From the phony paint-and-tape "Saleen Mustang" elsewhere on this blog to all manner and kind of BMWs with the ersatz "M" badge pasted on them to make them look more expensive, So Cal's freeways are the greatest car show on earth --- Real cars, trucks and motorcycles and those vehicles just imagined in the owners' very active minds! The photos in this posting were digitally captured by Steve and Carey Parker (using a Sony 7meg hand-held digital ... a true workhorse!)during a one-day trip from the Palm Springs area to Los Angeles and back ... Enjoy!
While we were driving our test car of the week, a 2007 Jaguar S-type, on the I-10 Freeway, coincidentally in the East Los Angeles area, nearby the LA County Sheriff's headquarters facility (and women's jail ...), this Scion xB from "Lipstick Bail Bonds", driven by a middle-aged lady with bleached blond hair and a lot of gold jewelry, was seen zipping along to meet-up with her next bad-luck client ... perhaps a "frequent-flier" customer ...
Remember the "Excalibur"
, one of many "neo-classic"
autos designed to look like classic 1930s autos, but built on top of an existing platform? For some reason, in the 1970s, these things really took off. Excalibur was just one of them. A trusted friend told me that one day, while driving in Hollywood, he spotted Lyle Wagoner (remember the "Carol Burnett Show"?) in one of these monstrosities, uh, we mean neo-classics, with license plates reading, I kid you not, "MR. COOL". This car was snapped while pulling out of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina Del Rey, CA, with the driver in his cut-off T-shirt (known to some as a "wife beater" ... What an idiotic name!) and the prerequisite blond sitting next him, apparently bundled-up against the cold of the California summer day, about 85 degrees when we shot this ... Other neo-classics included the Clenet, Zimmer, Gatsby and Archer, and way too many others. Incidentally, whatever happened to Lyle Wagoner? He now owns "Star Wagons" (get it?), which is, if not the largest, certainly one of the largest suppliers of luxury trailers and motorhomes for the film industry used on shooting locations worldwide. Yes, he did just fine ... No fundraising banquets necessary.
What a find! A real and running (in a sense) Ford Torino from the TV era of "Starsky And Hutch", the late 1970s. This car was such an absolute piece of running junk that as soon as we saw it, we wished we were CHP officers and and were able pull this travesty over and never allow it to run on the highway again, at least not legally. Note the snappy American flag waving in the freeway's breeze. This was shot on the infamous I-405 (San Diego Freeway), southbound from the carpool lane, at about 5pm on a summer's hot Friday afternoon about 3 miles north of Los Angeles International Airport.
Here's the rear view of that Torino. Note the nice touches by the owner. The bungee cord holding the trunk closed, the bent license plate, the taped-over and only possibly-working taillights, the lovely "crown" logo on the backlite (rear window) and don't even ask us what the "WK 5" means ...
We apologize for the backlighting of this photo, but it was shot while Carey hung out the passenger window while we were on the eastbound Ventura Freeway (I-134) at sunset, about 7:30pm at this time of year. We hope you appreciate our efforts for you! Obviously, and from this angle, it appears to be VERY loooong Hummer something-or-other. The owner calls it and H4 (the "real" H4 from General Motors is currently under final preparation for production next year).
Here's a shot of what we can only call the "central section" of this "H4" Hummer. Whoever built this thing had their work cut-out for them ---- On a positive note, we did note that there was no "sagging" in this part of the truck, though the vehicle appeared empty at the time. Put a couple of thousand pounds of people, animals, drugs, what-have-you, in the passenger compartment of this beast, and the mid-section might wind-up touching the ground ...
OK, here's the rear-end of the H4. Notice the tasteful canvas patio top over this section of the truck, an outdoor area which appears to be able to hold about 10 people. We do not know if there is a spa under that patio cover ... Several Hummer limo conversions we've seen in the LA area do indeed have working spas.
Very interesting blog. I will bookmark it definitely! Thanks!
Posted by: RV | May 06, 2008 at 07:01 AM