Permanent Car Spotters

[Drew Dowdell]

Rather than have a new one of these every month, lets just all pile into this one thread and keep it going.  I'll start with a recent RARE spot I made here in Pittsburgh that has gotten super popular on CheersandGears's Facebook Page.

I spotted this super rare Saab 9-4x running around Pittsburgh the other day.  Built off the same Theta-Premium platform as the 2nd Generation Cadillac SRX, this one seems to be used as a daily driver. It was built in Mexico, and only 814 copies were ever made.

 

[G. David Felt]

Saw two oldies today on my way to my yearly physical. A Saab Station wagon but could not see the actual model and a Ford Comet 4 door. 

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, David said:

 A Saab Station wagon but could not see the actual model

Bet it started with a 9.

[G. David Felt]

Just saw a car carrier that was all Acura. 2 cars & 6 suvs. All white, black & blue. Terrible style imho

[trinacriabob]

On 2/1/2024 at 8:54 PM, David said:

A Saab 

Q:  What's the difference between a Saab and a porcupine?

A:  A Saab has its pricks on the inside.

[Robert Hall]

Spotted this in my driveway this afternoon...

[trinacriabob]

22 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Spotted this in my driveway this afternoon...

Clearly, there's a story line here ...

[Robert Hall]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:16 PM, trinacriabob said:

Clearly, there's a story line here ...

Yep....treated myself to a new (to me) car today.   Had been looking, did a few test drives of CT5s and CT6s, found this minty 2019 CT6 AWD w/ 54k miles at the Cadillac dealer in downtown CLE.    Took a test drive, fell in love.   Going to take it on my road trip to the Outer Banks and Myrtle Beach next month.    Hadn't really intended on getting another black car...but couldn't find one in red in the state.   

 

Edited May 27 by Robert Hall

[trinacriabob]

3 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Yep....treated myself to a new (to me) car today.   Had been looking, did a few test drives of CT5s and CT6s, found this minty 2019 CT6 AWD w/ 44k miles at the Cadillac dealer in downtown CLE.    Took a test drive, fell in love.   Going to take it on my road trip to the Outer Banks and Myrtle Beach next month.    Hadn't really intended on getting another black car...but couldn't find one in red in the state.   

 

An attractive vehicle ... I'm thinking 3.6 DOHC V6 ... also, quite a few gears on the auto trans - like 9 or 10?

[Robert Hall]

Just now, trinacriabob said:

An attractive vehicle ... I'm thinking 3.6 DOHC V6 ... also, quite a few gears on the auto trans - like 9 or 10?

3.6 w/ 10 spd auto.  I drove one with the 3.0 twin turbo, a CT5 with the 3.0 and a CT5 with a 2.0 4.  

[trinacriabob]

9 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

3.6 w/ 10 spd auto.  I drove one with the 3.0 twin turbo, a CT5 with the 3.0 and a CT5 with a 2.0 4.  

Does a 2.0 4 respectably propel a(ny) Cadillac?  Just curious.

- - - - -

Edit/add:

I have never been to the Outer Banks, nor anywhere on the SC coast, either.

I'm wondering if the Outer Banks beaches are as nice as they say and if the water color leans turquoise.  VA Beach has a typical dark blue ocean.  I am quite taken with the FL panhandle, so that's where I usually go and temporarily function as an annexed "redneck" on the "Redneck Riviera."

Edited March 13 by trinacriabob

[Robert Hall]

1 hour ago, trinacriabob said:

Does a 2.0 4 respectably propel a(ny) Cadillac?  Just curious.

- - - - -

Edit/add:

I have never been to the Outer Banks, nor anywhere on the SC coast, either.

I'm wondering if the Outer Banks beaches are as nice as they say and if the water color leans turquoise.  VA Beach has a typical dark blue ocean.  I am quite taken with the FL panhandle, so that's where I usually go and temporarily function as an annexed "redneck" on the "Redneck Riviera."

I've been to Myrtle Beach a couple times, but over 30 years ago.   Never been to the Outer Banks either.   My sister has spent the last 3 months in Myrtle Beach w/ trips to Savannah, Beaufort SC, other places on the SC coast along with a long weekend in Miami Beach.    She thought the SC coast was wetter and colder this year than last year..she probably will winter in Miami next year for at least January-Feb.

