Cars of the QC

[videtur quam contuor]

 

From California via the twitter machine.

 

(Veblen goods are those which increase in demand as the price increases. Conspicuous consumption displayed here Most of the vehicles posted here fall in the category.)

[KJHburg]

Who knew that Charlotte was home to a large exporter of luxury vehicles to China?

Charlotte company that sells cars in China preps IPO - Business North Carolina (businessnc.com)

[InSouthPark]

Saw what I assume was LaMelo's Yellow Lambo Urus Performance a few weeks ago near the mall.  Had the limo tint windshield and out of state tags so not sure it was 100% him/his car but not like there are ton of these driving around. 

[nicholas]

Lol I see Uruses almost everyday, there was a purple one at the mall last weekend.

[InSouthPark]

9 hours ago, nicholas said:

Lol I see Uruses almost everyday, there was a purple one at the mall last weekend.

Just stating what I saw and what I stated was an assumption of Lamelo's ride based on the limo tint windshield and sharp as hell yellow scheme.   I too have seen other Urus around Southpark.  But I haven't seen a sharp yellow with limo tint windshield before. 

[go_vertical]

Yeah, that highlighter yellow he has is pretty "unique".

[KJHburg]

the biggest "car" museum in Charlotte the Nascar Hall of Fame.  First visit in years but it looks good and my friend who had never been was impressed.  Saw groups there and tourists.   If you have never been it is worth a visit on a hot summer day.   And if you dont have to be a big Nascar fan to be impressed. 

Many do not seem to know many convention center activities happen here as the big ballroom for the convention center is in this building as our meeting rooms etc.

about the Crown Ballroom

https://www.charlottemeetings.com/charlotte-convention-center/space-finder

[videtur quam contuor]

My wife and her brother were both involved in NASCAR in the 1960's. He as a crew member for a top group, but second rank driver. I think the top rung was called Grand National at that time before Winston, Nextel and so on. My wife worked for Holman-Moody, THE race car prep and designer of the time; massive amounts of Ford Motor money. She knew the Holman family and worked in the office and occasionally with the traveling party for H-M, driving or flying to race day. Glory Days for the sport. I went with them 8-9 years ago to the museum when b-i-l was in town and they love, love, loved it as the history was everything they remembered. Thus it was fun for me also. Oh, the stories they spun.

If one goes with a fan, follower, former or current it will expand the joy.

https://www.holmanmoody.com/ They are still in business 65 years on. We three went to their current location in Arrowwood and it is interesting to see the road race cars, classics and others they show there. If you know a long time, old time follower or someone who enjoys the history of the sport H-M would make a good stop. It is a real business so they may have little time to walk you through everything. Before the Hornets, before the Panthers, NASCAR (and H-M) put Charlotte on the sporting map, for real.

[Professor]

On 7/11/2023 at 8:38 PM, videtur quam contuor said:

My wife and her brother were both involved in NASCAR in the 1960's. He as a crew member for a top group, but second rank driver. I think the top rung was called Grand National at that time before Winston, Nextel and so on. My wife worked for Holman-Moody, THE race car prep and designer of the time; massive amounts of Ford Motor money. She knew the Holman family and worked in the office and occasionally with the traveling party for H-M, driving or flying to race day. Glory Days for the sport. I went with them 8-9 years ago to the museum when b-i-l was in town and they love, love, loved it as the history was everything they remembered. Thus it was fun for me also. Oh, the stories they spun.

If one goes with a fan, follower, former or current it will expand the joy.

https://www.holmanmoody.com/ They are still in business 65 years on. We three went to their current location in Arrowwood and it is interesting to see the road race cars, classics and others they show there. If you know a long time, old time follower or someone who enjoys the history of the sport H-M would make a good stop. It is a real business so they may have little time to walk you through everything. Before the Hornets, before the Panthers, NASCAR (and H-M) put Charlotte on the sporting map, for real.

Did you ever know Gentleman Jim Pardue? He was my mom's cousin (mine too).  I lived on the westside and knew Buck Baker and a few of the guys from when I worked at the Holiday Inn, Wilkinson Blvd as a very young youngster.  Years ago, I was at the Columbus, Ohio state fair (I'm pretty sure that was the one) and they had reps from Holman Moody there for some reason. I spoke to them, and they told me that they had moved their office to Ohio or somewhere like that? 

[DJ8hep]

Thoughts on this car spotted in Southend today - it looked to be a viper?

 

[nicholas]

1 hour ago, DJ8hep said:

Thoughts on this car spotted in Southend today - it looked to be a viper?

