Raleigh Cars & Coffee, 5/7/11

I've been bad about getting out to Cars & Coffee. It's always held relatively early on Saturdays, and to be honest I'm not a fan of waking up early on Saturdays.  It's always worth it, of course.  This week I was determined to make it out there, and the IV drip of coffee was totally worth seeing exotics stacked like cordwood in the Brier Creek parking lot at 9:30 in the morning.  There were some really interesting vehicles to be seen, along with about 30 late model Corvettes.  You know you're in rare company when 30 Corvettes look mundane.

I'm fairly certain they never made Fiero convertibles.  A little research on Google shows there were conversion kits for these back in the day, but no real estimates of how many were produced.  I think it makes the whole concept of the Fiero a lot more appealing, at least if it's been engineered to minimize chassis flex and leaking.  Actually looks good with no roof.

A new aluminum-block Shelby GT500, in a rare moment of not doing an earth-scorching burnout.  Nice to give those tires a breather!

It takes a very special car to make a Mercedes SLS AMG fade delicately into the background.  Such as a bright-red SL65 AMG Black Edition, all 661 twin-turbo V12 horsepower of it.  These are drastically aggressive looking cars in real life.

Speaking of drastically aggressive cars, how about a Viper ACR?  Is this thing actually street legal?  "Maybe."  It doesn't sound street legal.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhwLS_ehd8I

Let me tell you, the Ferrari 458 looks even more amazing in real life than it does in pictures.  It's surprisingly compact - look how huge that E39 M5 next to it looks in comparison.  The lines didn't make much sense to me on paper, but seeing one in the real world, it's just stunning.

I don't just love four wheels.  This early 90's Ducati 888 has the signature white-painted steel trellis frame, 4v desmodromic heads, and brakes the size of your face.  A modern classic.  Speaking of bikes...

How about a Honda RC30 (VFR750R) from 1990?  I've personally never seen of those these rare birds anywhere but a .jpg file, so seeing one just sitting there in a parking lot was rather odd.  This was a race homologation bike, with only 300 imported to the US during 1990, and was filled with all sorts of exotic racing components in the 748cc V4, like titanium connecting rods, gear-driven cams, a close-ratio box, and a single-sided swing arm.  Very, very cool.

The engine bay of a Porsche 944 Turbo, which used to hold a single-cam turbo I4, now carries a Chevy LS1 V8 from a C5 Corvette.  Unusual, but effective - i'd imagine it's a lot faster than a 944 Turbo, and a lot less expensive to keep running.  There's just the issue of the crowd of Porsche Purists with pitchforks and torches knocking down your garage door, I suppose.

Three iconic Porsches: a (964) 911 RS, a 356, and a bright-yellow Carrera GT.  Just not a common site!

Another of the Carrera GT - just an amazing car.

As you can guess from the plate, this is a rare 964-chassis 911 RS America, which was a stripped-out version of a Carrera 2.  Beautiful color, and about as rare as the Carrera GT is as well.

Is that, uhh... Whoa!  What is a Noble M400 doing in this country?  And it's left-hand drive, too!  I know these are absurdly fast cars thanks to their super low weight and twin-turbocharged Ford 24v 3.0l V6, but it does give off that "South African Kit Car" vibe what with the condensation inside the near headlight.  Still copious quantities of bad-ass, though.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this E28 M5 before, but I never miss an opportunity to take a picture of one.  This was the car that really started the super-sedan class, and it's still a serious car today.

Which would Sir prefer?  The hardtop or convertible F430?  I'll have one of each, thanks!

Gallardo's are becoming relatively common in Raleigh, but it's still an amazing car to look at after all these years, especially in non-typical colors.

Even after seeing them in real life, I still haven't warmed up to the Ferrari California Spyder's ungainly proportions.  Pininfarina has definitely done better work.

Shelby GT500's have really gorgeous engine bays.  Huge supercharger, blue crackle-finish heads, you can actually tell it's an engine, not a big plastic cover.  Very cool.

Papa Smurf called, he wants his 997 back!  Seriously though, very cool color.

"Cobras are like boobs: Even when they're fake, they're still awesome."  Very true.  This one did have a 427 in it, of unknown provenance.  Sounded absolutely righteous.

It's nice to see people taking care of their Evo's - most of them this age around Raleigh are already beat half to death and burning some oil!

It takes all types to make a good car show - like this roughed-up MkI Rabbit sitting on a set of wiiide Ronal Turbos.

I'll close of the post with this - some Ferrari V8 Valve covers.  A thing of beauty.  I'll be back next month; who knows what kind of weird stuff will be there?  Mosler Consulier?  Ariel Atom?  We'll see!