[G. David Felt]

11 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Yep....treated myself to a new (to me) car today.   Had been looking, did a few test drives of CT5s and CT6s, found this minty 2019 CT6 AWD w/ 44k miles at the Cadillac dealer in downtown CLE.    Took a test drive, fell in love.   Going to take it on my road trip to the Outer Banks and Myrtle Beach next month.    Hadn't really intended on getting another black car...but couldn't find one in red in the state.   

 

Congratulations Robert, that is a nice-looking car!

[G. David Felt]

Working here in Madrid Spain this week. A couple of interesting observations. @Drew Dowdell reminded me that SEAT was the official car of Spain and yet until today, I had not really seen any in the financial / tech sector that I am in on the east side of Madrid. 

Observations is that they have allot of Diesel autos here and pretty much all Stick. Very few automatics. Tons of mopeds and allot of EVs. Will snap a picture on my way back to the hotel today as this one company, not sure what they do, but they had a ton of Pugeot EVs all plugged in and a few Tesla's in their lot. Everything here seems to have high fences as while it seems safe, everything is secured and locked down.

There is a school I pass in walking to the office from the hotel and this is where I saw the Seat parked in front of a Jeep Compass.

It is an interesting observations that besides the normal German luxury auto's, I then see a ton of Kia/Hyundai and then Pugeot and finally Citeron in this area. Seat seems to be very few here.

@Robert Hall  2019 CT6 AWD What trim level is this car?

[Robert Hall]

It is the ‘premium luxury’ trim.  Only options on top of that are the ‘comfort and technology’ package with rear camera mirror, HUD, ventilated front seats, heated rear seat and the 20 inch wheels.   Total on the original sticker was $66570.   No Supercruise. 
 

@David Madrid sounds fun.  How is the food?   With my job the only place I travel to is Plano.

Edited March 13 by Robert Hall

[Robert Hall]

I need a mid 80s Fleetwood Brougham de’ Elegance to go with this.  

[Robert Hall]

Nice weather today, got the Mustang out to take some family photos...

[Drew Dowdell]

17 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Yep....treated myself to a new (to me) car today.   Had been looking, did a few test drives of CT5s and CT6s, found this minty 2019 CT6 AWD w/ 44k miles at the Cadillac dealer in downtown CLE.    Took a test drive, fell in love.   Going to take it on my road trip to the Outer Banks and Myrtle Beach next month.    Hadn't really intended on getting another black car...but couldn't find one in red in the state.   

 

@Robert Hall wins the "treat yo'self" of the month... and probably of the year!

[Robert Hall]

Took some interior pics and evening shots out at a local state park.   Nice evening for a cruise. Sunroof open and rocking some Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode.  

[Drew Dowdell]

You need to cruise down to Pittsburgh!

 

I want to take that front plate off though

[Robert Hall]

Yeah, Ohio still a 2 plate state until a couple years ago.  

[G. David Felt]

Madrid Spain has been an interesting view of autos.

[G. David Felt]

Saw these two interesting versions of Jeep and Honda.

Jeep Avenger

Honda 2 door civic type S

[G. David Felt]

Ok auto friends, running from my Madrid to Frankfurt flight to catch my Frankfurt to Seattle flight I spotted this auto on display and have no idea the brand.

Striking and good looking, was in a hurry as I had no time to stop due to passport control being so slow.

What is the brand?

[Robert Hall]

Looks like a Cupra.   Spin-off brand of SEAT...yet another VWAG brand. 

[Drew Dowdell]

6 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Looks like a Cupra.   Spin-off brand of SEAT...yet another VWAG brand. 

Yup! Cupra is to SEAT as Polestar is to Volvo.  It started as a performance trim and became its own brand for reasons that only an overpaid brand consultant can explain.

[Drew Dowdell]

AI Carspotting.

I was playing around in Davinci, an AI graphics generator.  I have a bunch of cars that I had it make. Most were duds, but some came out hawt!  I'll post them here over the next few days and see how you like them.  I'm debating if I should make this its own thread or not.  Let me know what you think.

First up, what AI thinks a 2025 Oldsmobile Toronado would look like.

I'm digging the shooting brake style with the long hood. Also props on the new logo. 9 out of 10.

Another shooting brake style that looks like it came from the GM design department. I can see this being platform shared with a Cadillac based on the lighting and grille details. 7 out of 10.

Not sure what's going on here, but it must be an EV with the cab being that far forward.  I do like the grill opening though. 4 out of 10.

