Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 08:41:56 -0700
Reply-To: pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Subject: Re: Stans List...
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The wilder side said...
I can remember the Isetta, Citroen w/sardine can top, Morris Minor,
Sunbeam, Triumph, Healey, Lotus, Bug Eye Sprites, get this one Facel Vega
(Chrysler Hemi powered), Cooper, Mini Cooper, Morgan, Messerschmidt,
Lancia, XKE Jags, Fiat, Sunbeam, Volvo, Borgward, Saab, Reneau, Crosley,
Henry J, Nash Metropolitan and of course VWs, Mersedes, BMWs, Bentleys,
MGs, Jeepsters and if I press myself I'll come up with a few more.
Morris Manure?, Price a woodie today...aargh. Facel Vega was beautiful.
But Iso Grifo held the cards until the 400CID joint venture "greyhound"
FWIW it's Renault, also called Degaulle-stone. My bud at SJ Honda had a
beautiful orange Miura
So Armstrong-Siddley, Austin A40, Abarth-Zagato (the real double bubble),
FIAT did launder a few 850 Abarths but not many. My boss Larry Lopp had one
with a 1000cc AZ motor. Pain in the arse for maintenance parts a princely
sum. David Browns tractor powered Aston-Martins and the venerable DBS's
mmmm..
Now names like Tipo 61/64, Sebring, Merak, Bora bring to mind visions of
sugarplums. A now extinct marque that at one time teamed up wth Citroen
the original lemon ) to bring you the stunning CSM, and then with Chrysler
to do the little convertible with the Maser six. DeTomaso and his mangustas
and panteras...fine hybrids. Many more but the king snake of all was Good
Ol' Boy Carroll Shelby's Daytona Cobra Coupe. One sat on display in a Ford
dealer in Denver for a while. Not for sale. The dash had a little orange
light on it that said underneath in Dymo tape, "Stall Indicator" A fine
play on words, I thought. That ugly Griffin/TVR was a handfull and the
260cid Supercharged Alpine was a real tiger. I met Carroll at a little
gathering of the faithful in Terlingua TX and got a ride in a factory GT40
that was to be set up for Dan Gurney. The alfas I loved were the sleeper
TI-Super (1600cc Autodelta motor), the classic Bertone GTV/GTA, the TZ
racing car and the "disco volante" Giulia SS. All way beyond my means then
and even moreso now. And the men who made and raced em....Harry Weslake,
SMB Hailwood,OBE, John Surtees, Jimmy Clark, Ritchie Ginther, Merling Sauce,
ACB Chapman... the roll call echoes the sound and the fury...
My two favorites of all time are of course from Modena, the Lusso, and the
Dino GTS. I had a short love affair with a Mondial a couple of years ago.
very late for Friday.
p (lusting after the past)
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