Classic Cars - Page 5

The one I'd truly love is that black/yellow Bugatti. That was such an impressive car to see.

The yellow/black one is a T57, i'm not sure whether it's a Atalante or a Ventoux.

As far as I know it's a straight 6 engine. So one tailpipe for each cylinder seems to be a correct assumption

The Type35s are very noisy. One of the nice things at the Concours d'Elegance at the Loo Palace is that they actually do sprints with the cars. So you can really hear them. I'd love to visit the goodwood festival of speed one day though. That must be the nicest classic car event to visit.

Sorry for the delay in responding, I simply didn't see your remarks until today!

The 1973 Elan Sprint is in California. Our summer neighbor in Cargese is the one that has the Citroen cabriolet. I'm not going give him any wine this summer unless he allows me to drive his car!!!

I test drove the M100 in California in 1991 or 1992. I rented one in England in 1993 for three days. I drove from Manchester to Bedlington (near Newcastle) and back using many of the byways. It simply wasn't my cup of tea.

While being great fun, both M100s were not the "glove" I prefer to wear when I drive my Elan Sprint. Each time it seemed as if I were packed-into a box of cushions that prevented the amount of road feel I desire in a small car. If you want to drive the highways as well as the back roads, the M100 is much better suited to the highway with only some compromise on the twisty bits. The balance is such that it's difficult to tell you're the pilot of a front wheel drive car.

What I am actually saying is that the car is very easy to drive and thereby deceptively quick. The car's personality is that subtle compared to previous Lotus offerings.
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One thing that has always struck me about vintage cars from roughtly 1930 to 1960 were their immense size. While all other vintage goods of a luxury nature were very small to today's eyes--wristwatches, lighters, pens-- the automobiles were absolutely huge.

They make today's road monster SUVs look like hatchbacks.

Not much of a leather interior, but fast and loud.

Prewar cars, I see your point, though some like the Citroën Traction Avant weren't too big by modern standards. However, all of the 1945-1960 cars I think are cool are at the biggest roughly the size of an Audi A6 today. When I first saw the Cisitalia 202 at MOMA, I was shocked at how tiny it was. A 1950s Merc Fintail is smaller than a modern swb S-Class and maybe even the modern E-Class. BMW had those adorable little coupes/cabrios (700?) powered by their ohv opposed twin bike engine. I don't think a Lotus Elite is as big as a modern Elise, though it might be taller; certainly even if lengthwise they're comparable the Elite is much narrower.

Also, while maybe they're bigger than modern Kei-cars, smarts, or Renault Twingos, I don't think anyone would be comparing a Fiat 500, VW Beetle, Citroën 2CV to a modern SUV. And a Fiat 500 or BMW Isetta was about the same size as the micro-moderns.

Yes, some of the post-war sportscars are fairly average-sized although the Jaguar Mark saloons, etc. were still quite large as were the Rolls Royces. The new crop of Rolls Royces are quite large in that blustering leviathan sort of way, looking like rebadged ersatz tanks, and a petroleum derirative-like interior.

MB 1936 540K Spezial Coupe (Even rarer than the Spezial Roadster):



Jon.

And you come to us looking to be dissuaded? You might get some help rationalizing, if you'd like