Spotting thread! Did you see any special cars on the road today?

Very good weather here, and the big air show a few towns over = more interesting cars on local roads. Today I saw a 1932 Ford coupe, chopped a la ZZ Top. That was fantastic. But it wasn't even the best.

An outstanding Jaguar E-type, or XK-E, as they were marketed in the USA.

I couldn't say which year, but my curiosity led me to this info guide. Unfortunately it wasn't definitive, the color I saw (Opalescent Silver Blue) was used all years and I only saw it briefly, couldn't pick out finer details.

 

The absolute rarest of the rare. Headway of its own, nobody visibly pushing it, no flames visible or even smoke trails. Hood bonnet looked like it had been down at least an hour. Just stunning.

 

Not terribly special but I had my first ride in an electric Hyundai Kona today, a rideshare.

The car seemed fine, kind of hard to notice that it was electric and not fossil-powered.

My favorite part was the young kid driving it. It was quite obvious that he hadn't driven too many cars that weren't EVs. He had a lot of enthusiasm for them in general, and it was kind of cool having a conversation with the future as it were.

The sad bit was when he was explaining how he rents those EVs by the day to work rideshare, and that he had a dream of maybe someday getting one for himself. Something about the way he said it made it sound like he didn't think he'd ever get there.

 

I'm in Iowa working for an event. Lots of weird, bespoke cars that go fast and only make left turns unless something goes wrong.

Of course, the most interesting ones are the weird utility rigs they have to solve special problems.

 

I learned to be careful about that in random conversation. Seems that too often it went like:

Me: "Hey, that looks like a really capable offroad setup!"

Them: "Thanks, yeah it's amazing!"

Me: "So you must have someplace really special to go in that?"

Them: <change of subject> or sometimes "Eh, do you know of a good spot? public, or at least hard to get caught?"

 

The game is called "Cyberstruck."

The rules are pretty simple:

1. Everyone gets to play once only.
2. If you see an actual, real Tesla Cybertruck in public, you lose the game.

That's it. It's a last-man-standing sort of game.

And ^%$#%$#!! At 6:41pm today on Interstate 80 in Iowa, I lost.


Though I did see a 1st generation Dodge Intrepid that looked to be in excellent condition, at least bodywise. The tailpipe suggested that it was still burning more gasoline than lube oil... barely. Not too many of those left in any shape. Not a bad consolation prize.