Raleigh Cars and Coffee, 5-1-2010

I have to admit, Raleigh North Carolina is not the most exciting place on earth. Sure, it's a rapidly growing commercial center with a mixture of high-income and back-country areas, but it's not... you know... Los Angeles.  Or Miami.  We don't have a Woodward Avenue.  We have Capital Boulevard.  Which is really just US-1 given a different name as it goes through downtown Raleigh.  Snore.

So it is therefore logical to assume there are no interesting cars at all in Raleigh.  Sure, a lot of Lexus RX350's, but nothing to care about.  Let me present a gentle counter-argument:

Err, yeah.  Lamborghini LM002.  One of 301 total made between 1986 and 1993, this 1990 LM002 is one of 60 LM/America specials which included the body skirts, chrome trim, and other goodies that Americans apparently adore.  If you're confused, there's a somewhat patchy Wikipedia article on the LM002 you can look through - but the clif notes are this: the project was originally a military vehicle pitched at the US government in competition with the AM General HMMWV.  When they lost the bid, they decided to adapt the platform for "Civilian" use - read, rich Oil Sheiks with their own well to fuel the damn thing with.  And why did it need so much fuel?  Well, despite looking like a proto-Hummer-H3T with gigantic tires, it had this under the hood:

Yeah.  That's a 5.2L Countach V12.  They originally sold these with 6 Weber carburetors, although later versions had Bosch-derived EFI.  Still, an average fuel mileage figure of around 8mpg was mitigated by the 76 gallon fuel tank. Hey, when you're jumping sand-dunes in the middle of nowhere in Saudi Arabia with your Countach-powered 4x4 sport truck, running out of gas would be a bummer.  And the interior's no let-down either:

There were all sorts of cool things about the LM002, I mean, besides the fact that it was a freaking Lamborghini SUV with a five-speed and a Countach engine! For instance, those gigantic Pirelli Scorpions were custom designed for the LM at the request of Lamborghini, and they're wiiide- 355mm across!  They were also capable of running almost completely flat, which helped immensely with sand traction.  You could order an LM002 with a 7.2L Marine-use Lamborghini offshore racing engine, if you were so inclined.  I better stop now or I never will...  By the way, the owner of this vehicle didn't display any of the characteristics you'd expect of a (multiple) Lamborghini owner - he was extremely excited to talk about his car, very friendly, and all around a great guy.  He's also got a Countach Quattrovalvole 25th AE, too...

Here's an engine shot from a lovely Ford GT40 replica.  Check out the 8 individual velocity stacks, and those upswept headers.  Work of art...

Cobras are like boobs.  Even when they're fake, they're awesome.  Either way, it's rude to ask - so I didn't.

That's not something you see every day - an Opel GT parked next to an NSX.  Lovely little cars, eh?

Been bitching about how gigantic modern cars have gotten?  Need pictorial evidence thereof?  How about this:  you could probably park a Lotus Elan inside a Porsche Cayman.  And you could probably park a Cayman inside an LM002.

Obligatory GT-R content.

Thumbs up for the license plate.  Thumbs down for the Advance Auto Parts "Turbo" badge.

Maserati may not know how to make a good car (at least for what you pay) but they sure know how to make a pretty engine.  Under the hood of a GranSport Cabrio.  These cars make such lovely noises... it's a like a Ferrari, only an octave lower.  Yum.

Now, I'm not great with identifying old Alfa's, but I know this is a GTA of some sort.  I know what I like, and old Alfas - I like a lot.  This one looked ready for classic racing action - roll cage, Sabelt 4-point harnesses, Alfa Twin-Cam under the hood.  These cars look like so much fun.  They also look about as light as a popcorn fart.

This Gallardo owner's blue-and-white clothing combo matched his blue-and-white interior color scheme.  A little disturbing.  Still, it's a Gallardo.  You can't hate.

Turbocharged Corvair Corsa...  180bhp air-cooled flat six mounted in the back isn't quite what you'd expect from a mid-sixties GM vehicle, but hey, they also made the Toronado back then...  I absolutely adore the styling of these cars, by the way.

Again, probably a replica... but the sound this Corvette Grand Sport made was simply unearthly.  And, real or not, it looks like sheer unbridled terror to drive.  Big kudos to the owner for this vehicle arriving at the shower under it's own power, not on a trailer.

I can attest with total honesty now, the Porsche Panabananarama is exactly as horrible to look at in real life as it is in pictures.  Lordy.  Can you imagine paying $80k USD for one of these monstrosities with a 3.6L VW engine?

There's not much you can say about this 914 that the pictures don't.  I'm pretty sure the tires on this thing are at least three times as wide as any factory Porsche rolling stock option.  The interior consists of a seat, steering wheel, shifter and e-brake, and gauge pod.  Nothing else.  It's track-scraping low and looks like about the most fun that can be had with pants on.  No idea what's under that rear decklid; I'm hoping it's a Chevy 350 or an EJ257...

Who says people don't modify 944's?  This evil looking black 944 Turbo appeared to have pretty much no remaining stock parts of any sort under the hood.  These 2.5L 8-valve turbo beasts were renowned in the 80's for being just as fast as a 911, without the annoying propensity to kill you when you lifted mid-corner.  I'd imagine this one's a bit hairier...

One of the new lightweight Boxster Spyders.  These cars look utterly fantastic in real life.  Has gotta be a lot of fun, too.

This NSX... there just aren't words for how perfect this NSX is.

The engine bay of a Protomotive twin-turbocharged 911 (993) Carrera 4S.  As much as a Porsche can be a sleeper, this is it.  To the untrained eye it looks like a regular 993 911 with some later 996 wheels on it.  The owner claims 500+ bhp from the Protomotive-engineered twin turbo kit, which uses K27 turbochargers and this massive air-to-air intercooler.  Coupled with four-wheel-drive and a six-speed, this thing has got to launch like a fighter jet.  And on the other end of the "subtle 911" spectrum is this...

...a 964 Turbo S, apparently.  I just gotta say: Yo dawg, I heard you like downforce, so we put a wing on yo wing, so you can downforce while you downforcin'.

And finally, the funniest plate ever put on a 911, ever.

"Umm, yeahhh... I'm gonna have to ask you to come into the office on Saturday..." At least some Porsche owners have a sense of humor!

The Raleigh Cars and Coffee meet happens the first Saturday of every month, when the weather's nice, from around 8:30 to noon.  If you're in the area, it's worth coming out.  Hope to see you there!