It was starting to feel like we should gather the animals two-by-two in "sunny" Southern California. But with January now a dreary memory it seems the weather that draws and/or keeps most of us here finally returned last week. While the long-term Ford GT is fully capable of being driven in bad weather, it's not prudent given he car's traction-challenged nature -- even on the driest of days. The mods to the engine that now give it a zero-to-60 time of 3.6 seconds also mean you want warm pavement, warm tires and a prudent right foot...
But trouble was the last thing on my mind as I drove up PCH last Friday afternoon and caught a postcard-perfect sunset. After nearly a month undercover the GT seemed as happy to be out as I was driving it. BTW, what look like mountains on the horizon are actually the Channel Islands about 20 miles off the coast between Ventura and Santa Barbara. You can only see them from the mainland on clear days. Throw in a little Peter Gabriel/Solsbury Hill on the radio and all seems nearly right with the world.
Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com @ 11,710 miles
dougtheeng says:
07:20 AM, 02/11/08
Gorgeous picture and car. Glad to see you're out of the rain down there.
sabastian says:
07:32 AM, 02/11/08
A sneak peak at the Brauer family Christmas card?
dragonflight says:
07:45 AM, 02/11/08
Glad to see another GT post, especially with an elegant picture like that.
boxermike says:
08:56 AM, 02/11/08
How dare you besmirch the GT with Peter Gabriel.
ewilfong says:
09:12 AM, 02/11/08
*Sigh* Why does California have to be so crowded, so expensive, so full of weirdos (present company excepted, of course)? Oh well. Nice shot, Karl.
SubyTrojan says:
11:32 AM, 02/11/08
To celebrate the return of "typical" Southern California weather, I ordered some new Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R tires for my car. :o)
z479 says:
12:43 PM, 02/11/08
Just in case anyone cared, the wind chill is -1 deg. here in Rochester, NY.
I wish I can move to Cali some day...
zach101 says:
03:44 PM, 02/11/08
Awesome picture!
I'm glad you guys are getting such nice weather now. I can't remember the last time I've seen the pond by my house not frozen.
Did I mention that is a great picture?!
jriz says:
04:48 PM, 02/11/08
"Get out of my way you puny Prius" by Butthole Surfers
estreka says:
06:08 PM, 02/11/08
That picture is gorgeous. You have a wallpaper-sized copy I could have?
Second, you aren't the only one happily saying goodbye to January. It got above freezing last week and has stayed above the teens ever since. It a great relief after 3 solid weeks of negative temps (1 day we had a wind chill of -77!).
carfreak8394 says:
06:18 PM, 02/11/08
Here in Florida, it's about 80 degrees every day.
Yeah, the weather is nice, but the heat bugs me.
I would rather it be in the 50s than the 80s, but maybe I'm just "spoiled" by the weather here.
Anyway, great shot, Karl.
(:
daytona_500 says:
11:09 PM, 02/11/08
Good picture overall, but the GT looks a bit too dark in the pic. I think a white GT with the blue stripes would look spectacular in its place.
stingray454 says:
12:38 PM, 02/12/08
I love that car!
estreka says:
11:15 AM, 02/19/08
No seriously, do you have a copy of the picture? It'd be a perfect background.
editor_karl says:
11:55 AM, 02/22/08
I was thinking of putting it on flickr. I've actually got several with varying exposure (in some there is fill flash to light the back of the car). Let me see if I can process them (I only resized one for this post).