That's a Viper ACR which is one of the craziest cars ever built.  Production ended several years back but this was arguably the last ultra high performance driver's car, as no automatic transmission of any kind was ever offered.  The early Vipers back in the '90s had a reputation of being "widowmakers" due to being extremely fast and even more difficult to control, but by this final generation the Viper had been pretty honed-in, and for a time held several records at various high profile racetracks around the country.  The owner of that car takes it to some of the regional tracks like CMP and VIR, and personally broke the production car lap record at CMP last year in this car.

[go_vertical]

I saw that parked in a driveway on one of the streets off The Plaza the other day.

[Madison Parkitect]

On 7/29/2023 at 3:36 PM, nicholas said:

That's a Viper ACR which is one of the craziest cars ever built.  Production ended several years back but this was arguably the last ultra high performance driver's car, as no automatic transmission of any kind was ever offered.  The early Vipers back in the '90s had a reputation of being "widowmakers" due to being extremely fast and even more difficult to control, but by this final generation the Viper had been pretty honed-in, and for a time held several records at various high profile racetracks around the country.  The owner of that car takes it to some of the regional tracks like CMP and VIR, and personally broke the production car lap record at CMP last year in this car.

Those old Vipers were insane cars.

[DJ8hep]

On 7/29/2023 at 3:36 PM, nicholas said:

That's a Viper ACR which is one of the craziest cars ever built.  Production ended several years back but this was arguably the last ultra high performance driver's car, as no automatic transmission of any kind was ever offered.  The early Vipers back in the '90s had a reputation of being "widowmakers" due to being extremely fast and even more difficult to control, but by this final generation the Viper had been pretty honed-in, and for a time held several records at various high profile racetracks around the country.  The owner of that car takes it to some of the regional tracks like CMP and VIR, and personally broke the production car lap record at CMP last year in this car.

Wow!! That’s awesome!! Wait you know the person who owns this Viper?!

[nicholas]

18 hours ago, DJ8hep said:

Wow!! That’s awesome!! Wait you know the person who owns this Viper?!

Don't know him personally but have seen him at car shows and just randomly driving around.  He also has an Audi R8 and Ferrari 488 Spider.

[KJHburg]

Saw this large Rolls Royce with vanity NC plates but it seems it was bought in California according to what I saw on the car. 

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by KJHburg

[SydneyCarton]

[KJHburg]

From Dave Ramsey about car ownership by millionaires.    (Hmm I have only owned the top 2 choices in the last decade) 

The top 10 car brands driven by millionaires:

1. Toyota

2. Honda

3. Ford

4. Lexus

5. Subaru

6. BMW

7. Acura

8. Hyundai

9. Lincoln

10. Buick

Most millionaires don't drive flashy cars.

69% of millionaires did not average $100,000 or more in household income per year—and (get this) one-third of millionaires NEVER had a six-figure household income in their entire careers.

When people don't waste money trying to LOOK wealthy, they have money to actually BECOME wealthy.

[Matthew.Brendan]

Money talks, wealth whispers

[KJHburg]

7 hours ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

Money talks, wealth whispers

Major truth above and many who may have money don't have wealth because they spend too much.  

[atlrvr]

There's a lot of different ways to interpret that data.  I'll throw out some different data:

Total annual US sales of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mclaren, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce and Bentley combined is less than 15,000 total per year.

There are over 16,500,000 new cars sold each year in the US.  

The ultra-luxury segment is less than 0.1% of total cars (but 95% of cars in this thread  )

There are over 11,500,000 US households with minimum net worth of $1.0mm.

The top 1%  of US households (1.3mm households) have net worth of > $11mm.

Again, a bunch of random stats, but I don't think the average supercar is owned by someone aspiring to be a millionaire but their car spending is holding them back.

Lastly, as someone who enjoys/envies supercars, I sort of think there are a lot of vices/splurges people waste money on.  While a supercar isn't the most fiscally best idea, if it brings happiness to someone, then all the power too them.

 

 

[KJHburg]

AutoFair coming to Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend.

https://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/handler.cfm/article,display/art_id,677956/cat_id,56056/

and on luxury cars I am for them just make sure you can afford them.  And many can  for sure. 

[videtur quam contuor]

First sighting for me. Rivian electric truck specific for Amazon

Publix at South End in background. Driver said this is his first day assigned to such a vehicle. "Do you like it?" "It is fine." He says there are more at the warehouse, whichever one he refers to.  

Delivering to apartment buildings he puts packages into larger yellow and blue packs for ease of transfer and security.

Note Rivian style headlights and also small clearance lights, I assume, near top of front of vehicle. Side panels are wavy. Are they metal or other material?

[atlrvr]

[KJHburg]

Seen in a parking garage in Ballantyne this weekend.