Carspotting (56): BMW 3.0 CS at Atomic Testing Museum

Woah!  Atomic cannon.  280mm shell with a yield of 15 kilotons, Nevada 1953.

I went to the Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas.  I spotted this in the parking lot.

Taryn Simon Contraband exhibit photos

Fake BMW emblems

Over the course of five days, artist Taryn Simon took the pictures of thousands of items seized by U.S. Customs at JFK airport.  Click here for more photos.

2010 Laguna Seca Monterey Historics paddock photos

You've seen the parking lot photos.  Here is a look at the inside.  On other sites, you'll find plenty of photos of cars on track and the featured marque this year, Bugatti.  I've put together a collection of odd cars that may have been neglected by mainstream coverage.

This BMW Isetta was deemed BMW Motorsport's mascot.

These Austin Mini Clubman/Travelers were parked next to all the Lotuses (Loti?).

This was Bruce McLaren's Cooper T62.

Vespa/Piaggio.

BMW 2002, right?

No!  It's an 1800.

A GMC Motorhome with Lotus livery.

A couple of 300SL Gullwings.

Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo dash wires.

Epifani Restorations truck.

Ford Mustang GT350H Hertz rental car.

Mini Moke.

Not sure if this is an Alfa Romeo van.

This Riley Elf (Mini with a boot) caused me to do a double take.

BMC technical support vehicle.

Edelbrock truck.

Carroll Shelby autograph on Cobra hood.

I came to Laguna Seca this year to see this, my friend's dad's 1965 Sunbeam Tiger.

Unfortunately, the teeth in the rear differential decided to catastrophically fail on Friday the 13th.  To make matters worse, the driver hired to drive the white Tiger in the background (photo above this one), John Morton, crashed a 1958 Scarab yesterday.  John is okay.  The Scarab, not so much.

Here are the two Tigers on a healthier, and luckier, day.  Turn up the sound!

The Girl Who Played With Fire BMW car movie poster

I was at the movie theater today and saw this poster.  I have no idea what the movie is about but that is a cool shot of an E32 7 series.  Which reminds me, how is Edvin's project going?

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham's BMW toy car

I was perusing the New York Times magazine this morning when I came across this article about Republican Senator and Joe Lieberman bff Lindsey Graham.

In the photo of his office, there is a die cast model of an E36 BMW 3 series.  No doubt it was given to him by BMW as there is a factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  As the 318i/is was the only E36 produced there, I shall assume the model is a 318.

Ah, only an obsessive-compulsive car nut with a penchant for die cast model cars would make such a random observation.

The car is below the flag

Young Kamui Kobayashi in Ferrari powered BMW

Source.

2007 Concorso D'Eleganza Villa D'Este

I just came across a site called Supercarfrance.  I'm wasting my Sunday afternoon away looking at pictures of dozens of rare, coach-built cars.  Here are a few from the 2007 show.

This Monteverdi 375/4 may be my favorite sedan of all time.  I never knew it existed until today.  I can't get over how long the front doors are.  It looks like an Italian GT up front and a ZIL in the back.  Only 30 of these were made.  A Chrysler 440 was used (that's 7.2 liters) and almost all of them went to the Middle East.  Supposedly, the Qatari royal family still has five of them and uses them regularly.

This BMW 2002 GT4 Frua prototype looks very Japanese.

I have never been a fan of Maserati Ghiblis but this SS Spyder looks perfect.  Is it the paint or the angle of the shot?

Every car show has to have at least one monstrosity.  Here is the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI Frua drophead coupe.

BMW 3200 Michelotti Vignale.

Carspotting (41): BMW E9 3.0CS

I saw this E9 parked near the BART station.  It looks like a daily driver that brings a lot of joy to the owner.  Assuming this is a US version, less than 3,000 of these 3.0CSs were imported here between 1971 and 1974.

First time driving the Nurburgring

Andrew at Urbane Musings just posted a summary of his first laps in the Green Hell in his BMW 123d.  Lucky bastard.

For those of you keeping count, I have been on the Ring Taxi wait list for 385 days now.