Probably too retro for the general public, but proof to Tesla that you don't have to be boring to be aero. 8 out of 10.

This looks like it would be Alpha platform based, shared with the Camaro, and thus likely too small for my tastes in a personal luxury coupe. The grille is "intriguing" though. 7 out of 10.

A rear half door! But unfortunately, the proportions are wrong and that grills says Riviera rather than Toronado. Still, if it brought Olds and the Toronado back, I'd buy it. 7 out of 10.

10 out of 10. No notes.

 

Which ones do you like?  I'll have more tomorrow.

[G. David Felt]

7 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

AI Carspotting.

I was playing around in Davinci, an AI graphics generator.  I have a bunch of cars that I had it make. Most were duds, but some came out hawt!  I'll post them here over the next few days and see how you like them.  I'm debating if I should make this its own thread or not.  Let me know what you think.

First up, what AI thinks a 2025 Oldsmobile Toronado would look like.

I'm digging the shooting brake style with the long hood. Also props on the new logo. 9 out of 10.

Another shooting brake style that looks like it came from the GM design department. I can see this being platform shared with a Cadillac based on the lighting and grille details. 7 out of 10.

Not sure what's going on here, but it must be an EV with the cab being that far forward.  I do like the grill opening though. 4 out of 10.

Probably too retro for the general public, but proof to Tesla that you don't have to be boring to be aero. 8 out of 10.

This looks like it would be Alpha platform based, shared with the Camaro, and thus likely too small for my tastes in a personal luxury coupe. The grille is "intriguing" though. 7 out of 10.

A rear half door! But unfortunately, the proportions are wrong and that grills says Riviera rather than Toronado. Still, if it brought Olds and the Toronado back, I'd buy it. 7 out of 10.

10 out of 10. No notes.

 

Which ones do you like?  I'll have more tomorrow.

Pic 2 looks off to me, pic 3 is a red WTF mess to me. The rest I love. Please point me to this AI generator as I would love to play with it. I also think AI generated auto's should be it's own thread. This is Great!!! 

[Drew Dowdell]

24 minutes ago, David said:

Pic 2 looks off to me, pic 3 is a red WTF mess to me. The rest I love. Please point me to this AI generator as I would love to play with it. I also think AI generated auto's should be it's own thread. This is Great!!! 

It’s got a subscription fee that I’m not willing to pay at this time, but I may in the future. I’m in free trial mode.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/davinci-ai-image-generator/id1630366866?ppid=0eef3854-70e3-4415-9a5f-5f6cda079a41

[Drew Dowdell]

Next up, an AI 2025 Buick Riviera.  What's funny about this is that I used two different AI tools, but with the exception of the retro example, both Davinchi and CoPilot seem to agree pretty closely on what the front end should look like.

This looks Alpha platform based, but on the larger CTS/CT5 wheelbase. This feels more appropriate than the Alpha-based Toronado above.  Aside from the absurd concept-car wheels, I could see something like this being produced. I have mix feelings about the trunk, but if it was modded into the pointed shape from the 60s, I could see it.  8 out of 10.

Another coupe with a half door.  Could AI be telling us how we'll get coupes back in an EV age? It did get the sweep spear in. 8 out of 10

Cartoonish. This is the first CoPilot generated image. But there's something about the grille and lights that speaks to me. 6 out of 10.

Another very cartoonish one from CoPilot, but all the right elements are there, 7 out of 10.

[G. David Felt]

Calling all Auto Fans

Any Idea the year? I am pretty sure this is a Toronado, but not sure of the year. My coworker who knows I am into auto's took the picture of his neighbors dads car in their barn and sent it to me.

[Drew Dowdell]

19 hours ago, David said:

Calling all Auto Fans

Any Idea the year? I am pretty sure this is a Toronado, but not sure of the year. My coworker who knows I am into auto's took the picture of his neighbors dad’s 0 or  81car in their barn and sent it to me.

80 or 81 I can’t see the grille clear enough

[Drew Dowdell]

I'm grouping the next two AI prompts together since they ended up similar.  I think in this case, the AI nailed it with each one.

This prompt was for a 2025 Lincoln Town Car. I think it's pretty natural to expect an extended length updated Continental. 7 out of 10 (only because it's not that imaginative over the existing car)

I like what it did with the trunk and rear glass line here.  It gives great headroom to the rear occupants without doing the formal upright style of the old Town Car. I'm betting that the trunk would need to open in two pieces like the Audi A7. 8 out of 10.

