(photo courtesy mike savage) another great photygiraffe from mr. savage who spotted this mini slumbering in its stall in kyoto japan. in his own words: “this one is my fave. color and graphic composition are spot on.” indeed.

i spotted this lovely jaguar XKE in gig harbor washington, and despite the lady glaring at me like i just took a dump in her tool box, the occupants of this craft gave me a friendly wave.

i spied this bentley continental gt on interstate 5 just north of fort lewis washington. one thing i have noticed with some of the ultra high-end cars such as rolls royce and bentley is that the new models with modern production methods just don’t look as special or exclusive as they used to. i think perhaps it is a combination of not being hand-built any longer and now designed on a computer. if a vehicle is going to cost over $200k then i want it be built and designed with large doses of analog old school craft. i think ferrari is the only ultra high-end manufacturer right now that is pulling it off. i saw a bentley sedan recently that could be mistaken for a hyundai…. truly pathetic.

(photo courtesy ali rahimi) this jaguar XKE coupe was spotted in portland oregon by ali rahimi just as he was firing up his crack-pipe. being the devoted cars-i-have-seen enthusiast he is, he dutifully set aside the crack-pipe and fired up his iphone to apprehend the beautiful automotive scene that was playing out before him. this photo has everything we are looking for here at CIHS… great aesthetic value, motion, and an incredible automobile sporting majestic antlers growing up from the roof. good job and thank you ali !

another venerable brand and iconic car lost along the wayside to prove that as time marches on things do not necessarily improve. if a current car could match the series land rover, citroen 2cv or air-cooled beetle for simplicity, quality, fun and sheer design originality people would buy in droves. i say abandon convention, re-think uni-body and oddly shaped bloated design cues on every panel and build something bloody good for a change.

Something of an anachronism in the 2000s, the Defender has no unibody structure and is still largely hand assembled. All its major body panels and sub-assemblies simply bolt together. Thus not only can a Defender be literally broken down to its chassis with simple hand tools, there are no irreplaceable stress points. While appreciated in the field and by enthusiasts, this method of manufacture has become increasingly expensive relative to unibody and modular construction.

i spotted this little gem carousing the streets of zürich switzerland. The Land Rover Series I, II, and III, commonly referred to as “Series” Land Rovers, are off-road vehicles produced by the British manufacturer Land Rover that were inspired by the US-built Willys Jeep. Land Rover says that 70% of these vehicles ever made are still in use today—a claim first made in the 1992 brochure and repeated many times since, being much publicised when cited by Richard Hammond of the BBC’s Top Gear, though this has got to be more hubris than reality… hardly seems possible.

(photo ©2003 Samvado Gunnar Kossatz) The Bhagwan bought his first Rolls Royce, a Corniche, in 1980 and had it plated with armor. After establishing his commune in Oregon, followers of the Bhagwan said their leader wanted a new Rolls Royce for each day of the year, and began ordering two a month from dealers. The commune even had its own service center, and a Rolls engineer periodically traveled there to trouble-shoot. Rajneesh would get into a Rolls each day and be driven slowly down the commune’s roads. On each side, disciples clad in red clothing would sing, chant and toss flowers on the hood. A number of the cars were painted “psychedelic colors” that seriously disturbed the aesthetic values of Rolls dealers and officials enough to put senior Rolls Royce executives in Britain into virtual cardiac arrest.

the 2001-2006 iteration of the mini cooper was a game-changing automotive break through. with uncanny performance, quality, design and of course the bulldog ‘wide stance’ this car was unlike anything offered before or since. BMW, in its infinite wisdom, recognized that the public was ready for a small high performance hatch-back ‘luxury car’. wait a minute, a hatchback ?? yes! a hatchback. a throw-back to the eighties and continuing in the path blazed not only by the original mini but also by the VW GTI and peugeot 205, this mini was definitely no chevette. who woulda thunk this was possible ? certainly not rover, bmw’s initial partner in the project as rover wanted an economy car, whilst BMW supported a small sporting car and finally prevailed and thank goodness they did !

this jaguar was spotted zipping around the Arc de Triomphe in paris france, which was a spectacular sight to behold….. it is amazing there wasn’t more accidents as the cars zip about seemingly willy-nilly with no lanes nor ryhme-reason. the series III jaguar xj6 is a very nifty car, i once owned a 1987 and from a design perspective it was uncanny inside and out. i shudder to think that many of these cars received chevy V8’s at the hands of misguided ugly americans thinking they were improving them.

this nice austin-healey was spotted in vancouver, canada. shortly after this sighting i became aware of the TiltShift app for the iphone which makes the subject in the photo (ideally) appear as a miniature and/or model. the rules for the photos featured on this site strictly prohibit any manipulation of images… they must appear exactly as the iphone naturally captures the image. but i am entertaining the notion of allowing the use of the TiltShift app as the only exception…. therefore i am breaking the rules just this once as a test….. what do y’all think ?

the aston martin db5 is the most famous aston martin car due to its use by James Bond in Goldfinger (1964). although ian fleming had placed Bond in a db mark III in the novel, the db5 was the company’s newest model when the film was being made. the car used in the film was the original db5 prototype, with another standard car used for stunts. two more modified cars were built for publicity tours after the film’s release. in january 2006, one of those cars was auctioned in arizona for $2,090,000. the same car was originally bought in 1970 for £5,000 from the owner, sir anthony bamford, by a tennessee museum owner. the other car is located in the netherlands in the louwman collection museum, and this car was mainly used for promoting the movie.

i discovered paris was stocked with a pretty amazing variety of fine classic automobiles prowling the rues….. it seems the french value keeping older classic cars on the road. the xj6 has always been a favorite from a design perspective. the exterior design is quite accomplished whilst the interior has an old-school high-society lounge quality with a genuine wood dashboard, high quality leather seating, air-craft style gauges and a satisfying number of secret agent style buttons to push.

once upon a time, i rented a 2006 mini-cooper S for a weekend and drove the compact hilly urban terrain of san francisco along with the fragant wine country of the napa valley. aside from the ‘pt crusier’ aura of the interior design (gauges excepted) i was an instant convert to the mini gospel. i loved that car and intended on ordering one when i returned home… a ‘jc-cooper-works car’ even. but then i became aware that there were significant changes planned for the 2007 model. maybe i should wait to order ??? unfortunately i did wait and witnessed with horror how bmw RUINED the mini mk2 for 2007. it was FUGLY, and to add insult-to-injury, they eliminated the super-charged engine in favor of turbo. my crush on the 2006 continues but there was no way in hell i would order or drive the botched mk2. hold your head high 2006 mini cooper, i will always remember our time in ‘frisco and pity those who desecrated your successor’s beauty.

even though these cars are now attainable for $12-$24k, every time i see one i think the occupant must be some sort of secret society elite, or fabulous entertainer a’la liberace. i should buy one just to fuck with everyone’s minds… infact i know where a pristine and tempting one is right now, just waiting to be bought …… hhmmmmm.

‘captain of industry’ motor car spotted in london england. this reminds me of writing scrawled on the bathroom wall at the world famous up & up tavern in bellingham washington in the 1980’s: “there once was a man from boston who drove around town in an aston. he had room for his ass and a gallon of gas, but his balls hung out the door and he lost ‘em”