It had to be a Herbie....

Leica M3 50mm Summicron Tri-x

As an addendum to the previous post, here is one of those new models

I remember taking a photo of one of these in 1972 in the Lake District in England. At that time it was one of the latest, most advanced motorcycles. Nowadays I'm impressed by the simplicity of the engineering (and the longevity) compared with modern high tech machines

I spotted this in Geneva yesterday, and had time for just one quick photo. Only 90 produced so far, 1001 horsepower, $1.4 million. 0-60mph time? - shorter than a gnats foreskin, Top speed? - warp factor 9 etc etc. It's the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, and it's really a Volkswagen. Even the normally sedate wikipedia entry makes your eyes water. Like those nice little Alfa Spiders, your money doesn't actually get you somewhere to put your license plate. I wonder what happens when you need to switch the plate to your VW Golf?

By the way that's not a giant sized parking ticket - it says "Ne touche pas!". ... oh, and there seems to be some kind of truck parked behind it.

And if you're interested to find out what happens when the Brits get their hands on one, have a look here

Leica M8 35mm Summicron

Thought it only fair to show the other half of this pair of cars in full - this is the Mercury Montclair Phaeton (1956) and the Lincoln Lido 2 Door Coupe (1951) poking in at the right. I've also included the boys other halves

I've again uploaded a larger photograph (2mb file) so you can enjoy the details

Leica M8 24mm Elmarit

Zurich is full of brand new Ferraris and Lamborghinis, but it also seems to be full of immaculately preserved/restored US cars from the 50's. Here I found a Mercury Montclair Phaeton (1956) at the left just showing and a Lincoln Lido 2 Door Coupe (1951)

I've uploaded a larger photograph (1mb file) so you can enjoy the authentic 1950's owners as well

Leica M8 24mm Elmarit

This one's for Peter in Paris - I hope he appreciates the comparison! A Volvo Amazon from the 1960's I guess. I remember these being raced in UK rallies. An iconic automobile - why do all today's cars look kind of the same?

Leica M8 24mm Elmarit

Here is a contrast with the delicate minimalism of porcelain. This is a Pontiac Chieftain 2 door coupe from 1952/3. It also has the Pontiac Silverstreak motif along the side, and although I've seen these cars referred to as "Silverstreaks" I'm not sure that this was ever an official model name. This is the 8 cylinder version

Leica M8 35mm Summicron

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of a Porsche 356 and someone said that at first it reminded them of a Karmann Ghia. Well here is the real thing. You can see the similarity in configuration, but this one really is a Beetle under the skin

CDP throws up some amazing coincidences. Three or four hours after reading Fabrizio's post I stumbled on this little creature. It's a Fiat Topolino - precursor of the 500 in many ways, although a different design. I couldn't manage such glamourous companions as F, but you get the idea. (Check the EXIF data if you don't believe the coincidence - as if I'd lie!)

And what about that grille? Do the Italians know how to design cars..?

You do see some interesting cars here, old and new, even if this one has a Liechtenstein plate. (Z has featured quite a few even from the little village of Villigen. This is the Porsche 356 which was produced from 1948-1965. Born of Volkswagen Beetle parentage, it was the forerunner of the 911, which of course is still incredibly popular and successful today. There were many variants and it's a bit confusing but I think this is a 365B or C Roadster from early 60's but I'm not sure.

James Dean owned a 356 Speedster, and later a 550 Spyder in which he died. The 550 is a different animal altogether, although with the same Porsche genes, it was really a full blown racing car - 150mph against this 356's 90-ish.

More info on the 550 spyder

More info on the 356

Trawling through the web, I found a curious bit of trivia. The Porsche 911 was originally called the Porsche 901, but Peugeot complained as I think they already had a 901, so it was renamed 911. And the rest is history. If you want to know more about Dean and his ill-fated Spyder just google "james dean porsche spyder".

A nice shiny motorcycle, spotted in Bahnhofstrasse

Chuckeroon has been posting an interesting series on Brooklands, the racing circuit in the UK, and home of one of the golden ages of motorsport. There have been many of these, although I don't think we are in one now. After the Big Bentleys from Brooklands we had the era of Fangio, Ascari and Nuvolari with blood red Maseratis and Ferraris against the silver Auto Unions and Mercedes.

This was bridged by the likes of brits such as Stirling Moss (perhaps the greatest) and the tragic Mike Hailwood into the age that I regard as the real golden age of F1, if only because I manged to rub shoulders with it courtesy of my father. This was the time of Clark, Hill (Phil and Graham), Brabham, Gurney and many others. Reason for this post is a memory of another of the ranks, Jo Siffert from Switzerland. A DVD is out now - a fascinating documemtary for motor racing fans - "Live Fast - Die Young" - about the man from Fribourg. The title is unecessarily sensational, but the documentary footage is a must for anyone interested in motorsport

Siffert died in a sports car crash in 1971. His friend the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely was allowed to use the wreckage of the car for a sculpture in memoriam, which is in the Tinguely museum in Basel

On my first visit, I was - enchanted, transported - to see this Lotus 25. The car that in my opinion, through the design genius of Colin Chapman and the driving skill of Jim Clark, changed F1 for ever

One of my earliest posts was of this Chevrolet in B+W. Here it is again in glorious technicolor, reflecting some of Zurich and yours truly, exhibiting not the best camera holding technique.