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10 Standouts from the Petersen’s LA Wildfire Charity Car Show
This past weekend, the Petersen Automotive Museum and the greater Los Angeles automotive enthusiast community came together for a good cause: relief for those who battled and were affected by the recent scourge of wildfires in Southern California.
The irony of rainy weather on the day of the for-charity car show was not lost on the attendees, but it didn’t dampen the fundraising efforts, which blew past the $100,000 goal.
The rebuilding process will be a long one, and the work to prevent and prepare for future fires never stops. If you’d like to chip in a lot or a little, you can do so here, via the Petersen. Donations benefit the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, and the LAPD West Bureau.
As for the show itself? Despite the dreary skies and puddly pavement, the SoCal scene displayed its incredible vehicular variety as always. Check out 10 of our favorite cars, trucks, and bizarre French rally cars below.
Citroën BX 4TC
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The Group B era of rally racing needs no introduction, but you may need one for this oddity. Back in the early 1980s, Citroën took note of rallying’s surging popularity and decided to enter the fray with a car that was all but doomed before it even churned a tread’s worth of dirt.
The base model for the Group B machine was the humble BX, a front-wheel drive car that became majorly compromised in the process of its all-wheel drive conversion. To fit the AWD system, the engineers extended the frame rails and moved the engine even further forward, creating a comically proportioned overhang and a less-than-optimal weight distribution, that, when combined with the car’s low power relative to its rivals, rendered the BX 4TC one of the least successful factory rally cars in history.
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No matter though, because today they are among the rarest homologation specials from any motorsport discipline. It’s believed that only around 50 remain after Citroën destroyed its unsold stock and tried to buy back the rest.
And for owners like Ady Gil—who is no stranger to Group B’s trophy-takers—the BX 4TC is lovable for more than just its rarity. He says it’s more comfortable to drive than his Citroën DS23 and more interesting—if not prettier—to look at than any of the fan favorites.
Toyota Corolla GTS (AE92) “AWDROLA”
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The AE92-generation of the Toyota Corolla doesn’t get the same love as its older siblings, but this example—owned, heavily modified, and regularly thrashed off-road by Randy Wimenta—isn’t your average AE92.
His AWD-converted rowdy ‘Rolla uses the drivetrain from a Toyota All-Trac wagon mated to a rebuilt Toyota 4AGE inline-four, plenty of custom bits to marry everything together, and Toyota OEM parts that range all the way to the RAV4.
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And this is no “safari-style” show car that never leaves the street. Thanks to insight from experienced Toyota builder Jon Rood and a custom suspension setup designed by off-road racer extraordinaire Chuck Dempsey, Randy’s Toyota is regularly airborne and unafraid of getting mud on its retro livery. Randy’s already raced it at the Gambler 500 and the King of the Hammers, and is aiming for an entry in the Baja 1000’s retro vehicle class.
Mazda RX-7 (FB-generation)
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It’s a shame about the rain, because the engine bay on this thing is the real party piece. What looks like a very clean first-gen RX-7 is actually an eardrum-shattering exemplar of rotary tuning taken to the extreme. Case in point, this car’s tiny 1.3-liter two-rotor engine produces 300 naturally aspirated horsepower thanks to a comprehensive rebuild of the stock Mazda 13B that includes peripheral porting and just about every other rotary trick in the book.
This is far from owner Joaquin Garay’s first RX-7, but after decades of messing around with Mazda’s rotary cars and trucks, this was the first time he decided to go nuts with the modifications. It’s far from the stock car he bought 15 years ago, and while he says it’s a riot to drive in LA’s canyons (and on-ramps), it’s not exactly daily-driver material. That will happen when your car idles at 2500rpm, revs to 10K, and sounds like a chainsaw with an afterburner.
Porsche 912 in Crystal Blue
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Everyone and their third cousin seems to have a hot-rodded air-cooled 911 in Los Angeles, so this clean and simple 912 stood out more than any wide-bodied, twin-plugged fire-breather ever could. It also reminded us of the 912’s bountiful and beautiful color palette—the antithesis to the seas of silver that populate our roads today.
