Monday, April 12, 2010

Unique Little Cars in Arizona

This past weekend, The Mister and I attended the Southwest Unique Little Car Show, in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the 30th anniversary of the show, which alternates mostly between Arizona and California each year. The show does not have strict rules about what qualifies, but generally they hope to attract cars with smaller than 750cc engines, that are, well, unique. They don't have to be vintage. Modern cars that are unique are welcome and there are usually some modern Mini's or Smart cars.

It was a lovely setting! We were in a courtyard of an Embassy Suites, on the grass with lots of big shade trees, just next to the gigantic swimming pool.

My cutie-wootie little car was between a bug-eyed Sprite and a Velorex, across from a Goggomobil!

This is a Goggomobil Dart. About 700 Darts were built in Australia in '59 and '60. It looks like a cartoon car and has a cartoon name!

This is the front of the Goggo. What a goofy face!
This is a Czech car called a Velorex. It has a tubular steel frame, with canvas stretched over it. (No side curtain air bags...) This car is in mid-restoration. It is from 1971, I believe.
This is the interior. (No cup holders, either...)
This is not a vintage car. It is a future car - "The George Jetson Astro Cruiser", or Bug-E. It was built in 2009 and is all electric, built from a kit. Looks fun, don't you think?

This is an unrestored 1956 Fiat. It was so original, you wonder if it has the original air in the tires! Amazing that a car can look that good after 54 years!

We were in a class with about eight other BMW's, seven other Isettas and a BMW 600. The 600 is larger than the Isetta , with a back seat and a side door. (It's referred to as 'the limousine'.)We took third place in the class, much to our delight and surprise!

Surprise, because there are many micro-car enthusiasts who are purists, when it comes to paint colors and interiors. It was participant voting, though, so apparently, lots of folks prefer pure fun, over pure restoration!

It was a lovely day to sit outside and I made progress on some stitcheries.

More on that topic later!

7 comments:

Gaynell said...

The gogomobile looks like something out of "Roger Rabbit!" Glad you had a good time..and EARNED third place!

Iron Needles said...

Yea! for THIRD PLACE!! Most excellent.

And glad you made progress on whatever you made progress on!

Martha said...

Congratulations to you and the Mister! That looks like a lovely place to spend the weekend, and I like the idea of letting the participants vote. One of my old boyfriends had a green, bug-eyed Sprite -- I just loved driving around in that car.

Lynne said...

The gogo has a great smile. Our Mia has a smile too only not quite as goofy. ;)

Congrats on the cutie-wootie's placement! Awesome.

I think George Jetson's car looks more like a motorcycle side car with a big fairing! Or maybe a ski jet ...

What fun you had!

Allie said...

Congrats on your third place finish, woohoo! Personally, I really really want that goggomobile - especially in orange!!!!!!!

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

Congrats on the win. What a cool hobby. I would dearly love to cruise around town in a Goggo!

Lynne said...

I just now noticed that the Gogo drives on the "wrong" side for the U.S. I want one!