As Augusta descends into golf madness this week, some interesting things on four wheels will be cruising our local streets, and we’re not talking beefed-up golf carts.
Local residents of our area always have opinions on the events in the first full week of April. Some take the week off and disappear, turning their backs to the madness, traffic, and hustle for a well-needed vacation with their families. Others pick up temporary work or rent their homes for extra income.
The lucky ones get to watch the greatest names in golf play their hearts out for the biggest prize in the game.
Some like to “people watch,” watching the crowds look at new fashion trends being shown off on the golf course. Me? I watch the roads, looking for folks that eschewed the private plane and drove their 1971 Barracuda to Augusta, and, believe it not, some people do.
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Now, the real ballers in the golf world keep their transportation stored at Bush or Daniel field, parked in a hangar or in the grass by the runway and they tend to get picked up by a limo for the drive to their rental house in Summerville. However, golf and car culture do tend to intersect, and this week brings some exotic cars to the Garden City that aren’t usually seen any other time of the year.
I started my hobby of “Masters car watching” over 20 years ago. Some friends of mine and I would go to a restaurant that closely bordered Washington Road, order some beers, and look at the traffic. Every few minutes we would see something cool driving by. I will never forget the time we all saw a bright red Ferrari Enzo slinking its way past us as we stared. I have never seen another in person since then.
I didn’t need a beer to become weak in the knees after seeing that machine.
Car and golf people also tend to be luxury watch people, and I miss the bar “Somewhere in Augusta,” because the outdoor tables offered a great vantage point of the Windsor Jewelers parking lot.
You will always see a few nice specimens sitting in the parking lot of Windsor Jewelers while the owners are inside looking at the diamond encrusted timepiece they know they can’t afford. In fact, most people pour so much money into their classic ride they barely have the means to purchase a Timex.
Well, the guy I saw with an ascot exiting a classic Rolls Royce, probably could.
I was messaged today from a friend of mine, who later sent a picture of a brown Lamborghini Urus in traffic. While a questionable color choice, it was the first one I’ve seen in town.
At first glance, the car my friend took a picture of looked like it perhaps belonged to a Sheik from Yemen, they tend to like odd colors. However, the car had a decal displaying the letters “UP,” which is the code for the country where the vehicle is registered.
This car was registered in Ukraine, the country that remains at war with neighboring Russia. I hope that this $300,000 supercar wasn’t bought with the staggering sums of aid money America has been giving to that country, but if it did, it wouldn’t surprise me.
In fact, it wouldn’t have surprised me to see Hunter Biden behind the wheel!
While I haven’t had the chance to sit much and car watch this week, I have spent a lot of time on Washington Road when the tournament was in session. So far, I have seen a few Maybachs, Bentleys, countless Cyber Trucks and even a Porsche GT3 with a roll cage peeking up from the rear seat.
Careful of the speed bumps around here, visitors!
One brand of car that I am used to seeing almost lined up on Washington Road, Cadillac, is barely making any kind of a showing this week, except for the Escalade here and there.
The Augusta National has always had a good relationship with automotive manufacturers, and like with other partners, tends to form relationships that last for decades. Cadillac was the brand that was used for over 40 years until Mercedes took over the sponsorship spot in 2007.
True to form, neither of the parties released a much of a statement on the split, but insiders say that it simply boiled down to a business decision. Mercedes has become much more of an international brand and they likely offered more favorable sponsorship terms.
Johnson Cadillac, who provided the delivery of the vehicles used by golfers lo those many years ago, still had stacks of decals and license plates used back in those times. We stumbled across them when our school, Augusta Technical College, took over their old dealership as our training facility.
Today, I plan to find a nice spot on Washington Road with cold beer on hand, fantastic food, and an unobstructed view of the traffic coming off the course. I can always cross my fingers to see that Ferrari Enzo again, or maybe something even cooler.
What is the coolest car you have seen in Augusta while the tournament was in town? Let me know in the comments.
As for me, I will see you on the road!
