12 cool wheels…

Well, I guess it would actually be 15 if you counted the spares.

I saw three super cool cars today, I had my Nikon with me, and I shot a few photos.   Without further ado, here we go…

I stopped for gasoline on the way into the plant, and this magnificent ’61 Lincoln Continental caught my eye.  All black, and it was a convertible.   Leather interior, a monster V8 (gas was about two bits a gallon in ’61), and suicide doors.  Back in 1961, this car probably sold new for around $4,500.  Today, after aging gracefully (like fine wine) for a cool 55 years, it’s easily worth 10 times that amount.   The guy at the gas station told me the owner was selling it.  It’s too rich for me to even consider, but it sure is pretty…

The next bit of automotive exotica is a very cool Alfa Romeo sports roadster.  Mike is a guy who designs accessories for us, and he rolled up in this Alfa earlier today when I was at the plant.   Mike told me it’s a ’73/’74 model, and it’s one of two he owns (he bought this one for parts, but he ended driving it more than the one he is restoring).   What’s cool about this car to me is, well, everything…but what I think is especially cool is it’s being driven.   It’s not driveway jewelry.  I like that.

Check out the classy features on this fuel-injected beauty…

And there’s one more classic car I photographed today.   Every day on my way into the plant for the last week or so, I’ve been eyeing this beautiful black Jag XJR.  It’s at a used car lot and I stopped to check it out.

I always wanted a Jaguar.

When Jaguar offered the XJR new in 2006, I test drove one and I wanted it so bad it kept me up at night.   It had a supercharged V8, and the one I drove had muscle-car oomph.  You know what I’m talking about…when I put my foot in it the thing slammed me into the seat like I was shot from a cannon.   It had the kind of acceleration that makes you worry about snapping the driveshaft.  Acceleration akin to the recoil from a high-powered rifle.  Exciting, exhilarating, and a more than a little scary.   Right on the ragged edge of control.   Fun.  You get it.  Carbon footprint?  Like Bigfoot’s, maybe…

Like I said, I wanted that Jag bad, but it was $70K new back then.  I was thinking through what I could sell to buy that XJR in 2006, and by my calcs I could raise about half the cash.   Then one day I stopped in at another Jag dealer and they had a used one-year-old XJR for which they were asking $35K.   They told me what a great deal it was.  All I heard was that everything I was getting ready to sell would basically cover the first year’s depreciation, and that was enough to let common sense overpower the “you’re-not-really-thinking-this-through” want I was feeling.

And then, this global-warming-be-damned beauty popped up.  Check this out…

That was then, and this is now.   This puppy’s already been depreciated.   It’s under $15K and it only has 73,000 miles.  Wood-grain dash and steering wheel (real walnut, too!).   Leather interior.  Nav system.   Supercharged!  Less than $15K!

What am I thinking?   A used Jag?  Nah, I need something reliable.

I’ll stick with my Zong…