Tag Archives: Cars & Coffee

Cars and Photos

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It has been a while since I went to a Cars & Coffee event. I generally go to the one in Lafayette, once or twice a year. After a while, though, it gets a bit repetitious. There are many interesting cars there, but I feel like I’ve seen most of them several times. So, time for a change of venue. This time I went to the one down south at Lone Tree.

A few cars of note:

  • Datsun 2000 Fairlady Roadster
  • Alpina – a performance version of a BMW
  • Nissan Skyline GT-R
  • Ford Escort Mk1
  • K-1 Attack

The K-1 Attack caught my eye right away. I chatted with the owner. He says 60 were made and 19 were sold in the USA. It seems it’s available now as a kit car. It was built in Slovakia.

  • K-1 Attack
  • Datsun 2000 Fairlady
  • Nissan Skyline GT-R
  • Ford Escort Mk1
  • Alpina

Photo Gallery update

Regular readers may recall I have an online photo gallery. Many but not all photos in that gallery have appeared here on the blog, and not all photos in the blog are in the gallery. Anyway, as I keep expanding my horizons when it comes to hiking to alpine lakes, I realized I needed to reorganize things a bit. It’s still a bit of a work in progress, but feel free to browse around the Colorado pages.

Lafayette Cars & Coffee

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Saturday, February 3

It’s the first Saturday of the month, so it’s time to head up to Lafayette for Cars & Coffee. I usually try to attend three or four of these each year. This is already the second time I’ve made it this year. We’re now at a different location than before. It’s a much bigger parking lot, we have a bit of a police presence, and a few vendors show up to sell breakfast burritos and car detailing supplies. To be clear, that’s two different vendors; not breakfast burritos that you can use to clean your car.

Quite a few of the cars that show up are regulars. We may not see dozens of Lamborghinis or McLarens, but we do get to see the same few Lamborghinis and McLarens dozens of time. As well, some car clubs show up in force. So if you’re interested in recent or current Subarus, Mustangs, Camaros, or Challengers there are plenty to choose from.

I think today’s Lotus turnout was limited to three Elises and three Esprits.

Here are a few photos of cars that caught my eye. I don’t think I’ve included any repeats from earlier posts. I did include three from last month. (All photos taken with the cell phone.)

1978 Dodge Aspen Super Bee

Motorcycle with sidecar. Note the machine gun!

1931 Chevy

1920 Ford Model T

1968 Buick Riviera GS

These three pictures are from last month.

VW Bus

 

1955 (I think) Ford Sunliner

Pantera GT5-S

 

Cars and Hiking

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Not only was Saturday the first Saturday of the month, it was forecast to be a gorgeous day. I decided it was time for the first hike of the season, so I planned for my umpteenth hike to Emerald Lake. Being the first Saturday, it was also time for Cars & Coffee in Lafayette. As Emerald Lake is a short hike, that left me plenty of time to check out the cars before heading to the Park.

Kent showed up this time in his new BMW i8. It’s a beautiful car and drew quite a crowd. IMG_1455s IMG_1458s

For some time I’ve considered taking the Chrysler instead of the Lotus. That’s sort of a joke, but only sort of. I still think they’re one of the better looking cars produced in the last few decades. But mine is starting to look rough around the edges. The clear coat is starting to peel off one of the repairs. But not a bad looking car for going on 16 years old.

Just after Kent rolled in with the i8, I saw a 300M show up. His is a 2000 (mine’s a 1999). He’s entered it into a number of shows and won some awards. He takes real pride of ownership, in spite of telling me he’s had all sorts of problems with it. As mine is finally starting to exhibit problems other than cosmetic, we chatted a bit about possible solutions to my undiagnosed problems. I may have to see if he’s willing to give me an assist on my repairs. Anyway, it was good to see the 300M represented.

