I saw this sticker and thought "you know what, I will" so there I am in the reflection doing just that.
Asking for more race cars at the shows does work and here one is! Looks like it's seen some use too, not a thing I could think to change about this car and it was right by the entrance so as soon as we came in, I had to stop and go around it for a little while.
I really don't find this colour appealing, but the standard of cars finished in it has consistently been very high. This one was a bit mind-blowing at 9am on a Sunday morning; I couldn't think of a better looking MK1...unless it was black...
For some reason I didn't spot the 'National Rust' sticker when I was taking these photos - just goes to show I was not in the right frame of mind for some reason - but I'm glad it snuck into the corner here.
This is the first time I've seen someone doing something interesting with the M42/44 engines BMW made in the 80s/90s. This is the M42 I would think (as it was packed into an E30) but the same thing as the M44 in my E36 pretty much. The answer to any forum post about solving problems with/getting more power from these engines is don't - just find a big six and enjoy. Seeing one with ITBs, carbon airbox, etc... in a nicely sorted E30 is a long sought reminder that they are worth looking at.
There it is! Never seen one before and they're not as long as I thought they would be, so it's a shame I couldn't manage a good shot of it. Many hours have been spent enjoying this car in various racing guises either in games or in the Bathurst 1000.
Took me a minute to see this little detail when I was looking over this car. Unlike the ubiquitous Heko deflector, the cars here seemed to feature more apparently OEM options.
And that's a body kit I haven't seen in the wild before.
The more I looked at this the more I enjoyed it. I got down on the ground to get a good angle on the wheel which was aligned well enough to bother getting a shot of, but the body work, not-too-bright orange paint, Wilwood hidden back there, all make this a really enjoyable photo to explore.
I don't think there's a better 'do it all' saloon than this era of 5-series. A great looking car which obviously has a very striking front end and suits a sporty look well, but still retains the normality of a boxy black 5 door to a degree of sophistication, then they nicked the engine out of the M1 and produced one of the best sounding road cars ever. This one is perhaps slightly more humble if it does still retain the M20B20 it originally had, even so a better argument for its duality.
I had no idea until just now that the spinning lights so often seen in the back of modified Japanese cars was an OEM accessory.
There it is! The first one I've seen in actual real life and it had all the good stuff I hoped! I spent an embarassing amount of time trying to 'turn off' the glowing around the bonnet whilst I was editing the photo - assuming I'd applied it as a filter - but it's just the paint...
I think it's the same thing about the sides of these as it is which draws me to the MK2 Polo where the body curves nicely into the sills and the arches take up quite a lot of attention.
MAD
Back to these shots. I tend to walk around the whole show with each lens so these with the 20mm are always at the end.
This was a little Fiat with a little engine and a relatively massive engine bay. The car itself was not big so why they've dedicated so much space to the bay I have no idea - maybe they made a model with a Scania V8? It's got a whole shelf in it, and look how far inboard the strut tops are.
No idea what this sticker says but I love it.
Whenever I see this car - which has been a number of ocassions recently - I always try and get something good from it because it's built to such a high standard, it's an odd swap, and the owner is so accomodating. Today just wasn't my day and the photos are pretty poor but I think he's from our neck of the woods so I should get in contact and try and go shoot it.
I'll finish with the engine bay from the Toyota although it's not at all in focus which is quite a feat for a lens like this. Having spent a bit more time going over the photos, I'm starting to come around to them a bit more. I could have - and will in future - made more of an effort to take up some space and really get into the cars; at some point I'll learn how to make conversation and speak to some of the owners instead of wondering about the cars later. In any case, I'd like to get in touch with some owners and go out for a morning/evening and come out with some shots I'm proud of - it might be tricky because they're not going to get any stunning photos out of it, but it will make me much better...I'll start with my own car possibly...