I Would Sell All My Cars To Buy a Bristol 401

The NY Times had a piece on the Bristol car company which reminded me of how much I lust after a Bristol. Have for years. But they always fade from memory because of the price. And I fear that if I don't get one soon, I never will.

Guarantee, the Bristol 401 will be a $100,000 in the next couple years. It is too unique and too beautiful and too rare not to be.

That dash and steering wheel are brilliant. Dead giveaways to Bristols first line of work...making airplanes.

Decide for yourself. And if some Bristol 401 owner wants to trade for a 62MKII, 82 911, 944 race car and 87 Wagoneer, let me know.

Images from classiccarsforsale.co.uk

Jaguar MKII PICS & Last Step Before Registration

So, I needed to get a VIN verification before I get the jaguar registered because it was purchased out of state. Now, for those of you who don't know, a VIN verification is where you pay a person who works for the state to walk about 100 feet and look at the VIN number on your car. But I digress....

After this totally worthwhile verification, thank you Colorado, I thought I would snap a pic or two when I got to work. But, I was rushed because the VIN verification was so thorough I was late. And then, after I snapped a dozen or so, I realized I had my D40 set on its lowest resolution. Best laid plans sometimes get buggered.

But, the upside is the car ran great this morning. Now that the temps in Denver are averaging in the 70s, not the 90s, the car believes it is back in the homeland and running very, very strongly.

Crash Damage Up Close & Autographed Gas Pedal Shoe

I've been in Charlotte the past couple days shooting some new images of Brad Keselowski and the #2 Dodge. The Blue Deuce. I'd love to show some pics of the new car but we can't until it is released sometime in November for the 2011 race season.

But, we did have some time to tour some race shops including Roush Fenway where they had a nice museum and on display was a car crashed by Todd Kluever in a 2005 ARCA race. See him flip here. 

What's amazing is how total that damage was to the car. And the roll bar compressed to inches above his head. Pretty remarkable. 

While at the shoot, I was able to get Brad to sign my racing shoe. I had Kurt Busch sign the left one last year. So, now with the power of two Cup drivers on my feet, I might have a chance to bring home a victory in my last race of the year October 8th at Peublo.

British Badges

The MK2 came equipped with a badge bar, so I was on the lookout for a couple of badges to adorn this piece of equipment.

I am really on the lookout for a RAC Motorsport badge, only available to RAC members holding a racing license. As I hold a license, I thought it would be pretty cool to have this badge. They are rare and expensive. But, let me know if you have one. 

While at Lime Rock, I met the men of GB Spares, and they had a great selection of original badges. I am not really into a replica of a badge. They had no idea of where it came from, what club or country? But the 'competition' call out hooked me. That and the red and white color blocking. 

This and my recent watch acquisition have really upped my jewelry ownership. Because both these items really are a type of man jewelry.

Future Barn Find Graphic

I had a few minutes to spare yesterday so I created this graphic that I think I will print up a few bumper stickers with. I think this would be pretty fun to have on my 87 Wagoneer or the race car.

Also might be inspiration for a new series of posts. We'll see. 

Lime Rock 2010 Vintage Fall Festival Pics

One bonus of attending my bro in law's wedding was getting to spend a few hours on Monday at the Rolex Vintage Fall Festival. I signed some books for the nice folks at Green Mountain, then ran around peeking at cars. Sorry for the low rez pics, I only had my iPhone with me.

Nice grouping of a couple of E30s and a Z3 coupe, the latter for sale, in the parking lot.

Renault R5 Turbo, also in parking lot. Man, I thought I wanted one of these until I saw the type of crowd it drew all day. It looked like a comic book convention there were so many plump, bearded dudes wearing ironic t-shirts pawing it up. No thank you.

A man with style. I snapped this pic as the owner walked back to the lot. He owned both of these. One for him and her, he said. Now that is style.

Yes, this is a pink Jaguar MKII 340. It had white leather. It was metallic. I chalk this up to the hot rod shop sticker in the rear window.

This Bugatti that won its class sported so much patina it looked like Mickey Rourke. But like Mickey, it keeps on winning. Should teach me to not sweat my race car looking so nice.

Couldn't resist this picture of what I think is a Ferrari 275 with a D-type Jaguar behind it. Probably two of the better looking GT rear ends ever.

Fish out of water, this large racer on the tight Lime Rock track. But standing next to it I felt more like standing next to a zoo animal. The thing was massive.

This Allard from 1958 just does not do it for me. If anyone likes this, they can't dis 2+2 Jaguars as they have the same Quasimodo look.

A bad pick of a Lotus Cortina.

Passle of racing Alfas.

I was walking through the paddock just after the mixed Formula class race. The driver was just off to the left of this shot. His mechanics yelled up something. I didn't hear what was broken, I just heard the driver's response. "Awww, F&^%"

A polished aluminum Aston Martin. It is a replica of a 1961 GT Zagato. Stunning. It looked like a Nambe store.

A pretty well prepped Fiat 600. I'd ditch the scallops, but other than that, hot.

TZ Alfa's are just wild. They sport the definitive Kamm tail.

A rather fetching pickup parked in the paddock. No idea what the Falls Village Inn is. Or even if it is real.

So now I am taking pictures of spectators? Although not the Goodwood Revival, some people get into the spirit. This guy had the jeans and T. But most importantly he had a vintage 1966 helmet. Oh, he also had a T-bone steak as a tattoo.

Very dented Lotus for sale.

Care for a Talbot, minus the last T? Well, then maybe a $100,000 replica is for you. It is not for me that is for sure. It's proportions were just too small. Find them here.

Octane Magazine Prize. Christopher Ward Grand Prix Watch

I've just received this morning a payment rather larger than most of my other freelance writing assignments. And it wasn't even for a regular paying assignment.

It was for winning the Octane Magazine letter of the month.

To be honest, I am a huge Octane fan. It is super high quality and really broad ranging in coverage. And if you baulk at the $10.00 price, you are being cheap. For the same price as a movie ticket I get at least 6-10 hours of enjoyment out of each issue. And I can't recall the last movie I wish was longer than 2 hours.

Any who, the Christopher Ward company has created a line of watches that celebrate some of the earliest Grand Prix events. The Watch I won commemorates the 1925 Belgian Grand Prix in which the elder Ascari dominated to an extent that allowed him to have snack and drink during his pitstops.

And as the 2010 Spa Grand Prix was just this past Sunday, the timing for this edition to arrive at my door was clever. Sidebar, I must say that the very fast Spa track and the weather made for an exciting F1 race. Man would I love to blast around Les Combes. If anyone watched, that extra lap Hamilton did on his slicks as the ran came was edge of the seat stuff. And when he went off into the gravel trap, just missing the wall and returning to the track, wow. He saw his lead go from like 12 seconds which would have been unbeatable to about 2 seconds. What a race.

Now that the watch is in hand, I must say it is a very nice piece. Although I am no expert and only have a couple of other watches to compare it to. My own Porsche chronograph and my wife's automatic Hamilton.

I would say the Ward is better than both. The finish gleams. The band is with a doubt of better quality than either of the above mentioned watches. Soft leather that smells like leather, creme colored stitching and subtle red backing that appears through the perforations.

The action of the buttons and winding arm are very solid. Much more so than my Porsche watch and on par with the Hamilton.

Packing was, as you can see, beautiful and thorough.

What I like best about the watch is the clever positioning of the date in a very small circle below the 3 marker. On lots of watches, the date window is just a big square. This is well done and a testament to the design of the piece.

All in all I am thrilled. Like many luxury items, I would feel a bit guilty buying this for myself, but having won it, I love it to pieces.