The details of these cars evoke so much more than just the style of the car itself – they serve as a reminder of the very different world in which they were created. Think of the designer pouring over a drafting table working out the details of the grill on this ’65 (I think) Mercury Meteor

Interiors like the one on this 930 Porsche slant nose take on a more utilitarian and purposeful feel with age – no bulky airbags in here!

Grilles and slits abound on the exterior, reflecting the… interesting… style choices of the cars that were this slant-nose’s contemporaries.

Not to mention a substantial intercooler out back!

Sometimes on cars like this Shelby GT500KR (King of the Road) the details that first catch your eye aren’t the most important…

No switch, gauge, shiftknob or steering wheel can match a signature from the man himself!

Wonderful attention to detail, not everything from the 1960′s and 70′s had the fit and finish of a barn!

Personally I have an affinity for the typography used in a lot of the badging from earlier periods too…

This pro-touring Camaro had a lot of touches that were clearly the owners preference, and not original…

Like these E36 generation BMW M3 seats!

And this custom gauge cluster, complete with a 2din DVD!

Even some low-riders came out, the details these guys put into cars that most other people would pass by are really astonishing. This pin-striping really is a dying artform, one of the few truely original 20th Century American folk artforms.

Some more great typography, both OEM…

…and OEM plus.

Hope you enjoyed a brief look at some of the details on these great classics of all vintages!

I’m no expert so I can’t comment on this particular cars authenticity or fit and finish but you can tell from the photos its been well loved, restored, and it’s obviously used. Really a nice car to see in person with a classic shape!

As a bonus, here’s some footage of the owner treating this car it was meant to be. Gotta love the telemetry overlay!

Here we go kiddies, car nerds all over the GTA (myself included) have been muttering quietly about this event for the past few weeks since the route was formalized. Gumball 3000 came through Canada this year bringing with it the cars, some glitz, and a lot of crowds!

The cars on the Gumball see a lot of road miles so a lot of them like this Murcielago SV were wrapped in carbon fiber looking vinyl, ironic considering the majority of this car actually IS carbon fiber…

Even filthy, this car looks like a superhero’s ride!

A lot of people were curious how this roof rack system mounts up to the Lambo… here’s a detail shot…

Certainly however, there was one car everyone really came in the hopes of seeing – the Bugatti Veyron 16.4

The crowds weren’t disappointed! This car had a mobscene following it everywhere during the day and an absolute riot at night downtown.

I don’t think many of these cars will see quite this much use or abuse!

The interior of this car is just shockingly beautiful. It’s no wonder this thing weighs so much – it’s funny when other cars out there boast about being faster then a Veyron (SCC, looking at you) – there’s plenty of cars out there faster than this now but none of them come close to this level of stunning interior. This is more akin to a fine watch than a car.

16 cylinders… two banks of 8… W16 configuration… 8.0 liters… 4 turbochargers… 64 valves (sixty four!!!)…

1001 horsepower…

I didn’t think I’d be quite as impressed by this car in person as I was, it’s a stunning creation and really one of those exercises that was clearly undertaken as an engineering challenge more than just ‘a car’.

I still think the Morgan Aero is a weird car. I don’t care what you say…

Eventually some of the Gumballers decided to head out on track and drive without the risk of the local fuzz getting involved!

Now that’s a broad cross-section of competitors…

Care to wager what this is the interior to? Bet you can’t guess (unless you were there)

Plenty of MacLaren SLR’s were on hand, in fact they became a bit pedestrian after a while there was so many.

People started to turn their attention elsewhere…

Like the absolutely ridiculous Dodge Challenger sponsored by Asanti and Lexani wheels

I know it’s not a super-exotic but I have a soft-spot for GT3s…

It was pretty cool to hear the SLR’s driven in anger, and see the airbrake come out! These things always remind me of a world-war two fighter when you hear their engines. The throaty German motor accompanied by the supercharger whump is pretty cool!

While I imagine it’s one of the best types of cars for this type of ‘rally’ the Maser didn’t look quite as happy on track as some of it’s fellow competitors.

Still worse was this E350, but at least the driver was charging hard and turning some decent laps!

The SLR driver(s) were actually turning in decent laps too. You could tell the tires were having a tough time on the cold day, but still…

Hey at least it’s an interesting and unique wrap rather than the boring old chrome we usually see.

Mmmmm…

I spoke briefly with Brett the Veyron driver and asked if he was taking it on the track. He said the track was too short and the car is too heavy, it wouldn’t really be able to do much or have much fun. I guess coming from an owner, that’s as honest as you can get…

Beautiful white GT3

Aston Martin turning in a few laps. Astons look weirdly alien on a track, they’re much more at home on a highway or a downtown street, really not a track car to me. Stunning though…

Now this is something interesting! The Monster Energy Buckshot Racing “truck” (?) was something to see not only parked but turning a few squirrly laps on the track!

This thing must be an absolute twin turbo nightmare on the rough stuff. I can’t imagine it’s the best roadtrip vehicle! Then again, with that interior I mentioned earlier, maybe all the rally bits help!

Someone put it best “It looks like a Lotus on steroids”.

Even other Gumballers were awed by the wide cross section of cars!

This must be one of the first rollers to visit Shannonville, surely. It would’ve been great fun to see it out on track!

