James Bond would be appalled. This is definitely not the way Jim Dunne worked. And Infiniti – well, they might have regrets about loaning me a brand new EX35 with just 500 miles on it for an extended spy mission, er, road trip, this summer. But it’s too late now, Infiniti, as I have no cell coverage out where I am, so I’ll see you folks later – assuming we’re still on speaking terms.

Summer is upon us, which means that I’ll be out covering a stretch of land from California almost to Texas as I try to sneak up on the auto industry’s most secretive engineers and their prototypes and test mules. For Leftlane, I’ll be dropping by whenever I have service to keep you posted on my latest finds, from the mundane to the shocking.

I’m sure Infiniti didn’t envision us loading up the EX35 (and another support vehicle) with everything imaginable, including a four-foot refrigerator, folding tables and enough Gatorade to hydrate a military platoon. In addition, our Lab-Aussie mix, Satchel, took over the front passenger seat, and Winston – a rambunctious one year-old Maine Coon cat, claimed a spot on the floor right under the dog. Ian Fleming would be turning in his grave – there’s nothing suave about this trip.

As the test engineers will tell you, we have a modus operandi far different from the other spy guys on the block. One of my shooters claims it’s my, uh, boobs (his words, not mine), but I like to think it’s my charming “we don’t know what to do with her” personality. Regardless, summer is my busy shooting season and I generally cover four or five states – driving at least 25-30,000 miles in a very short period of time.

Only a small number of the photos I take actually go up for sale, but just getting those perfect and revealing shots takes a lot of effort. The days are long, the weather is scorching and the scenery monotonous, but such is the life of an automotive spy photographer.

Week one is generally slow, but we started off stumbling on an Acura test group –once again catching the new ZDX. But as you can see from the pictures, the engineers were apparently more interested in shooting me. Maybe they think it will intimidate me? It hasn’t yet.

Then, as luck would have it, our nifty Internet air card’s battery exploded. Now, we don’t have connections in 85 percent of the places we go, but once we shoot pictures, we rush to send them to the media. Therefore, a nearly 300-mile round trip excursion through the desert Southwest was necessary to find a Sprint retailer.

The rest of the week turned out to be just as unpredictable: As I was exploring a nearly abandoned airstrip, two people climbed out of a Piper airplane with luggage in hand and assumed that “the hotel sent for me” to pick them up. With no other cars in sight, the Infiniti became an impromptu airport shuttle. Great planning, folks! And the EX became the vehicle of choice while we were out junkyard shopping. Here’s a peek at some of the offerings – eat your heart out, Hemmings.

Words and photos by Brenda Priddy.

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