Cricket.

 Datsun 710 for sale.  Needs TLC.

 Exquisitely modded 240Z.

 Can you imagine selling a four door wagon that is the size of this Civic today in America?

 Not a Mazda expert, but guessing that's a 1973 RX-2.

 Really diggin' those floor mats.

2nd generation Ken & Mary Skyline GT-R.

 Hats off for keeping the original radio in the car!

Civic A staring at Civic B.

Civic B staring at Civic A.

 Army green Honda CRX and CRX cabrio.

The Honda CRX conversion was done by The R. Straman Company of Costa Mesa, California.  The conversion cost $5,995 and 310 tops were chopped.

This CRX cabriolet is definitely the highlight of the show.

Lotus Renault GP partners with Ordos, Inner Mongolia

Build it, and they will come.  This is not so for Ordos.  The Chinese built a new city for a million people near a coal mining region in Inner Mongolia.  Problem is, the city sits empty.  No problem.  The powers-that-be decided to sponsor LRGP (to cover the cost of the noses Heidfeld kept destroying during practice). Reserve driver Ho-Ping Tung will act as ambassador.  Prosperity is just around the corner.  Right.

Here is a 2009 piece by Melissa Chan on Ordos.

LRGP press release here.

1906 Darracq Grand Prix racer around the track

No DRS.  No KERS.  No seatbelts.

This might be the coolest video of the year.

Via Australia's Bolly Blog.

Videos of shootings all over Syria this Friday

Carspotting: Length of Lincoln Mark V

Foreground: Lincoln Mark V, 230.3 inches / 5,850 mm.

Background: Chevrolet Suburban, 219.3 inches / 5,570 mm.

Russian President Medvedev dancing video

Compare with Boris Yeltsin.

Pictures of old trucks

These are of a distant, step-, and much older (and long deceased) pseudo-relative.

Here he is with his Locomobile.  Apparently, he owned the third registered truck in California (this is not it).  The photo was taken at the rock quarry near Broadway and Pleasant Valley in Oakland behind the Safeway.

This is him driving in La Honda, near the Stanfurd University campus, circa 1916.  They chopped down the huge redwood trees, made them into railroad ties, and shipped them to World War I France.  What a waste of a now-precious commodity.

Carspotting: Jeep Comanche Pioneer

I was in the California Gold Country and spotted this in front of the general store.  These trucks are really rare.  In fact, the last one I saw before this one was longrooffan/longroofian's beige beaut in Florida last December.

And speaking of longrooffan, not only can you enjoy his folksy musings on Hooniverse, but he is blogging on Paul Niedermeyer's Curbside Classic site as well.  That guy gets around.

Cadillac Allante and Alfa 164 towers of buttons

After watching this video of the Cadillac Allante, Edvin noted the incredible number of buttons in the car.

This reminded me of a similar layout in the Alfa 164.  They were both designed by Pininfarina and came out in 1987.  Coincidence?

Alfa Romeo 164.  Source. 

Cadillac Allante.  Source.

7-on-7: From Russia With Love trailer and poster (1963)

001. Who was the clever chap that replaced the "O" with a hammer and sickle?  (Sarcasm in italics.)

002. A submarine periscope in a basement, are you mad?

003. Having Turkey join NATO in 1952 was the ultimate in geopolitical machinations.

004. Not even the Three Gorges Dam could hold back the flood of sexual innuendos.

005. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. = SPecial Executive for Crime, Terror, Revenge and Extorion!  I prefer Inspector Gadget's nemesis organization, M.A.D. = Malevolent Agency of Destruction.

006. This movie is timeless.  It pissed off old school Communists then (for promoting decadence and materialism) and it still pisses off hard core Islamists now (for showing unveiled women, and more!).

007. Austin Powers nods: Hairy chest.  Rosa Klebb/Frau Farbissina.