But alas it wasn’t to be, mostly the usual suspects.

Proving it’s perhaps not the best long-distance cruiser, the Morgan Aero popped out a rear window from being overstuffed I presume…

A broad cross section of the cars at the event… although the GTR wasn’t a competitor.

Now this is something truly unique – a stretch Volvo limo! If you’re going to bomb around on this cross country tour, this is at least one of the more comfortable ways I imagine!

Work that airbrake!

Ah yes, the California. This car came ALL the way from… Quebec.

Again, that’s diverse!

Don’t want a chrome or gold wrap? How about Alligator skin?!

The drift guys from DMCC tagged along in trailers and put on a bit of a show offering ride-alongs for the Gumballers.

Pat Cyr was on hand, his Hachi looking badass as ever.

Ooops. This 599 wasn’t the only exotic to go off track…

How sad would it be to drive your 911 Turbo all the way from Florida to hit the track in 10degree weather! At least it was sunny I guess?

I know it’s as obvious as chrome, but matte black looks menacing on a 430!

A spin didn’t discourage any of the Gumballers really, they’d get right back out on track.

Here’s why they tend to wrap their cars…

And here’s that spin!

The trip back to Toronto was as peppered with Police as it was exotics so it was only a matter of time before someone got pinched.

Stay tuned for more from downtown Toronto after the Gumballers arrived!

I ran into this rather distinct RSX last season at Mosport and felt the need to share it. Most of the RSX’s you’ll see running around suffer from a serious case of rice. And I don’t mean that as a compliment like I normally would. Underglow kits, slammed ridiculously into to the ground, superfluous stick on bits like vents, LED lights only outnumbered by stickers – everywhere – it’s actually quite a shame because the RSX is a great all around FF platform.

Some of those rice-rockets definitely have the usual bolt ones, even a turbo kit or two, but never have I seen a setup quite like this running around on the street! The dump tube routed through the hood like this must make for a hell of a ride at shift! And hey, this car will satisfy all the genuine fans of rice too – angel eyes and all.

A closer look at the Tial wastegate. Looked like a 44mm which means it’s likely supporting a substantial turbo, although I couldn’t figure out what it was by peering through the holes cut in the hood.

Seriously meaty Falken 615′s were wrapping some very lippy Volk Racing GTS rims. A KVR Python 4 piston BBK up front helps keep the rubber on the road.

These wheels were huge, and the fender pulling was impressive on the rear, while the front fenders were just massive looking to accommodate all that rubber. Really a cool little car, would have loved to have seen this on the track in person, hopefully this coming season it’ll return to Mosport and do some turns in anger!

Half VIP, half sport sedan? Looks like this Mark X has a bit of an identity crisis. Endless brakes, and what appears to be brand spanking new Work 11R rims in matte black really set off this car.

A nice subtle double spoiler along the trunk and rear roofline keep it just this side of tacky. Lexus is still relatively new to Japan, so it’s nice to see some already running around with some tasteful and well chosen mods. Nicely done!

This Mitsubishi Evolution III was a really clean example, although some of the panel gaps were looking a bit off. This is one of those cars that won’t ever look dated or weak to me.

Although some of the panel gaps (check out that hood left to right) were a bit off, this looked like a pretty clean example!

Luckily someone courteously brought out a Subaru. Not sure I love the banana yellow colour that the Evos and WRX’s used to come in, but it’s pretty cool to see one of these on their home turf for me as a Subaru guy.

Here’s quick a random shot of a beautiful and tasteful FD3 I spotted at Daikoku PA. I love the look of these cars without a wing on them, the profile is so clean!

The Subaru Forester is one of those cars that unfortunately Japan gets all the best versions of. In North America the best we got was the blue coloured Forester 2.5XT Sports, which was an attractive car but hardly the 330hp beast that Japan got in the form of the Forester STI. That isn’t to say that all things are better in Japan…

I spotted this gem parked up among the Silvias and GT-R’s at Daikoku. Truly this poor car never saw it’s owner coming and suffered the consequences.

Needs some pinstriping on the rims. Oh, wait..

There’s some cars that you really can’t convey the beauty of in a photo. Cars like the new GT-R, while futuristic, always look somewhat clumsy or oafish in photos. Especially when placed in the context of of a race next to other usually more sleek cars. The performance may be there, but the form is often largely dictated by the function of the car.

This is a problem that Aston Martin has really never suffered from as a brand, even during the gaudy 1980′s when Ferrari slapped cheese graters to the sides of the Testarossa and Lamborghini hypothesized that nobody backed their cars up so why bother with a rear window, Aston Martin was turning out beautiful coupes and convertibles.

For me the Vantage is the pinnacle of Aston Martin’s design evolution. It’s just absolutely stunning in every proportion. Add to this car a sonorous V12 and a tasteful splash of visible carbon fiber and you have something that makes every sense swoon.

The lay-up for the carbon fiber on this car must be unbelievably time consuming. I know from experience that the Vantage (and Vanquish) use CF for more than just exterior panels, it’s a structural part of the car. The quality of the stuff you don’t see is as beautifully laid as the stuff you do see, like these hood vents.

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at what’s always going to be a rare and truly beautiful car. I wish I could’ve poked around inside this car and crawled all over the engine bay, but unfortunately the owner wasn’t around and I doubt they spoke English anyways!