Motoring Con Brio

Porsche is on the Youtubes.

•October 7, 2009 • Comments Off

Just discovered this, and have yet to slog through everything. So let’s just start with a favorite:

Rather depressingly, 993 C4 and C4S prices continue to remain high, to the point where I believe 996s actually make a better value (perhaps even a much better value). Still, the 993 is the last aircooled 911 and quite possibly the last truly iconic 911, which doesn’t appear to be lost on collectors and enthusiasts (who have driven the market up accordingly).

I always thought I needed the safety net of AWD to get behind the wheel of a 911, but after viewing the above, I think I could probably set my sights “lower” (cue raucous laughter) and look at a 993 C2 or C2S. Which, after viewing the above, should suit me just fine.

More Youtubes here.

– Gyro

Posted in Moving images
Tags: 911, 993, aircooled, high cost of admission, porsche, silverstone

Yashica EZ F521

•October 7, 2009 • 1 Comment

Not many digital cameras capture my imagination. Mostly they’re cookie-cutter and very boring. Their output looks the same: bland and soulless- in short, digital. But every once in awhile a throwback design (some might say pander) comes along and – however briefly – tickles the fancy. Earlier this year it was the Olympus E-P1. A short while later it was the Leica X1 (the Leica M9, with its USD $6,995 street price – body only, natch – need not apply). Now, perhaps most promisingly yet, comes the Yashica EZ F521 (already being billed as the digital Holga) with a very appealing price tag of ¥8,000.

One can only hope its output does some justice to its legendary Chinese-made forebearer, although I personally think it bears more resemblance – at least from a design perspective – to the equally venerable Canon AF35ML.

Oh, and at this rate, I’m already looking forward to the digital Lomo and digital Minox. Camera manufacturers, get crackin’…

Addendum (11/10/09). Watch this. Pretty much everything you need to know/could ask for:

– Gyro

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: camera, canon af35ml, digital holga, holga, leica m9, leica x1, lomo, minox, olympus e-p1, pander, retro, throwback, toy camera, yashica ez f521

Mad Cali…

•October 6, 2009 • 1 Comment

Gyro got me into watching AMC’s ‘Mad Men’ a while back. At first, I was in love with it, just like it’s written in stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. Then I realized, I wasn’t in love with the characters, because they end up pissing me off, I was in love with the style of the era, smoking and drinking in the office, suiting up, having ‘real’ secretaries and what not.

Someone else told me about another show, ‘Californication.’ As much as I hate California, I love the show, at least season 1 so far. By the way, I don’t get into things until way later, I’m a sort of television drama late adopter.

Then it got me thinking Don Draper vs. Hank Moody, who would I rather be. Hands down, Hank Moody.

Quick Comparo:

Buick vs Porsche, Hank Wins.

Creative Director vs Writer turned Blogger, Hank Wins.

NYC vs. LA, Don Wins – but he lives in LI, so barely.

Inattentive Father vs. Bad Influence but Loving Father, Hank Wins.

3 to 1 in favor of Hank. The guy says what he wants, deep down inside, he possesses goodness, and while he may not take care of his convertible 911, he still rocks a 911…

-Miss Ra

Posted in Soapbox
Tags: californication, don draper, hank moody, mad men

Ham-bugger

•October 6, 2009 • Comments Off

“It warms the trimmings, removes the fat in a centrifuge and treats the remaining product with ammonia to kill E. coli.” In a recent article posted by NYT, this is the partial description of how parts are put together for hamburger meat. It is probably the most disgusting process for the way meat is handled before it goes into your mouth. Essentially, eating your conventional hamburger is like eating a piece of shit.

Gyro and I are foodies. I went so far as to own and operate a restaurant with my wife for the past two years. We honour food prep so much, we devote 72 hours just to prepare demi sauce. Gyro knows some really great places to gorge in NYC, and I owe him the respect for being able to share his wealth of knowledge from his sensitive palate. I guess if you’re a true New Yorker, you better know where to eat, because that is half the reason for loving the city.