Now THIS is a 2025 Town Car Limo. That would look absolutely badass pulling up to the Oscars in. I could see some highly esteemed actresses stepping out onto the red carpet. 11 out of 10.

 

The next prompt was for a 2025 Lincoln Mark 9, and again, I think the AI got it right.l  I like that it kept most of the size of the Continental.  The Mark 9 was always a personal luxury coupe and never meant to be a sports car.

This looks like it would come straight from Lincoln design. I bet the rear quarter doors are suicide style too. 10/10

I like this evolution on the grille.  It's a bit of the current grille with a bit of throwback to the split grille of 15 years ago. 10/10

This is a bit too big for a coupe, and I'm not thrilled with that grille, but it could be massaged into something workable. 7 out of 10.

[G. David Felt]

Saw my first Cyber Truck today in the wild, WOW, What an Ugly Turd of a so called truck. Blind Spots bigger than California. Pretty much a true love or hate of the Tesla truck for sure. Funny thing is it had a California license plate. Made me wonder, did they move up here or a PTO trip to the PNW. Either way, yes it grabs heads as people look.

[G. David Felt]

I have to say that Hyundai is Banging hot for style. Not a fan of Black SUVs but this is striking. 

[Robert Hall]

Beautiful weather this weekend after a stormy few days.  Went for a scenic drive yesterday, saw a sharp apple green '69 Chevelle 2dr and a bright blue '65 Chevelle 2dr sedan.   Also a very clean late 90s Camaro Z-28 in dark red w/ a black roof.  

Parked at a couple overlook parks on Lake Erie, stormy and windy, big waves.  

[ccap41]

The successor to my first "real" favorite car, F430. The first car I really remember being my favorite was a 360, not a spider/convertible though. We saw this on our way home from a dealership. I'll post about that elsewhere. 

I caught this at the front of a stoplight to our right, but the light changed as soon as I saw it and I couldn't get my phone out quick enough. I was a little disappointed I couldn't get the front pictured, but it was in motion almost as soon as I saw it. 

Sorry if the 2nd pic is still rotated. I changed it on my computer, but it still seems to rotate when uploading it. 

[G. David Felt]

Was driving so I could not snap a picture, but the local Kia dealership is clearly getting a ton of new EVs as two trucks went by, one with EV9's and the other with EV6's.

[trinacriabob]

On 3/22/2024 at 6:44 PM, David said:

Calling all Auto Fans

Any Idea the year? I am pretty sure this is a Toronado, but not sure of the year. My coworker who knows I am into auto's took the picture of his neighbors dads car in their barn and sent it to me.

I love it.  No surprise there.

Sure, an Oregon plate, because they appreciate their Subarus and Volvos more than American iron.

I'm going to say '83 or '84 because we knew someone with an '83 Eldorado in that nice shade of medium to dark metallic blue.  That color also stuck around for '84 Cutlass and its GM stablemates.

- - - - -

@Drew Dowdell

Some of those photos are interesting, but there are only a few I'd be excited about.

The "problematic" ones have beltlines that are too tall, grilles that are beyond exaggerated (and making the '04 to '08 GP grille look tasteful), bodies that are too long, rear ends that look like rocket fire should be spewing out of them, and even some weird kinks in the simpler volumes.

What I notice is that the experimental renditions are more daring and, then, when the car is released, they take some of that edginess off.

I'm going to say that I like about 3 or 4 of them

- - - - -

I saw this yesterday ...

I pulled over to get the photo.  The care of the lawn carries over into the care for the car.

When Riv/Toro had their short period of stubbiness, I'd say I liked the Riv (above) more, save the trestle shifter in the Toro.

When they got lengthened in ~1989 (through ~1992), I preferred the Toronado.  Yep ... light driftwood metallic, beige (cloth) bucket seats, vaned alloy wheels, and a 3800 V6 that wasn't quite Series II.

