The cars that struck me as the most interesting were three Alfa Romeos - the
Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica (B.A.T.) autos. I gotta admit, my first
reaction upon entering the 2nd floor was a pretty Ferrari, but then I saw
the Alfas and thought "Whoa, what are those!" They look pretty darn
cool, but the more I looked at 'em the more apparent it was that though
a lot of thought went into their aerodynamics, it was mostly wrong. The
placard in front of them said that above 50 mph (if memory serves) the
best way to describe their handling was "lifting body".
Alfa Romeo BAT Picture 1
Alfa Romeo BAT Picture 2
Alfa Romeo BAT Picture 3
Alfa Romeo BAT Picture 4
Alfa Romeo BAT Picture 5
Alfa Romeo BAT Picture 6
Alfa Romeo BAT Picture 7
Alfa Romeo BAT Picture 8
Another car near the BATs that I thought was particularly interesting was
(as I recall) designed and built by Nieuport - the same folks who made
French biplanes during the first world war. It was called the "wooden torpedo"
and was apparently very, very light even though it was pretty big. At first
I thought it was wooden with pinstripes, but on closer examination, it was
row after row of teeny brass nails. Talk about labor intensive!
Wooden Torpedo 1
Wooden Torpedo 2
The 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster
just struck me as pretty. The picture doesn't do justice to the reflective
chrome bits - they're much shinier than they appear in the picture. My flash
must not be powerful enough for as dark as it was and as far back as I was
(in order to fit the whole car in the frame). Someone needs to pump up the
left rear. :-)
The 1955 Nardi Lancia Blue Ray gave me a chuckle. It reminds me of the
early batmobile with it's dual-cockpit sorta look. I don't recall what the
car to the right of it in the 2nd picture was now - perhaps a Maserati?
1955 Lancia Picture 1
1955 Lancia Picture 2
1955 Lancia Picture 3
Here's my favorite of the show, however. The
1937 Cadillac Series 37-90 V16.
It just screams decadence. Again, the colors in the photos I used a flash
with just don't quite do it justice. The shiny metal trim is gold in color
and very pretty. The first photo (in the link above)
was taken without a flash but I should have
had an "indoor" filter on the camera. I don't recall what the shutter speed
was but you can tell it's slightly blurred even though I shot the picture as
if I were trying to hit a target with a rifle at 600 yds. I'm gonna get
a good photo of this one next time with a proper filter and a tripod or
an uber-flash or somethin'. The 3rd photo is probably the best angle for
showing off the wheel pants. In hindsight I should have taken a few from
head-on too. Photographing it was tricky because it's 22 feet long and
you gotta be quite a ways away from the car to fit the whole thing in the
frame! I just realized something... My teeny tiny 4-cylinder turbo'd Miata
has more horsepower than this giant V16...
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
1937 Caddy Sign