2019 Toronto International Film Festival, Part III: The Cars

Canadian Automobile Museum

This museum is located about 60 km (38 miles) east of Toronto in Oshawa. Oshawa is where General Motors once had a factory. The admission price was only $12! This parade of cars is the same on my Instagram as these are the only cars I wrote descriptions for.

1965 Amphicar with 84 miles.

The corresponding propellers.

1971 Manic GT

1937 Alfa Romero 1750 Gran Sport

1928 Bugatti Type 37

1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III

1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (106 years old!)

1983 DMC Delorean

1936 Talbot 110

Nissan GT-R

Dodge Challenger Hellcat (in the garage of our building)

Ferrari Testarossa

Audi RS5

Alfa Romero Spider Veloce 2000

Alfa Romero Spider Veloce Iniezione

Ferrari FF

Lamborghini Huracan Spyder

Lamborghini Aventador 700LP-4

Bentley Bentayga

The Lamborghini and the Bentley were parked about 15 meters from each other on the campus of The University of Toronto. Conservatively, you are looking at $600.000 between the two of these autos!

Honda S2000

Maserati Levante

Audi R8 Spyder

Audi R8

Mercedes-Benz AMG CL65 (12-cylinder) 

Ultra rare 2018 BMW M3 CS

I saw the M3 designation on the back of the car with an additional two letters, CS. This immediately grabbed my attention. The driver was sitting in his car, so I mentioned for him to roll down the window. We ended up chatting about this very special BMW for a good 10 minutes (I included a link to Car and Drivers review under the photo).

If you were able to secure, 1 of only 1200 manufactured, you will need at least $100.000 to convince the dealer to hand you the keys.

Shelby Mustang GT350

Two more Lamborghini Gallardos

I heard this McLaren from 15 floors up!

2019 Canadian F1 Grand Prix, Part III: The Cars

Wow! Never have I seen such varied and high-end display of automobiles. When the race comes to town people love to show off their wares. Most of the high-end cars all had local license plates.

I took 70 photos of ultra rare and fast cars during the F1 weekend. Here are 10 of my favorites:

2011 Pagani Huayra, only 100 ever manufactured, $3.3 million price tag.

Supercharged Chevrolet Cobalt SS

Turbocharged Chevrolet Cobalt SS

How do you tell the difference between the turbocharged and the supercharged cars? Different rear wing!

Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Aventador Spyder

BMW M850i, on sale for only 7 months.

4th generation Dodge Viper

2018 Lamborghini Urus

McLaren 570S

LaFerrari (center), only 500 ever manufactured, $3.5 million price tag.

2018 Lamborghini Urus (front), McLaren 720S, and a 2018 Bentley Bentayga. 

2019 SXSW, Part IV: Circuit of the Americas

The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is one of only two Formula 1 racetracks in North America, with the other in Montreal, Canada (stay tuned!) and is located about 25 km (15 miles) southeast of Austin.

Unfortunately, there is not much too see. The grandstand where I took the videos and the gift shop were open. It would have been cool to see more of the inner workings the racetrack. At least I had made it to the track, watched Ferraris race down the front stretch, and went karting.

There were 2 Audi R8s in front. Both with the wrong transmission.

Underneath the grandstand, I found 3 more R8s, all with the wrong transmission.

I don't think these Ferraris were actually racing as their were no spectators in the stands. Anyway, it was a thrill to watch them blow by at 265 kph (165 mph).

I paid for 2 sessions of go-karting. My best lap time was just under a minute.

Off to Atlanta

My wife applied for a media pass to cover movies at SXSW. Her application was accepted so she  booked the hotel and flight.

In the process of planning the trip, she suggested we stopover in Atlanta. She has a online friend who lives there who she has never met. Her and her boyfriend were simply the best hosts and were cool to hang out with.

Perfect! I have always wanted to visit Atlanta. Unfortunately, we were there for only two days and it was brutally cold!

She picked us up from Hatfield International and got us settled into our room. We then ate lunch at Grub Kitchen and Bar. I appreciate this establishment posts the calories for all its food and drinks, but I don't appreciate all the calories in their tasty food. I went right past my daily 2000 calorie max in one meal!

Boozy Minty Chocolate Chip Brownie milkshake with creme de menth.

Wagyu burger (medium) with the fixins'

Erin and Dalvin took us to one of their hangouts, Tiki Tango Hideaway Oasis.

We ate dinner at an Irish pub, Ri Ra. Let me tell you, I thought I was in Southie! This Guinness Beef Stew with a dollop of mashed potatoes was como a avon o fixo.

While in Atlanta one must experience Waffle House. Mutual friend Jessica joined us for breakfast and we also were able to see Jill, another mutual friend who lives in the Atlanta area. She was kind enough to invite us to to her home. I got to meet her daughter and their adorable dog, Sugar. Jill also has an amazing library on the subject of cinema. I am guessing her collection runs 600 books. 

I was walking towards the MLK when I nearly tripped on something on the sidewalk. After I righted myself, I happen to look up and saw this garage. It looked so familiar! I then remembered it was featured on Chasing Classic Cars (season 5, episode 20) and there was a yellow Ferrari involved. 

1992 Porsche 911 Turbo Whaletail

1988 BMW M5 (E28), first generation.

Martin Luther King, Jr National Historical Park

While I did not have a lot of time in Atlanta, the one place I had to visit was the tomb of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The museum was well organized and filled with interesting exhibits. I really didn't want to be disrespectful by taking a 1000 photos. I didn't spend much time here as the entire experience just made me very sad. 

The wagon used to transport his body from the Ebenezer Church to Morehouse College.

Rest in Peace.

Ebenezer Baptist Church

The church where MLK was baptized, attended services, and was ordained a minister.

The home MLK was born in and grew up in.

I wanted to squeeze in a tour of the Delta Flight Museum while in Atlanta. I was in Atlanta for one day on a Wednesday. The one day during the week they are closed is...Wednesday. 

Once I knew I was going to visit Atlanta, I purchased tickets for Dalvin and I to attend a Hawks game. This was the first NBA game outside of Boston I have attended.

The site of Super Bowl LIII. The New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 13-3.