New Blue Beetle Sighting

Today, I spotted my first sighting of the 2012 VW Beetle. This one had denim blue paint, which is not my first choice. This one was the basic Beetle and not the Turbo. I love the Turbo's wheels and would prefer the basic VW. I don't need all that Turbo stuff, especially if or when it starts to go wrong. May more new Beetles start infesting the streets of Seattle.

New Beetle Baja

So, I spot this red New Beetle every once in a while here on Capitol Hill. It's different from all the others in that it sits up higher and has the word BAJA on the side. I can't seem to locate any information on this model via Google. Am probably using the wrong verbiage. Anyway, I believe it's one of the first versions of the New Beetle, as it has the divided tail lights (amber lens on top and red lens on bottom) and not the pupil designed tail lights. Anyone know how I can find information on this Beetle model?

Sixth Avenue & Seneca Street

This morning on the walk to work, I spotted a cute little red late 1960s BMW 2002. It zipped off the freeway onto Sixth Avenue downtown. At the same intersection, an early 1960s Volvo 544 was waiting at the light to continue forward on Seneca Street towards the waterfront.

A Convertible Subaru?

Where was I in 1982? For some reason, I never knew that Subaru created what appears to be an early 1980s GL convertible. When I came upon this rare automotive species late last week near Westlake Park, I didn't know what I was exactly looking at. I knew it was a Subaru, as the body gave it away as an early 1980s model, but there was something odd about this creature. There was a black cloth top. In googling '1982 convertible subaru', I've only come up with two photos of this car. One is bronze in color and the other is black. I wish that I had taken a picture to show you. This is a very cute rare car. Not sure how many are out there in the world.

Saab 9 5

A couple of days ago, I spotted my first 2012 Saab 9-5 roaming the streets of Seattle. Boy is this a great looking car. I'm not sure which trim level it was, but the sedan was silver in color. Bet there will be plenty of silver 9-5's soon to be on the road. As I write this, I'm building and pricing "my" new 9-5 on their website. To my surprise, they list eleven colors to choose from. How surprising. Granted, not all the colors are that inspiring. I sure hope Saab can survive.

License Plate Day

As I walked to work this morning, I took an inventory of the out of state license plates of all the cars on Summit Avenue between E Howell Street and E Pine Street on Capitol Hill. Within these two blocks, I spied a bakers dozen out of state and out of the country license plates. The states and Providences that were represented on this street were California (two examples), Michigan, Florida, Nebraska, Minnesota, Oregon (two examples), Alaska, Nevada and Idaho. There were two Canadian plates; one British Columbian and one Manitoban. The two that I find rare in Seattle are the Nebraska and Manitoba plates. It's rare to find eastern US plates here. Tomorrow will be another day of searching for plates and rare vehicles.

Cute Little Italian Car

Today was Fiat 500 day. Within a couple of hours, I saw two brand-spanking-new 500s. The first one was parked under the Alaskan Way Viaduct and was silver. It looked to be the sport model, but not sure. It had the sport wheels, but they are option on all versions. The second Fiat was parallel parked on Seneca Street between 1ST and 2ND Avenues. This one was the charcoal gray with the same wheels. I'm guessing that most people will upgrade the wheels to these. I'd love one of these little cars. Not sure if it would make me look even more gay that I already do. At least my Mustang is my butch car.

Rare Plymouth

As I was wandering around downtown this afternoon, I spotted a very bright yellow Prowler turning left onto Fourth Avenue from Pike Street. The black top was up with the driver's head only visible inside. I haven't seen one of these cars in a very long time. And I think the last one I spied was purple. These are as rare as the "late model" T-birds.

Loitering Oldsmobile

On my walk home today, I spotted a 1979 era Oldsmobile 98 Regency coupe parked on First Hill. I've spotted this Olds somewhat on a regular basis. It's usually loitering the streets within a six block area. The coupe is Kermit the Frog green with a butter yellow vinyl top and a blush velvet beige interior. Typical for the era. The car looks to not have been washed in years. There's seed pods, sticks and leaves all over the gigantic hood, large roof and huge deck lid. The previous time I saw the car, it was a couple blocks away with a white parking ticket slipped under the wiper, chalk all over the four tires and one of those "move me or tow me" stickers slapped on the windshield. Today, I noticed a handwritten white paper sign on the dash stating FOR SALE with a phone number listed. I wonder if the parking officer called the number or not. Wonder how long the green Olds will be in this spot.

Auto Dinosaurs Due to Die Soon

After reading the article in Automobile magazine about the halt of production on the Lincoln Town Car, I decided to see if I could spot all four basic designs of the car from 1980 to the 1990 to the 1998 and the current model. Surprisingly, I actually spotted all bodies today. I didn't really think I would find one in the first generation body. But sure enough, a two-toned brown/bronze one in very good condition came out of the garage for me. Of all the bodies, I really prefer the 1990 through 1994. Of course, there are plenty of the current body style roaming the streets of Seattle. I'm sure that the first and second generation Town Cars are private vehicles and are not in service as high end taxis. I article says that Lincoln is trying to push the MKX as the next Town Car. But how about the Genesis? I'm all for keeping the town car business with American metal, but the Genesis is a beautiful car that could just slip right into the position. What are your thoughts?

Itty Bitty BMW

This morning as I was walking to work, I spotted the itty biity Pike Brewing Company car zipping down 5TH Ave amongst the modern day giant vehicles. I've only spied their BMW Isetta through the windows at the brewery in Post Alley. I figured the car moved, but never saw if leave it's roost. There were two men crammed into that interior. It looks like both men were of average height and build. They must have been shoe horned through the large single front door. Well, I've just discovered a picture of the little car. It actually has three doors and four wheels. No, wait. At closer inspection of the flicker images. It has two doors; the main large front door and there is one on the right side of the car that gains one enter to the back seat. I'm not too familiar with BMW's lineage. Therefore I don't know what model it is. Can someone please help with identifying the vehicle?

Antifreeze Green Camaro

I spot this wonderful bright-ass green Camaro pretty much every morning. I love this color! That is probably because I had my Mustang painted a bright green too. My color is a stock 1971 color called 'Grabber Green.' It appears that Chevy calls this green Synergy Green.