For anyone who loves cars, or loves to see cars, there's not too many places better than London. The wealth and automotive interest that spans the whole continent is amazing, let alone in the city itself. There's legions of car spotters that live in London, or that travel there as often as they can to get up close with some of the world's best automobiles. I was lucky enough to spend two days in London after a week long trip in May. This is what I saw.
For most people, seeing any Ferrari is exciting and usually fairly rare. In London though, if it's not an F40, F50, Enzo, or a pre-1970's one, it's common. 458's almost seem to show up around every corner in Knightsbridge and Mayfair, and sometimes there can be two on one street.
599's are a little less common, even more so the GTO, but they still make their appearances. This particular 599 I saw last time I was in London in October 2011, in almost the same spot.
American cars aren't too common, and even less common are muscle cars new and old. I couldn't help but smile whenever I would see a Corvette, Charger, Camaro, or Mustang driving around or just parked up a long the street. This Charger really showed the size difference of modern day muscle cars and old British luxury, albeit an odd comparison.
The discoveries never really end in London either, every corner there's a Bentley, Rolls, Ferrari, Lamborghini, or some form of exotic or high end luxury car sitting in spot alongside the road.
Aston Martin, like Ferrari, is very well represented along the streets of London, and rightfully so. Not only do they have some of the best looking road cars to date, but they're British to the bone and they're proud of it. The newest lines of the Vanquish, DB, and Virage were definitely had a strong presence.
But that doesn't mean the older styles have been forgotten. The last generation of DB's are one of the most common sights on the roads of London, just behind the Bentley Continental.
While the older Astons weren't as common as their younger brothers, there were a few out and about that would show up here and there.
Then there's the cars that just show up, like this Honda Beat. The little Kei car looks like nothing you'd see in the states, but I'm sure in London, and even more Japan, it's pretty common to see tiny cars out and about.
Although the car maybe "common," the setting alone is worth a picture.
Tuner cars are a popular car for many Londoners and visitors. Brabus, Mansory, Hamann, FAB Design, and other over the top aftermarket companies are well represented all over London. Like anything, finding cars in London is really up to chance unless you know someone, or constantly do it. For me, two days gave me little time, so this Brabus G-Wagen is as fancy as I got in that department.
The Astons never really stop, their City Car, the Cygnet, still shows up here and there. Why not have a fuel efficient car with the badge of a high end manufacturer?
Or you just get an Elise and have good looking and fun car to cruise around in.
Although it may not be rare or exotic, but this Escort was a fun and different car to come across.
With the fairly recent release of the FF, I was expecting to see more, but this was the only FF I saw. I was even more disappointed that I didn't get to see an F12, even though there were many spottings during, before, and after my trip.
Even in a city like a London, Lamborghini's aren't too common. The Gallardo is the most common, and one of the easiest cars to hear throughout the city.
The other British company, Jaguar, had a good showing with this XKR. The curb rashed wheel shows that this car gets a lot of use.
Then there Rolls Royce. They look like trucks when parked and driving compared to just about everything else that is in London. I can't really think of a better way though to cruise around the city if you're not worried about performance or speed.
This old M5 was a pleasant surprise when it rolled by. One of the best looking 4 door super luxury cars ever made. Not to mention it's in incredibly clean condition.
This Ghibli was another nice surprise that you can find on a Sunday morning.
One of my favorite cars ever is the Mercedes-Benz SLR, and seeing one in Matte Black parked down a random side street really shows what makes London so special for cars.
And it shows that the Matte color is very popular throughout the city. This X5 was just down the street from the SLR.
And yet again, the Maserati Granturismo MC sporting a Matte White color.
One of the first cars I saw was this R8 Spyder for the ModBall Rally with a color flip wrap. R8's are as common, if not more than the 458's, but this one stood apart from the others for obvious reasons.