As for the hike, not much to tell. I’ve done that hike dozens of time. Saturday, the wind was fierce at the lake. I was prepared to shoot a time lapse, but it was just too windy to sit there for any length of time. I made my way back to Nymph Lake for my picnic. The Park was quite crowded. From Nymph to Dream, I take the “winter route” while most take the summer route. There is one place where I can see hikers on that trail from below. There were about thirty people in a line, all within arms length of each other.

In spite of the crowds and the wind, it was good to get back on the trail after a few months off.

Cars & Coffee

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I went to the Cars & Coffee this morning. Got there about nine, the place was pretty full. I managed to back into one of the last few spaces. As usual, a nice mix of cars, weighed heavily toward the exotics. I counted four Elises, two Exiges, an Elite and a few Esprits. More Ferraris than Lotuses. A couple Lambos, the usual plethora of Porsches, batches of BMWs, and stable of Mustangs.

I took a few snapshots:

McLaren MP4 12-C Spyder. When people mistakenly think my car cost $300,000, I can only assume they haven’t really looked at my car and have certainly never seen any car that did cost $300k. This here, boys and girls, is a $300,000 car. It makes me shudder to think what service and insurance costs for this every year. Prime example of a “stupid money” car and a gorgeous example of automotive engineering.

IMG_0525sNotice here the size difference between the Exige and the Ferrari. The Exige isn’t backed in as far as the Ferrari and still comes up more than a foot short.

IMG_0526sWhen I saw this right hand drive Celica I had to talk to the owner. When I lived in Estes I saw a green first generation right hand drive Celica several times between Estes and Lyons. I thought perhaps this was that car. Nope, this guy just imported it from Japan last year.
IMG_0527sMy initial reaction when I first saw pictures of the new Vette was that it looked like a Camaro from the back. And when I first glimpsed this car, my first thought was “Oh, a convertible Camaro.”
IMG_0528sThis Ariel Atom is a ridiculous car. This one looks brand new, doesn’t have a scratch on it. Granted, I didn’t get that good of a look at it, as they were pulling out just when I spotted it. Given its pristine condition, I can only assume it’s yet to see a lap on the track. There is no other purpose for this car, except to be tracked. Yes, it’s street legal. But you can’t carry anything. Even without a passenger, I doubt you could carry a sack of groceries. I laughed when I saw the cupholder.
IMG_0532sThis sure got me to do a double-take. I immediately thought early Corvette. But the size is all wrong. This seems giant. The huge wheels help with the proportions, but the style is all wrong to pull off the early Vette look. I have no idea how recent the Vette is that it’s built on but it looks pretty new. Completely custom interior, of course. But what sort of tool takes up two spots at these things, anyway?
IMG_0533sI don’t know my Hudsons. Is this a Hornet? I have no idea what year it is, except that it’s early fifties. I love the bullet hub caps. I also love that it seems to be getting more attention than the Astin Martin next door.
IMG_0536sI first saw this from the front. Immediately saw the Mugen badge. Had no idea what model it was, had to walk to the back to find the Fit badge. Really? Mugen Fit? Are there performance parts here, or just body pieces?
IMG_0538sGot this picture of the Factory Five 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe when he was pulling in. It’s a kit car.
IMG_0539s

September Cars & Coffee, Lafayette

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Always an interesting and eclectic mix of cars at the Lafayette Cars & Coffee. As usual, exotics were in abundance and hot rods and muscle cars were the exception.

This beautiful Ford GT in iconic Gulf colors caught my eye. There was also a replica of a Ford GT-40 in red.

The car that drew the most attention was the Ferrari F40. It always had a crowd around it and I couldn’t get a nice picture of it until the owner moved it from the middle of the parking lot into a single space.

In the Lotus department, I counted five Elises, two Exiges, and an Elite. There may have been a Caterham or two as well. We generally manage to line up at least two or three in a row but not today.

Today was the first time I used the SLR since having it cleaned. Wow! It’s like a brand new camera.