 

Edited April 20 by trinacriabob

[trinacriabob]

The beauty and the beast:

... just seen while running errands 

[Robert Hall]

My vacation this past week didn’t pan out as planned, had to take an abbreviated trip closer to home.  Spent the last 3 nights in Marietta, Ohio down on the Ohio River.  Took the scenic route today up Ohio Rte 7 to my childhood hometown of Steubenville and out Rte 22 to 250 around Tappan Lake to I-77 then back home to the CLE area.  Took a couple scenic drives around Appalachian Ohio back roads Fri and Sat, my CT6 performed great on windy, hilly roads for such a big car.  It’s really a great road trip car.  Averaged 27.7 mpg over almost 600 miles.   Saw some interesting cars on the trip—an orange 70 Mustang coupe and a clean black ‘71 Chevelle.  Saw many dead and dying old cars in the backwoods fields and hollers.  Near my hotel, saw this red Thunderbird, orange MGB, red 1st gen Honda Insight (haven’t seen one of those forever), and a white C8.  Also saw sternwheelers and barges on the river. Fun, restful little getaway.  

[G. David Felt]

Saw this in the wild, uglier than ever, true love hates on the design. Interesting that this last weekend was busy with seeing these and all had wraps on.

In the office today, crazy how busy the chargers were and mostly Tesla, Kia, Hyundai and Ford charging.

Saw only the second time ever a GMC Hummer in the wild. Very big and brickish. Unbelievable in how big it is in person and cool charging on the front indicator.

 

 

[ccap41]

18 hours ago, G. David Felt said:

Saw only the second time ever a GMC Hummer in the wild. Very big and brickish. Unbelievable in how big it is in person and cool charging on the front indicator.

Yeah, those things are massive when up close to them. They really are cool vehicles to be around and look at. I wouldn't hate to own one, but I cannot see myself ever actually buying one. 

[G. David Felt]

15 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Yeah, those things are massive when up close to them. They really are cool vehicles to be around and look at. I wouldn't hate to own one, but I cannot see myself ever actually buying one. 

They take up 1 1/2 charger spaces in parking, so I am sure others are not thrilled to have them in the charging lots. Twice the price of my EV9 and yet I am not sure I would have really get anything extra by having a hummer. Course if they gave it to me I would take it.

[ccap41]

15 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

They take up 1 1/2 charger spaces in parking, so I am sure others are not thrilled to have them in the charging lots. Twice the price of my EV9 and yet I am not sure I would have really get anything extra by having a hummer. Course if they gave it to me I would take it.

Personally, I wouldn't even care about the size when it comes to public chargers, because I'd almost never use them. My goal would be to never use them, unless it's free AND convenient. 

They're not a value proposition. They're like any other vehicle priced over 100k, they're a "want" and never a "need". They're a "because I can". Nobody is buying an S Class thinking they got a good value over a Camry or a G Wagen buyer thinking they got a better value than an X5 or Highlander buyer. It's more, more, more of things because the buyer can. It's basically the same as comparing an EV9 to an R1S. There isn't value in an R1S but it has a bigger battery, waaaaay more power from more motors and has fancy off road features. There's no value proposition for an R1S but it does have a bigger battery, four motors optional, a ton more power, air suspension. If you want more things, you can get more things for more money. That's how luxury brands have operated forever. A GMC Hummer EV is just that, a luxury purchase.

[ccap41]

I stumbled upon a small meetup this weekend. There's a new custom/restoration shop about two blocks from my home and I was walking to a Casey's to grab a cake donut for my wife (hahaha) and this is right next to the Casey's. 

This grey Chevelle was perfect, absolutely perfect. The plate is the name of the shop, Xtreme (restoration, bodywork, modification). I'm sure this is their show piece, and what a piece of work/art it is! I believe the van is theirs as well. 

Later that day we ran to Aldi and came across the International Scout. it was far from mint condition, but it was "pretty good" but even cooler to see it just out and about. 

[G. David Felt]

Saw my first Honda Prologue GM Ultium based tweener SUV in the wild this morning. Have to say that Honda did a nice job as it is a good-looking SUV.

[Robert Hall]

Today spotting---my '87 Mustang GT.  Got it out this morning and took it for a spin on my birthday.   I still enjoy driving it, doesn't quite feel the same as it  did when I was 20, though.   But for better or for worse, I'm not the same as I was at 20... 

[G. David Felt]

3 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Today spotting---my '87 Mustang GT.  Got it out this morning and took it for a spin on my birthday.   I still enjoy driving it, doesn't quite feel the same as it  did when I was 20, though.   But for better or for worse, I'm not the same as I was at 20... 

Lovely Mix of autos, agree with you what things felt like when we were 20 is so different in our 50's  

Happy Birthday Robert

[G. David Felt]

Saw my first BMW M series Hybrid plugin SUV at work here today.