Spotted In Raleigh: Continued

At the end of last year, I made a post compiling some of the random cool stuff I've seen around Raleigh. It's been a few months, and I've continued to see more cool stuff, which I am happy to share with you all.  Comments at the bottom!

A '91 Alfa Romeo 164 LS 5-speed, in almost perfect condition.  This was a trade-in at Hendrick Fiat of Cary on a new 500 - you almost never see these cars (running) in the US any more.  There's a lot of Saab 9000 underneath, but still awesome.

A Daihatsu Hijet mini-truck used as a parts runner at Leith BMW in Raleigh.  Note: sticking a BMW badge on it, does not make it a BMW!  Very odd to see these in the US, but they're becoming more common as people realize you can use them off-highway without registration.

A ratty-lookin', but mean-soundin' Buick Grand National, among a sea of beige.  Good to see these being driven, not stored in hermetically-sealed bubbles.

A Ducati Sport 1000, parked outside of a bar I was DJ'ing at a few nights ago.  I'm certainly not a two-wheeled expert (clutch goes where?) but this thing looked and sounded gorgeous.  The owner said he sold his Mustang Cobra to buy this; seems like a good trade.

A Hyundai Equus - the $58,000 Hyundai competitor to the Lexus LS460 - at the Durham Performing Arts Center.  I've since seen another one around Raleigh, in white - but I imagine even though these offer great value, they'll be a rare site.  I mean, it's a $58,000 Hyundai.

Also in the parking deck at DPAC, and apparently for quite a while: a Triumph TR6 and a Bug-Eye Sprite with a pretty thick layer of dust.  Not sure if they're broken, or if this is an incognito art exhibit.

A fairly rare Dodge Neon SRT-4 ACR, which had suspension upgrades and less weight than the already spartan SRT-4.  This one's been modified - heard it a few times, sounds like there's nothing but pipe between the turbo and the rear bumper.

Here's a gorgeous BMW (E30) 325i convertible, adorned with a bunch of tasty Alpina goodies.  Nice to see these E30's being taken care of.  Speaking of E30's...

An extremely desirable (E30) 325is 2-door, outside my preferred Starbucks.  The owner said this one has well over 300,000 miles, only one engine rebuild (top-end only), and he gets offers for it daily.  His response? "From my cold, dead hands."  Good man.

It looks like an Eldorado, but it's far more rare: this is a final-production-year (1993) Cadillac Allante, with the 4.6L 32v Northstar V8.  There are only a handful of these, considering they cost almost $60k in 1993.  Typical GM fashion; they get it right they last year they make it.

Why...  Why????  Why did you do that to an innocent Saab?  You jerk!

That's a Garrett GT45 Turbocharger, and that's my friends hand, for comparison's sake.  This was spotted at Piedmont Custom Motorsports in Raleigh, a Mustang and Ford performance specialist.  This turbo was taken off a 5.0 Fox-body Mustang to be replaced with a bigger one.  I would kinda figure this is big enough...

Nothing much, just an F430 Spyder at the local grocery store.  What kind of groceries could/would you carry in an F430 Spyder, anyway?  Bottles of wine?

A really fine E46 M3 spotted at the local mall.  We've actually got a few nice E46 M3's floating around Raleigh...

This is a friend of a friend's car, looking about as black as can be.  The owner turns wrenches at a local BMW Performance shop, so it would stand to reason.

A rare Saleen S331 Supercharged pickup truck.  This limited-production special picked up where the old Lightning let off, with a supercharged atop it's 5.4L 3v V8, a gaudy bodykit, and a bunch of gauges on top of the console to measure boost and the like.  Also, integrated side-exit exhausts!

People in Raleigh sometimes do bad things to good cars. At least the paint was nice... and no, this one isn't a twin-turbo.  Or a manual.

An R8 V10 hard-top, spotted in traffic in North Raleigh.  I actually heard this one before I saw it.  Just a magnificent car in all respects.

Here's it's more expensive, more Italian brother, sitting pretty outside a pizza shop.  I do love this color on a Gallardo - it's pretty, but not as brash as the normal yellow or sherbert orange or atomic green you tend to see Gallardos in.

And for something completely different...  There's just no explaining a modified Suzuki Aerio.  You can't justify that.  Bonus points for the crunched up tail light, and the creepy bumper sticker.

At least one sucker bought a BMW X5M.  Sorry for the poor picture quality on this one.

It's a Jeep thing, and I just simply don't understand.  Dude, where are your doors?

F430 Hard top, again at my local Starbucks.  I feel like the clientele in this area is pretty wealthy; this was parked next to an SL55 AMG before I came out to take pictures.

A (B5) Audi S4 outside of Apex Tuning, the local VW/Audi performance gurus.  A modern-day classic, alarming unreliability aside.

And finally, a tale of two Beemers: the owner of the white Z4 3.0si is a good friend of mine, and the black E46 330Ci ZHP 6-speed is my girlfriend's.  This was a difficult shot to take owing to the total lack of outdoor light (it was about 1am) but I think it came out pretty cool.

Hope you enjoyed the spotting smorgasbord.  'Til next time!