Cool Old Cars

[5String43]

Wanted to show you guys a couple of pix we shot up in the Alps a couple of weeks ago. We were heading over the Sustenpasse, an experience in its own right (high, narrow, very winding, still lined by snow 10-feet deep), when we stumbled on a couple of participants in a transAlps vintage car rally. The one car you'll recognize as being the sort of thing Wolf Barnato and the rest of the Bentley Boys raced at Le Mans ("the world's fastest lorries," old Ettore Bugatti called them) and the other is a car called "the Blue Train" because of its exploits racing - well, a train in the U.K. I think this one is a replica, but it's still pretty cool. We were lucky enough to be there when the owners finished their coffee and started them up. Man, they sounded just wonderful! Great, huffing, woofing, powerful exhaust notes, resonant voices worthy of world-class operatic basses. Engines sounded as smooth as silk. And we know they haul ass. Even if they are lorries. Seeing them, hearing them run, was an incredible treat.

[livi]

Excellent! Thanks for posting.

[herr_oberst]

Leather bodied Bently's. Nice....

[Scott Douglas]

Way cool!
Were they shot on 'auto'?

[5String43]

Actually, Scott, they were, and using my new little Sony SC100 rather than a DSLR. This little Sony is a 20-megapixel piece and is the size of a deck of cards. It works incredibly well and beats heck out of lugging around a bag of camera equipment.

I want to add a little to this - I shoot most everything on Auto unless I want something specific - depth of field, for instance. For that, I twiddle with the controls. But for most of the rest of the stuff I shoot, no. I see no need to.

[Scott Douglas]

That second pic is very cool, I like it a lot.

I'm beginning to see small is the way to go camera wise.

[tevake]

Nice write up and pics, 5string! Love the sloping roof. We went over that pass a couple weeks ago and were blown away, great drive. Would be fun in a porsche!
Any more travel stories? Did you stop in around Interlaken?

[5String43]

Tevake, we did stop in Interlaken, our first time back there in like 20 years. Cannot believe what a wristwatch mall the place has become. It was absolutely overrun with busloads of tourist/shoppers. Think locusts, in biblical dimensions. The streets, sidewalks and stores were packed. From my perspective, the place has completely lost its charm. Things weren't much better up the gorge in Lauterbrunnen. We got the hell outta Dodge.

Susten, Klausen, Furka and any of the others - especially Great St. Bernard - would be fun in a Porsche - a Targa for me, please. We did all those passes years ago on a sportbike but I think now that a car is a better deal.

Scott, I've packed 30 pounds of camera bags on our holidays for years. I'm just not going to do it any more. It is such a pain in the keester. This little Sony is the pick of the litter, I think, but there are several others that perform almost as well, and for a bit less money. It has its drawbacks, for sure - nothing is going to give you images like a proper DSLR with decent lenses, but this little thing does pretty well. Plus this - it fits in a pants pocket; you don't feel like a geek or look like a tourist; and getting through security is much less hassle.

[tevake]

Yea I hear you about the changes in the valley. We have been staying up in Wengen the last few trips there and it too is growing. but the mountains and nature beauty so far overpower the human growth and impact. we love it.

Some places are too nice for their own good.

[weseeeee]

Sweet rides! Thanks for posting.