It is pretty rare we look at imports here on Infinite Garage. Nothing wrong with them or anything like that it is just we prefer big honking V8s and the occasional slant six. However there were a few imports of note at the Barry Apple Festival so I thought I would dedicate an entire article to them.
I was pretty surprised to see a Ferrari 430 Scudaria at the Barry Apple Festival car show. $200,000 dollar cars aren’t exactly crawling around in my neck of the woods but alas here one sits. It was pretty tough to get a good photo of it because as you can image it was quite popular with the crowd.
History time. The Ferrari 430 replaced the 360 Modena. The cars were very similar in fact using the same chassis and doors. However due to some aero dynamic tweaks and some styling cues that harken back to vintage Ferrari racers the car had much more downforce. Also the addition of the 4.3L V8 (hence the name 430) the car absolutely flew around the race track. The Scudaria version comes in lighter and tighter then the standard 430 and this one has all kinds of exposed carbon fiber.
A quick peak in the interior shows us all kinds of Alcantara, aluminium, and carbon fiber.
Not all imports were Italian though at the show. This most excellent Mercedes 300SL known as the Gullwing Mercedes was kind of off by it self just hanging out looking a little lonely. These are certainly one of those if I won the power ball type of cars. I think they are amazingly beautiful.
A look under the hood of this fine lady.
Lotus is all about light weight pure driving. If you’re a bit tall and fat like me don’t even think about getting one. Trust me, I wanted to but after wedging myself in it I found out I couldn’t work the clutch pedal with my long legs. It was a sad day. However to those not cursed by girth will certainly enjoy what is one of the coolest sports cars on the road.
Here was a nifty rotary display in front of an RX8. I probably should have taken a picture of the RX8 too. Oops. In case you are wondering how a rotary engine works, they basically put two Doritos on a stick inside and oval. They add fuel and air, then magic happens, and some how power is produced. Yep that’s how it happens.
Speaking of Mazda here’s a Miata. The Miata much like the Lotus is known as a no frills light weight drivers car. This one however is well how can I say this nicely? Weird. I don’t know what’s going on here and I’m not going to judge but I’ll assume this Miata is not a track day car and what’s with the white tigers?
So that wraps up part two of our Barry Apple Festival coverage. A look at some imports. Never fear IG faithful we’ll be back with our usual American powered V8 awesomeness soon.
In case you missed part one just click the link below.
Barry Apple Festival Car Show