Surprisingly, this Murcielago was a bit of surprise for me. Not the best Lamborghini I saw, that's coming up, but I love the Murcielago SV, so this was as close as I figured I'd get. Not to mention the Murcielago is one my of favorite Lamborghini's ever made.
Back to Astons, this V8 was out front of our hotel all weekend. Another Aston, I just love the '70s style this car oozes. It looks even better in race form however.
And then my most favorite Aston ever, the V12 Vanquish. I'm still surprised at how big it is in person, but the over fender flares and just overall look of the car just makes me love it.
Well, I guess I lied about the aftermarket cars. This Evoque Onyx was just down the street from our hotel. I saw it driving around with an "L" sticker, which stands for learner. Not surprising to see someone young with a special edition car in London though, just a part of the city.
This Lamborghini Superleggera Edizione Tecnica takes the cake for "Best Lamborghini in London." I originally saw it driving around and I hoped I'd eventually find it parked. And being London, it's almost impossible to NOT find a car parked some point later on. There's always a spark of excitement when you find a car like this, it almost never gets old.
Not only does London have cars on almost street, but in a lot of places, there's multiple on she streets. Like this R8 and Rolls just a few car lengths apart. It's weird, you'd think seeing the same cars, or so many cars, they'd get old but they don't. Every car I found I'd get excited just because of the thrill of the hunt.
I usually skip Rolls just because of the common-ness of them, but something about setting was just too good to past up. I could see myself with a Drophead Coupe if I ever have the money.
One of the most exciting cars I found was this Audi RS6 Avant. I haven't seen a new RS6 yet, so seeing this just parked on yet another side street, just goes to show what London has hidden away.
And even better was this RS2. Sad to say, even with the Lamborghini's and Ferrari's, this is up near the top of the list of cars I found while in London.
The Scaglietti is on of those not too common Ferraris, but it seemed once you found once, you found a few. Just up the street, about 5 cars, was another Scaglietti that was almost the exact same as this one. Spotting cars at night is definitely a lot harder, but the lines of a Ferrari are alway easy to spot.
Before the Matte Black SLR, I found a perfect example of an SLR. The Mercedes Silver fits the SLR perfectly. London is a city with a lot of exotic cars, as you can tell, but the SLR just stands out from the rest.
A little more common than the SLR, is the SLS. And more I common, I mean very common. I think in about two days of walking I saw around 6 or 7 of them in the Knightsbridge area alone. The noise they make made though, it was okay to see so many. The low rumble of the V8 is hard to miss, nor would you want to.
Or do you want the Roadster?
A little JDM flare thrown in with the help of this Supra. All night I heard this car all around me, seeing it about 3 times in a couple hours.
As I said earlier, the Bentley Continental is the most common car in London just after the London Cab itself. But there was something about this all black Swiss Continental that I had to shoot. And mind you, there's a Bentley behind it, and two more on the other side of this one.
Nice two tone 458 just sitting around. London.
The new Vanquish, I can't say it beats the old one, but the noise this made, the noise was amazing. I saw this one 3 times also, but getting to hear it was the best part. The V12 howl just overpowered anything else around.
The Aventador. The new must have super car for people all over. Surprisingly, or sadly rather, this was the only Aventador I saw.
People have amazing imaginations. The entire car was done with the the tile like wrap, making it very easy to spot.
And to finish, a Pagani Zonda. Yes, it's in a dealership and it was closed that day, not to mention because of the cars they have there, they "suggest" you pay to come in to get pictures. Window shopping it is then. And the Aston in the reflection, totally luck, London Luck.
Well, that's a quick look at the cars in London that you can expect to see during a summer weekend. Unfortunately, I just missed out on the "Arab Supercar Invasion," but for what I did see, I can't complain. I came to London with a simple goal, to shoot a Veyron on the street, but unfortunately it didn't pan out. I saw other spotters seeing up to three Veyrons in one day while I was there, but my luck and aimless wondering never put me in the right place at the right time. I guess that's just reason to go back.
Delaney
No comments:
Post a Comment