COTA is hosting the Austin edition of Radwood today. Focus is on cars of the 80s and 90s.
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I thought the Lotus Carlton (with Carlton sticker!) was simply a top trim level of the Vauxhall Carlton, but the VIN plate clearly shows the manufacturer is listed as Lotus. No mention of Vauxhall at all. Just a subtle parent GM sticker under the bonnet.
The wild Range Rover nose is a period piece form Wood & Pickett!
More. The owner of that white Toyota pickup with 168K miles is offering for sale for $22,500. Crazy.
After the Datsun brand name was killed and replaced by Nissan in the 1980s, Datsun continued to be used as a sub-brand under the corporate Nissan umbrella. Such as for this Nissan pickup that is a Datsun model.
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There was a lot of interesting design going on back then!
You could have hauled your Mini in the back of your Yota!
My original plan was to take the Beat, but now I have decided to sell it and i'm superstitious and don't want anything to go wrong.
Here are the Ah, Bey, Say models of the Kei classic sports cars.
The Autozam AZ-1, the Beat, and the Cappuccino. ABC!
Toyota Century, the flagship of brand. Above Lexus on the Toyota totem pole. The VIP passenger sits in the left rear seat and can put his feet through the front passenger seat to stretch out.
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Quote from: BruceK on April 23, 2022, 09:21:51 AM
My original plan was to take the Beat, but now I have decided to sell it and i'm superstitious and don't want anything to go wrong.
And replace it with a .......?
Jeebus.......a Sterling! 825 or 827? Doesn't matter, a rare beast to find still mobile
Great pix ! ! !
but what is COTA?
I see TExas plates, so my wild a$$ guess is "cars of Texas, Austin?"
Thanks for posting them. A couple I'd love to have.
COTA is Circuit of the Americas.
Quote from: MiniDave on April 23, 2022, 12:57:35 PM
Quote from: BruceK on April 23, 2022, 09:21:51 AM
My original plan was to take the Beat, but now I have decided to sell it and i'm superstitious and don't want anything to go wrong.
And replace it with a .......?
Jeebus.......a Sterling! 825 or 827? Doesn't matter, a rare beast to find still mobile
I'm undecided on what may interest me next. But the first job is to sell the Beat.
There were two Sterlings there, both 827 models. I was thinking since they are largely Hondas made by Rover they should be nicknamed "Rhondas".
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This Alpine was imported to the US when it was brand new in the mid-80s and it was totally "federalized" then back when all sorts of firms were providing "gray market" cars to the eager American public. This was right before Mercedes bribed Congress to institute the 25-year rule which sadly exists until this day.
Bruce already posted the frontal shots of my blue Mini Van with its bonnet up. This was its first long drive and it performed admirably - no issues going up or back. It kept up with Bruce's Yota truck nicely and got 32.5 mpg the run up to the show.
It was the only Mini entered. As we were leaving, I noticed another similar blue Mini Saloon in the spectator parking.
Does the Alpine use the same motor as the Delorean did?
Quote from: MiniDave on April 23, 2022, 04:23:06 PM
Does the Alpine use the same motor as the Delorean did?
Unfortunately, I think it does.
Bruce why are you wanting to sell the beat?
Quote from: 94touring on April 23, 2022, 05:03:01 PM
Bruce why are you wanting to sell the beat?
Well, I absolutely love the engine and the way it revs to 9000 and just screams like a little F1 car. But after a year that's about all I really like about the car. I'm kind of surprised how crude it feels. A Mini, with all it's 1950s engineering, is a much more refined car than the Beat in terms of steering feel and suspension response and tight handling characteristics. We all know how endearingly primitive a Mini is, but to me, the Beat seems about half way between a basic fairground go-cart and a Mini in terms of sophistication of driving dynamics. Kind of crazy to think since it's a Honda product. But a Miata is leaps ahead of a Beat. And it's not because my car is worn out – it has less than 27,000 miles. And not because it's super light weight- it's about 250 lbs heavier than a Mini. I think it has to do with the fact it's a Kei-class car and basically the bar is set very low for the bottom rung of the Japanese car market. Kei cars are designed to be driven in congested cities at low speeds, not to be blasting around back roads, hitting the twistys, or cruising at highway speeds. My expectation was that the Beat would be a smaller, tight handling, higher revving version of a baby Miata. But it's not.
Well that's a bummer.
Quote from: 94touring on April 23, 2022, 06:28:00 PM
Well that's a bummer.
Yeah. After a while this, cool as it is, isn't enough for me.