So when I hear about the atrocities of how meat is being handled these days, it just makes me upset. I grew up loving the hamburger, still do, but now I think I’m going to avoid every chance of eating it like it’s the plague. My infant son may never get a chance to enjoy something as American as apple pie. Now I will reserve my burger munchies to that of binche bistek sang-wiches, because at least when you eat steak, it comes from one cow.

I would recommend that each packet of ground beef to have a Surgeon General’s warning that says, “WARNING: harmful if ingested. May cause indigestion, vomitting, food poisoning, diarrhea and/or paralysis.” A burger is now more harmful than a cigarette…

-Miss Ra

Posted in Not car related, Soapbox
Tags: e coli, gross, hamburger, NYT, sick

Sexiness is a 993's dirty behind.

•October 6, 2009 • Comments Off

– Gyro

Posted in Still images
Tags: 911, 993, aircooled, porsche, targa

Random awesomeness

•October 6, 2009 • Comments Off

Z3 M Coupe on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.

– Gyro

Posted in Still images
Tags: bmw, bonneville, bread van, clown shoe, m coupe, salt flats, shooting brake, z3, z3 m coupe

This was awesome.

•October 6, 2009 • Comments Off

Just got back from an extended weekend in Colorado, and the driving roads outside of metropolitan Denver were nothing short of outstanding. Twisty, seemingly endless in their supply, and conspicuously devoid of the men in blue, they were enough to make this driving enthusiast from the East Coast green with envy- living in the city has its trade-offs.

Nice little 90-mile loop that I got to sample. Shame this occupied only a portion of my morning; time permitting, I would have loved to have hit this all day long:

Continue reading ‘This was awesome.’

Posted in Motoring con brio, Roads
Tags: colorado, denver, driving heaven, twisties, twisty roads

Seat yo a$$ down!

•October 4, 2009 • Comments Off

No car is complete without a pair of perfect bucket seats. But any old bucket seats won’t do. You need support, and it has to hug all the right places for those nice little hair pin turns.

My old ’02 Civic Si had great factory bucket seats. They fit me perfectly, were great for +3 hour road trips, and doubled as my curbside cot during the fights with ex’s. While, Honda got the exterior design wrong on the ’02 Si, they definitely nailed the interior. My mk iv GTI’s seats were a complete fail, much like the build quality of the car compared to the Si. I’m not a fan of three point crank adjusting seats. Yes they may be accurate, but I need ‘quick’ response to my driver’s seat repositioning or makeshift bed.

If I ever get my hands on a BMW, I will devote one of my bonuses to these pair of bad boys…

– Miss Ra

Posted in Mods
Tags: mkiv GTI, Seats, Si

What would you buy?

•October 4, 2009 • Comments Off

In this edition of ‘what you would buy?,’ we want to know what car you would get on a fixed budget. Gyro and I have been going over these scenarios tirelessly, knowing that these scenarios will eventually come into reality at some point in time. We’re just getting mentally prepared.

For $20k, what you get?

I’d opt to get a either the e30 or e36 M3. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, I love higher roof lines. That’s how cars should be built. Why? We are meant to see the road and everything around us. The newer M3’s are great machines, don’t get me wrong, but they are missing that raw edge that defines hooning.

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Continue reading ‘What would you buy?’

Posted in Hoon, What would you buy
Tags: e30, e36, m3, scenarios, What would you buy

A step in the wrong direction…

•October 3, 2009 • Comments Off

Everyone can agree that the Chrysler Sebring is probably the ugliest car ever designed on earth. I mean we can talk day and night about cars should never have been produced, but I think it’s safe to say that the design team for the Sebring should be put out their misery.

I bet they are hired double agents engaged in corporate espionage by the Japs, hired guns to annihilate the once great Chrysler. Mission accomplished.

Although, I have to admit, the Big Three probably did a Count of Monte Cristo, and sent an Asian version of said design team to Toyota and Acura.

In the battle to destroy each other in what Jalopnik deems as ‘Carpocalypse,’ I think they are ganging up on Hyundai this year. Everything was off to good start with the Genesis and Genesis coupe, then all of a sudden, you see this monstrosity, the newly designed Sonata.

Continue reading ‘A step in the wrong direction…’

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: carpocalypse, Design, fugly, hyundai, sebring, sonata