If $ Were No Object

This is the poster I had in our garage in Rhode Island. I gave it to my brother to go with his 993 cabriolet. He was smart enough to keep his.

Here's a pic of well restored DKW (Das Kleine Wunder). Mine was, as 18 year olds are want to describe things, "baby crap yellow." It was a genuine Auto Union and had the 4 rings up front just like Audis do today. The rings stood for Audi, DKW, Horscht and Wanderer. 

I paid $19.95 for it from the dad of my best friend in high school and drove it until I graduated college. Suicide doors, 3 cylinder, 2 cycle engine, front wheel drive, freewheeling (that's actually a thing) and 4 speed on the column. It would spin the wheels going into 3rd hear and sounded like a rabid chainsaw. Perfect for me. Lots of camping trips in that old and quirky vehicle!

Hmmm... maybe this is the right moment to unveil The Monterey Car Week Mystery Car of 2019. Now, let's not always see the same hands...

Auto Union Audi

Yeah, Auto Union - but there's another reason it's relevant here.

Is it aircooled, have some VW parts and made of fiberglass? _{(I can't think of anything else)}

According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong), this car (the Auto Union 1000 SP) was, under the body work, nearly identical to the Auto Union 1000 that @Michael Pickett posted about just above.

The year was 1958. I wonder what car influenced the body design.

I can’t imagine...

Yep, the early t-birds were pretty cool.

mppickett posted:

Yep, the early t-birds were pretty cool.

My thoughts exactly.

Especially with Suzanne Somers as the driver.    One of my favourite movies.

https://thenewswheel.com/looki...ms-43rd-anniversary/

Bob: IM S6 posted:

Especially with Suzanne Somers as the driver.    One of my favourite movies.

https://thenewswheel.com/looki...ms-43rd-anniversary/

 

She did look good sittin' in that baby blue T Bird...

Marty Grzynkowicz posted:

 

...I can't wait to here my twin cam in my Alfa Giulia GT project...

 

 Marty, maybe you could listen to this while you're waiting:

@Marty Grzynkowicz

Bialbero!

It was a valiant effort @Jim Kelly

mppickett posted:

This is the poster I had in our garage in Rhode Island. I gave it to my brother to go with his 993 cabriolet. He was smart enough to keep his.

My favorite Porsche print ad.  

@Gordon Nichols must be slow bugs in the Northeast.🏃

OK, sorry, Kevin (and Jim), but here's yet another off-topic post.

But it touches on a lot of those off-topics we've drifted into here.

At Cars and Coffee this morning, here was one of those '$ no object' cars that any red-blooded car guy will, by nature, lust after - a 1959 Ferrari Testarossa.

Except it probably wasn't really, because I didn't see any Brinks guards stationed around it and we lumpenproletariat were allowed to belly up and spill our morning coffees on it.

But damn, somebody had done a pretty bang-up job of recreating a mofo Testarossa. Frame tubes, body panels, instrumentation, perspex windscreen, open-gated gearchange. Under the hood was a gen-u-whine Colombohmygod V-12, with the requisite surfeit of velocity stacks and Weber carburetion.

This would definitely be more motivating to drive than my little, ersatz Speedy.

But the question lingers. What the devil would I do with this thing if it were parked in my garage - let alone a real Testarossa? Take it to coffee Sunday morning?

As cool a machine and arguably as much a work of art as it is, there's that butthole factor looming large here. Would I have to wear a bag over my head every time I took it out? I know my wife wouldn't be caught dead within mille miglia of the thing.

I'm thinking maybe it's best to let the legends lie. I can be Juan Fangio or Hans Herrmann in my dreams. But on the roads I drive, I need more earthly wheels.

Beautiful, Mitch. I agree. Nice to own, but hard to drive on a regular basis. I love that Bugatti Atlantic that Gordon posted, but it would be too intimidating to easily hop in for a spin. It needs to hit the right combination of interesting and fun, but not be off the chart on attitude.

Very cool Mitch.  There was a real 57 Testarossa in Hinsdale Il.   Cars and coffee 2 months ago.  😲