Spotted in Paris

Small curiosities seen in passing in Paris last month.Leica X1 photos.

A very large nice old dog fast asleep in the passenger seat of a parked car in the street near the Eiffel Tower.Almost human.I should have checked to see if there was a person curled up asleep on the back seat.

Check out that price label.250 euros - that's $375.There are some things I do not understand.And never will.

An 80's 911 parked outside a restaurant at lunchtime in one of the best parts of town.It looks right at home.An old 'un and a good 'un.

Spotted in the window of a dusty old antique shop in the 7th.A handsome couple indeed.

Menu in  window of very discreet restaurant on Rue Saint-Domique in the 7th.Add on 50% to quickly convert the prices to Aus and US dollars.Yes that's right 2 courses for $240 and that excludes wine.And you can imagine what the wine list looks like.I hope that the waiters speak Russian.

I posted this photo in my earlier black and white photos of wet Paris but this view from an internal staircase in the Grand Palais does look better in colour.

                        
                      And finally a very graphic sign on the bank of the Seine.

French beauties

A contrast to the the corrugated oddity in the previous post- some superb French bodybuilding and the wonderful Citoen SM all seen at the recent Le Mans Classic
Firstly the 1938 Peugeot 402 Super Sports Darl'mat Convertible.What an elegant car and I just love all the little details.An absolute classic.A few years ago I would have walked past this with just a passing glance but recently I have really come to appreciate the superb bodies built by French coachbuilders on Bugatti,Peugeot,Delage and particularly Delahaye chassis between the wars.They are so elegant.Last year a 402 Super Sport Darl'mat convertible sold at auction for $0.75m in the US.

Next the beautiful Citroen DS21 Decapotable by Henri Chapron.I remember going to the London Motor Show at Earls Court in London with my father in 1956 and seeing the Citroen DS19 for the first time.In those days the London Motor Show was a really big deal and it was packed with people and the biggest crowd was around the Citroen stand to see the amazing DS19.It looked like something from outer space compared to all the dull upright British cars all around it.I already had a Dinky Toys DS19-yellow with a red  roof and plastic windows and I was just entranced by the DS19.The DS21 Decapotable was the summit of the DS line.I remember seeing TV news footage of President De Gaulle travelling up the Champs Elysees sitting in the back of a special one off presidential car -waving regally to the huge crowds.Very CDG.

And finally another wonderful car -the Citroen SM.For just a few years Citroen owned Maserati-and what could be more natural than putting a Maserati engine into a Citroen body.The result was a stunning high performance luxury car packed with advanced features.The Citroen/Maserati marriage inevitably unravelled and this wonderful project finished.
I would love to own a Citroen SM-I did see one on the road locally a few years ago but they are as rare as hen's teeth here in Australia as they were only ever produced in LHD form and so were not imported new.

Nissan Pao-just weird.Very weird.

Went to a cars and coffee event in Terrey Hills ,Sydney this morning.An enormous turnout of a wide variety of interesting cars .McLaren to 2CV.Porsche GT3RS to Nissan Pao.Way too many people to get good car photos so this selection will have to suffice.Grandson Otto doing a detailed inspection of the front end of a Ferrari and the Nissan Pao-a1987 Japanese market retro car-2CV meets Fiat 500 meets Renault 4 meets Lada Niva."Produced by the Pike factory".What were they thinking?

Le Mans classic 2014 -final part

The final batch of photos from the 2014 LMC.A sea of red outside the works Ferrari display.A through the wire shot to convey the difficulty of getting action shots through the catch fencing.A real barn find with real patina - and look at the superb Norton behind it.

Three wonderful British classics.-a bulldog trio.Cars entering the infield display area.There were thousands of them and such a variety.A gorgeous Alfa TZ and as a final shot a 911 speeding through Tetra Rouge and onto the Mulsanne Straight at dawn.Lucky bastard.

Another rainy day in Paris....

Here are the second batch of my  photos taken on a rainy week in Paris three weeks ago.Paris was surprisingly photogenic in the rain.Perhaps even more photogenic than usual.

Lancia Appia GTZ-a very rare jewel

One of the great things about the Le Mans Classic is the huge number of classic cars driven to the event by enthusiasts from all over Europe.We even saw 15 Porsches from Porsche Club Poland on their way to the event and that is a long drive.
And for absolute rarity how about this Lancia Appia GTZ we spotted in the very wet car park of the UMarche supermarket
just down the road from the circuit on the Saturday morning?
The Lancia Appia was a small saloon made by Lancia in the 1950's.The GTZ was a Zagato bodied version made in very small numbers in 1957.Sources say that only 39 GTZs were made.So this one is as rare as the proverbial rocking horse droppings.The GTZ was followed by the GTE which had a slightly different body style and was made in much greater numbers.
The great thing about the car I saw is that it is in such original condition and the owner was not being precious about it.And such marvellous detailing and the distinctive Zagato roofline humps-Zagato's "trademark" feature.
Another reason to go to the Le Mans Classic 2016.You'll see cars you've never heard of -yet alone seen before.
When I googled the Appia GTZ I found quite a few photos of this particular car so it does not hide its light under a bushel and is obviously well known in Lancia enthusiast circles.

A rainy day in Paris.......

Well I certainly experienced a rainy day in Paris two weeks ago.In fact I experienced a whole week of them.But you can't fix the weather so I did the smart thing -saw as many exhibitions as possible and picked up my camera and took photos in the rain.All taken on the Leica X1 and converted to black and white with Silver Efex Pro2.
Lately I have been less enthusiastic about all the black and white photography being produced everywhere but I reckon it works for these gloomy shots.
The Eiffel Tower photo is from my hotel window.Not actually the view from the window-it's the view you got if you leaned right out of the window and looked to your right...