Arizona Smorgasbord Hides Japanese Iron...and Plenty of Others!

I couldn't believe my eyes when the ubiquitous Murilee Martin posted yesterday on Jalopnik about this treasure trove junkyard down in Arizona.


But don't get your hopes up...word on the street is that most of these forgotten treasures have sadly found their way to the crusher. But look at this place! Japanese cars account for only a sliver of the vintage iron resting quietly in the burning Arizona sun. Many more pictures and more detailed information can be found on the VW Vortex forum here.


The Japanese cars visible in the photos range from a Mazda RX4 Cosmo to an extremely early Subaru coupe, a Datsun 510, a Honda 600, a Starion sitting forlornly on its axles, and more.


But the real story is the international variety represented in this yard. There are more forgotten makes and models here than even I can name off the top of my head: Crosleys, Fiat 124 Station Wagons, Simcas, Renault R16s, Fiat 850s of all body styles, an Auto Union sedan, discarded MGAs, trashy Triumphs, other crappy British cars resembling Hillmans, Citroen Meharis, vintage Saabs, and just about every other arcane, esoteric make one could think of.



I wonder how many of these survived? It's worth a trip to Arizona to find out!

And for a good laugh, check out this guy's tale of traveling to the yard from Oregon to recover 11 TONS of Rover parts...

Crazy El Salvadorian Datsun Racers!

There are some things that we in the United States just miss out on, perhaps because we're such a litigious society. Like open-track Sundays at the Nurburgring, for example, where 18-year-old German punks in their modded E30s chase down Hayabusas and GSX-Rs sans helmet and often without common sense.

While we all know Europeans get all the good stuff that we don't, who knew that El Salvadorians engage in such fantastic Datsun hoonage? Here we see a standing-start all Datsun race comprising about 25 cars, everything from Sunny Pickups to 1200s and 510s. It appears to be a handicap race, with all the Sunny pickups starting at the front, and the presumably faster 510s at the back of the grid. Wish we had more of this video, but it's a good taste of what they're all about down there.

Thanks to Fabrizio of theAlfa Bulletin Board for the tip!

New Year's Day Anti-Football Run 2008

In the early morning dusk of New Year's Day, while most of us were nursing hangovers or still wandering the empty streets after the debauchery that is New Years' Eve, 70 vintage sports cars and their drivers converged on the small town of Sausalito.

The point? A brisk drive on open, untrafficked, windy two lane backroads in our favorite cars to "start the new year right". Put on our sister organization, the Amici Americani della Mille Miglia, the New Year's Day Anti-Football Run has been an annual event since the early 1990s.


This year, Datsuns and Toyotas rubbed shoulders with the elite, as most of the New Year's Day entries are classic European makes with names like Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Maserati. Of course, there were many oddballs - Citroens, Saabs, an aluminium-bodied Triumph TR6 hotrod...what a way to start '08!

Thanks to Michael Emery of Lucha Libre Racing for the photos!

California Mille '08 New Year's Day Photos

CSRG: Bluebird Wipes Floor with Shelby, NASCAR Spins

THE 4th Annual CSRG Charity Challenge Vintage Races are in the books, and it was an epic vintage race weekend by all accounts. The field was eclectic as ever, including such rarities as a Maserati 250F Grand Prix Car, a Bugatti Type 59, and an 8C Alfa Romeo. Plenty of others filled out the eight classes, from the most famous and valuable Ferraris to super obscure cars like the French Rene Bonnet D'Jet.



There aren't too many car dealers out there who are also "car guys", but one serious exception to the rule is Gordon Walton of Walnut Creek Honda. That's him above in his gorgeous '67 Honda S800 in Turn 2. Check out his car below:










For once, we didn't have any of our own cars entered, so we got to relax and enjoy all the races from the stands... It was great not having to wake up at 6:30am!

We got to see the Historic NASCAR guys do their impression of a road course:







And there were a few things that made us look twice, like this Audi S5 parked in a fleet of RS4s out near Turn 5:



And a cool early 70s Alfa Romeo Berlina that was parked near all the Audis...




We love Alfas and if you don't, you need some knowledge. The Berlina is a sweet car, kind of like Italy's Datsun 510, with cooler instruments and a twincam motor. I want one.

But, wait, what's that over there?! We spotted this hakosuka Skyline in the Sears Point paddock:



In fact, this was the Skyline GT-X that appeared on the Bay Area craigslist site a month or two ago. Its new proud owner was none other than Jim Froula, who is well-known in vintage racing circles with his 1967 Datsun Bluebird, which he just happened to be racing this weekend:



This thing is immaculate...check it out:









That's one pretty sweet ride!



Don't be fooled: there's no Motoring J Style in the above photo. But the driver of the 912 is my friend Anne. Anne is cool because she actually races her daily-driven, black-plate Porsche 912. And here she's mixing it up hardcore with Alfas and Porsche 356s...you gotta respect that!

Well, that's it for now. Next weekend, look for an update on a rather more degenerate form of racing, the 4th running of the now-infamous 24 Hours of LeMons. Cheers!