Archive for Supercars

Car Videos, The King of Cool, Mustangs, and Ken Block

November 19, 2014 / / Comments Off on Car Videos, The King of Cool, Mustangs, and Ken Block

The first cool car video I saw was the movie “Bullitt” – the chase scene is widely regarded as the benchmark for such things.  Steve McQueen (possibly the greatest anti-hero of all time and The King of Cool) is a detective who does whatever is necessary to get the bad guys.  And, he uses a bad-ass muscle car to do it…

Steve McQueen was the real deal.  Think James Dean, Paul Newman and AJ Foyt all rolled into the same guy –  McQueen was 10 times cooler than all that, period. He brought us a car chase even our mom’s couldn’t turn away from, he shared LeMans with us, he helped make the movie “On Any Sunday“, and he never stopped trying to escape.  If I weren’t a Brian, I’d want to be a Steve…

McQueen LeMans

Now Ken Block is no Steve McQueen, but he has carried on McQueen’s legacy of sharing with young people how stuff with motors is cool.  I thank him for that (his latest work is shown below). Block’s latest Gymkhana video is done using a Ford Mustang (the Bullitt car was the 1968 version).  Just as Ford has supported Block’s efforts, Ford has recognized Steve McQueen as part of Mustang history.

I believe Block’s video with a Mustang tearing around on city streets begs a recollection of the Bullitt original.

Now for the latest Gymkhana video – essentially, this is just a movie with a car chase without all of the silly dialogue and contrived plot. I love a good sense of humor and like the fact that Block pays homage to the donut shop (4:54) – reference the Traktor Terror video donut scene (1:40).  Gymkhana Seven also pays tribute to famous car chases (7:30).

Thank you Ken Block – you’re pretty cool.

Category: CARS, Fun Stuff, Supercars / Tags: , , , , ,

More Old Porsche’s in The Gorge

October 28, 2014 / / Comments Off on More Old Porsche’s in The Gorge

The Porsche “356 Registry” had a get together in August at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington.  Stevenson is about 30 minutes driving from Portland, Oregon on the Washington side of the river in the Columbia River Gorge.

Mom and Dad in the Speedster

Mom and Dad in the Speedster

My first car was a 356, and I have an attachment to them.  My father came home with a Speedster when I was 5 years old – my recollection is that he had paid less (perhaps a lot less) than $1,000 for it – that’s what he told Mom, anyway…  Other people must like them, too – now that car is worth $200K, on a bad day.

In any case, it was really fun to see all of these beautiful cars so close to home.  And, I took some pictures.  The coolest cars I saw were the “Continentals” which are 356’s before they called them 356’s (from 1955).  There were also a couple of really nice 356 Carrera’s (see my post about why Porsches are called Carrera’s), which one of the owners fired up for us – super cool.

In addition to the Continental’s, there were A’s, B’s and C’s of all varieties, some interesting wheels I’d never seen, and some hot rodded up “Outlaw” 356’s – something for everybody!

If you like old Porsche’s, you should also read this earlier post “Classic Porsche’s in The Gorge“.

 

Category: CARS, Fun Stuff, Motorsport, Supercars / Tags: , , , , ,
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