This little 912 with its skinny-tire-shod hubcaps was a refreshing sight in a city where car enthusiasts seem compelled to stand out and push the boundaries. A resto-modded R-Gruppe Porsche will leave this thing for dead, but there’s something special about a car that just seems happy to putter around, comfortable in its own sheet metal with nothing to prove.
Chevrolet C2 Corvette
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Mel’s Corvette Coupe isn’t for purists, and he probably enjoys it a lot more than most of those guys anyway. Why else would he have held onto it for 46 years?
It began with a familiar story: As a kid, he saw a then-new Stingray, fell in love, and started saving every cent. Over the course of the intervening decades, Mel’s driven the absolute snot out of his anti-garage queen, whether that be through the high deserts of the southwest, through flash floods in Mexico, or freak blizzards in Atlanta.
This Corvette has grown up with its owner and has plenty of modifications to show for it. Mel isn’t concerned with winning a concours—he’d rather add some miles and memories. And even the OEM-or-bust crowd can appreciate that everything that’s “wrong” with Mel’s Corvette reflects the full life it has led.
Mazda Miata Art Car
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The “art car” concept isn’t anything new, but we’ve never seen anything like this Miata that’s been done up to look like a car torn from a comic book page (or manga, if we’re keeping things JDM).
Photos don’t do justice to the in-person effect that’s achieved by hundreds of hand-painted black and white details all over the fuchsia bodywork—the 2D treatment extended as far as the heart-shaped kaido-racer-style exhaust tip and the Work VS-KF wheels. This wasn’t a half-hearted idea done as a quick joke, and the care put into the paint job elevates this from an internet meme machine to a true art car in our book.
The More Recognizable Rally Cars
The Citroën mentioned earlier might not be to everyone’s taste, but there were some street versions of Group A and Group B rally icons in attendance as well. That said, it’s not every day that a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth shows up. Not to be confused with the related but tamer Merkur XR4Ti that Bob Lutz brought to the States, this fast Ford was a European model that was built to homologate both road and rally versions of the Sierra for Group A racing in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
This example appeared to be stock and well-loved. Wearing smatterings of stone chips on its bulged bodywork and deep chin, this Cosworth-powered import had the perfect amount of patina.
Parked nearby, the blue-on-orange Renault 5 Turbo had people braving the rain to take a closer look at this radical piece of rally history. The R5 Turbo is an extreme car regardless of specification, but these early examples with their exotic interiors are extra unique.
Toyota Stout 1900
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Long before Japanese trucks gave the Americans a major run for their money, Toyota was producing simple, utilitarian pickups like the Stout. This one looked right at home in LA with its sticker-shod body proudly displaying signs of age. The contrast of the pristine brightwork and mottled paint was nicely balanced rather than contrived, and we’d leave it alone if it were ours. It’s the kind of truck that makes you want to take up surfing just so you can have an excuse to throw some boards in the bed, don’t you think?
Split-Window VW Beetle
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Last but not least, no LA car show can be complete without a SoCal-style Bug. Wearing Porsche footwear and a handsomely subtle shade of blue, this was a very well-executed example of the VW tuning style that began and continues to evolve in Southern California. A fitting representation of the LA car scene as any candy-colored lowrider (sadly, none of these were in attendance on Sunday), this vintage V-Dub makes a nice capper to our highlight reel.
Very nice variety. Some truly rare or oddball cars to spice up the variety.
It’s a real tribute to LA car culture that so many owners turned out with their rare and wonderful vehicles on a rainy day to help their neighbors who lost so much. Many thanks to all who came and contributed so generously.
And, a big shout out the Petersen for arranging this fine event when many are in need of help.
I would love to hear that RX7 start and rev up. 10,000 rpm and 300 HP, thats gotta be an absolute blast to drive on those canyon roads!
Loved that Toyota pick up. Just what i.need (Ford GM are you listening?) .