XXHighEnd

Something to balance out the fun win W10  ;)

()

Haha... an Alfa 4c! You won't believe this but I test-drove the 4c spider only 2 weeks ago. Loved the car, but three things stopped me from placing an order:

1. the lower switch-gear (knobs and controls) are very low quality
2. on cr*ppy UK roads, the steering is simply too difficult to control (the car follows every camber, nook and cranny - and there are loads of those here in the UK on our back B-roads)
3. I don't have the money sitting around spare :-(

If point 3 were not the case, I would go out and buy one today. Simply a fantastic car:

- carbon fibre monocoque tub
- non-assisted steering (phenomenal on the track)
- sweet 1.75 litre 240bhp engine (plenty of power for a sub-1000kg car)
- totally, totally gorgeous on the outside (in both coupe and spider form)

VJ, yours looks stunning. I hope you drive the hell out of it, and not have it become a garage queen.

You obviously have good tastes!

Cheers, Mani.

Hey Mani,

Thanks !!

I agree with your assessment, but man it's my first Italian, and a refreshing experience to drive a driver dedicated car! Every time you get into it, it makes you feel special ;)

Also in a city where supercars are as common as superstars, this stands it's ground!

I'll be tracking it soon, no garage queen here :D

Cheers,
VJ

Yesterday we were watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015).
What a deception. Ciska and Paul didn't know better, but I recall an Illya who is blond and actually weird looking (sorry David McCallum). It was about nothing and went nowhere.
I told about the TV series from the 60's somewhere, but both never heard about it.

When the yawning movie was finally finished I went to the PC, dug up some WikiPedia pages about the old stuff and referred to "see, the same as Kit - that too does not work any more. Give it a new car also does not help.".

Then I thought to browse XXHighEnd as a last thing for the night and found this;
With everybody in the mood I showed this and asked where this would be :

(http://www.stordiau.nl/images/vj06.png)
Paul said : "At Mani's; all is flooded".
Ciska said : "No, Mani lives in a high place; he won't get flooded. It must be at Paul's, as the River Thames is so high.

So I scrolled up to precisely this position :

(http://www.stordiau.nl/images/vj04.png)
(mind you, this was all what fitted in the monitor's view and I just scrolled it to exactly this point).

Ciska right away said : at VJ's !
:swoon:

Then I had prepared this one as well :

(http://www.stordiau.nl/images/vj05.png)
And Paul said "that's the c4".

Yes, we have been discussing this car the other day as a really nice looking muscle car (while in the end it really is not that) and that you must see it in real life to have that perceptin for real (Paul did not agree as he never saw it real life).
These days Paul cruises around in the Impreza WRX (he doesn't use the horse power in there yet) but that fact doesn't make him right.

I love that car !!
VJ, happy touring, man !

Peter

PS: Didn't we discuss crazy USA STOP signs ?
So did you plant that in your trees especially for me, or what is it ? haha

Guys,

That's incredible memory!!  How many years has it been?! .... Wow!!!

I watched that movie too, quite disappointed by it!!

I looked into the WRX myself, it's a great car. Tweakers paradise, especially in CA with its thriving underground racing scene and third party modifiers.... still on the radar, decided can't give it that much attention right now!

The AR-4c, looks like a muscle car in some angles, and not on some. By numbers alone it's not impressive, but surprises you by its performance again. I would call this smart engineering, and not just brutal force as most American muscle cars.

Cheers,
VJ

P.s. Peter: The sign announces  :xx:   Being played here

Beautiful - how is it Italians do red like no one else?

Alfa being involved in F1 this year unfortunately fell through.

(Getting ready for the new season - almost here!)

VJ,

Very nice machine.  Looking forward to seeing it soon.  I've been traveling (again!).

Owned a number of alphas in the past, spiders, duettos, GTV, nothing like this one.  The big surprise was how extremely reliable the drive train was, even though everything else (handles, tops, knobs, etc.) slowly fell apart.

Ramesh : I'll be not surprised if the 4C is similar!! cr*ppy interiors ... lol

Looking forward to your visit.

Jud: AR continues its usual troubled existence. Aah the red ... perfectly meets 4C :)

Handmade at this catagory hardly ever seen
http://youtu.be/yde6Nbxdq-I (http://youtu.be/yde6Nbxdq-I)

:)

Yup! Well known  8)

Hotel California album cover inspiration

Currently in "Cal State Channel island University"

https://g.co/kgs/tbgw7r (https://g.co/kgs/tbgw7r)


***Edit: apparently not the right location... what a spectacular drive to this location. :)
Will redo in a few ;)

Strawberry fields for ever

Some parallels with Oxnard, CA.... the strawberry capital of the world.

https://g.co/kgs/0R3Zr6 (https://g.co/kgs/0R3Zr6)

Mulholland Hwy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulholland_Drive_(film) (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulholland_Drive_(film))

So VJ, are you having a bit of a tour in your 4C? Lucky man if you are. (My 911's been sitting in my garage for quite a few weeks now - really have to get her out for a spin at some point.)

Talking of 'tour', anyone seen 'The Grand Tour' (ex Top Gear crowd) yet? I've watched all 4 episodes. Quite enjoyed the first one, but it's been on a steady decline since then. I'm through with seeing the contrived dialogues, the stupid 'challenges', and 3 well-past-their-prime presenters being idiots rather than talking about cars. I really liked 'Chris Harris On Cars' on Youtube, before he stopped for Top Gear. I reckon something with the production values of TG/GT and the aforementioned CHOC would be really, really cool.

Any thoughts?

Mani.

Hey Mani,

Yup 4C and a lot of open roads ;)

Last few weeks, when ever possible have been inspirational trips of some sort related to music or not ....

Let's see in the same trip, I passed by Lake Sherwood (right around the pic of Mulholland up there)... home of
Pete Sampras, one of my tennis heros
Paul Anka https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHe6dSngt0 (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHe6dSngt0)
Tom Petty https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6vWTtx_PxPo (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6vWTtx_PxPo)
Brittney Spears .. ( non inspirational) :o
Sherwood Forest for Robin Hood movies
Also told some history with the Ratpack

Self indulgent thought process for the intellectual growth..  :)

I've been following Chris Harris, since the closure of TG series, ..... I find him more "real". Not had the chance for the new GT

Cheers,
VJ

Grand Bore more like, I fast forwarded through most of the last episode......real shame to spend so much & achieve so little.
Old XKR driving Jack

The real Hotel California  :)

 ;)

Isn't that something with Alfa ?

510 hp and 600 Nm of torque perhaps?

Nice!

Mani.

Peter and Mani,

You guys are right  :) 8) 8)

Very different than the 4C

Best,
VJ