A couple of weeks ago I was in Phoenix to drive around on BF Goodrich tires, and be driven around on BF Goodrich tires. It was a riot of a time. During some downtime after our day at the track, I checked out a few of the cars in the hotel’s parking lot. There was a surprising amount of really cool stuff in this on lot. Everything from highly modified sports cars to a weird looking vintage Travco motor home. It was a very hoony parking lot that day, so I had to walk around with my camera. Here are the results.

In the lead image, we’ve got a beautiful Audi S5. I love Audi’s coupe version of the A4, and the S variant makes it even more fun. This car sat quite a bit lower than stock, but it was tastefully lowered, rather than the traditional Volkswagen/Audi enthusiast’s tradition of throwing the thing down on bags, this car looked like it was ‘riding static’ on a nice set of coilovers.

This Alfa looks a lot better in photos than it did in person. The car was pretty rough around the edges, but I’d still happily drive that thing anywhere until it blew up. The later (but not latest) bodywork looks a little odd at some angles, especially with the molded rubber rear spoiler. No matter, though, you don’t have to look at the car from behind the wheel. I can just hear that sonorous engine flinging through the rev range.

New Corvette driving by? Snap a photo. Very pretty car. Very fast car. Also one of the more boring cars in this lot.

This CTS just looked like a normal CTS until I noticed the 6-lug wheels, which instantly identified it as a V. I love the first gen V, and I might get one as a raucous commuter car sometime in the future. They’re always on my radar. I have no need for a sedan, but for some reason I always gravitate toward fast sedans. Especially ones that can do burnouts.

The downside of this car, however, is that it was using some junkstore tires. There’s nothing I hate worse than an enthusiast car that’s been ruined by shoddy tires. Sailun tires? They may as well be tire-brand tires. On the plus side, I bet they’re easy to roast with a liberal application of the throttle foot.

 

I’ve never really been a TRUCKS kind of guy, gravitating more toward sport sedans and sports cars. That has somewhat changed since I moved to the desert. Now, every once in a while, I dream of building a nice pre-runner style off-road truck that would be excellent for bombing around in wide open expanses of desert and hill country. This feeling is sort of starting to scare me. Mostly because it’s causing me to like stuff like this. Coal Rollers can still go straight to hell.

In the 60s and 70s, Travco and Dodge ruled the motorhome market from their thrones atop the dais. They sold a big number (I don’t know what that number is, but it’s big) of these things, and this one appears to be maybe a late 1970s era Trav. If everything on this beast was up to snuff, I’d love to take it for a few cross-country trips. It’s just so good. I’m not sure why a motorhome was parked at a hotel, though. If you bring the bedroom with you, why do you need to rent one?

Probably one of the prettiest cars in the lot was also the most disappointing. This brand new Bimmer was autotragic. I want simplicity and driver involvement in my small 2-seat roadsters. Gimme a Boxster over this thing, for sure. If it’s gotta be a BMW, though, I’d vastly prefer an early 1.8 liter narrow body Z3.

All photos ©2015 Hooniverse/Bradley C. Brownell, All Rights Reserved.