Sin City
Odometer: 513,556
Looking pretty good tonight since I washed & waxed it on Saturday morning! This is my kind of parking lot. Empty.
The Legend took a chill pill in the garage while I traveled the 287 miles to Las Vegas, Nevada over the weekend with some friends. There’s no interstate connecting Phoenix and Las Vegas (yet) but the highway system is always getting better and it’s a straight shot up Hwy 93 for the most part. The city was bustling with Memorial Day tourists like myself.
Las Vegas is a destination that my Acura has visited frequently in the 9 years I’ve owned it. For the first couple of years, I would regularly travel about 100 miles each way from where I was living in southwest Utah to have my oil changes done at Falconi’s Acura. It was a long drive just to have car maintenance taken care of, but without a true Acura dealership in the community (though, we did have Honda) I welcomed the chance to road-trip.
In fact, Falconi’s Acura was the first place I had my car serviced after I bought it. Here’s the receipt from when they worked on the car at just 97,008 miles on the odometer, back in April, 2003.
I’ve been through Vegas a number of times with the Legend over the years.
In October 2006, I took this series of pictures while I was rolling through there on my way from Utah to Arizona. My car had the 19″ Racing Hart wheels installed at the time. I still have these wheels but they need tires so I haven’t used them much.
Mandalay Bay and Luxor casinos in the background
Excalibur
New York, New York
Las Vegas hosted the 3rd annual National Acura Legend Meet (NALM) in 2007. About 25 Legends congregated at the Falconi’s dealership for a photoshoot as part of the event’s festivities. I had traveled with a caravan of 5 other Acura fanatics from the PHX area.
These people are like family to me! We all share a love of a great automobile.
Luxor in the background at night. My car was in the foreground with the 19″ wheels again.
And a shot from yesterday with my friends before we departed. The famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign has been a landmark at the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard (“The Strip”) since 1959. I’ve always wanted to stage my Acura in front of it for a picture but never had the chance.
Rustin, Tyson, Brady, Beau. These guys just roll their eyes at my Acura obsession!
Summer’s heating up and Acura’s got a smokin’ new ride in dealerships that you may start seeing on the road. The 2013 ILX is now on sale!
Here are a few more pictures I took at the National Press Launch event in Scottsdale, Arizona when I got some firsthand experience with this car.
Pictured below are: My friend Chuck’s ultra low-mileage 6-speed Legend coupe, which I’ve talked about before, parked next to a 2nd generation Acura TL and this new Crimson Garnet 2013 ILX that I was driving at the event. The newest member of the family fits right in!
Another fun color that’s all-new for model year 2013: Fathom Blue. The picture doesn’t do it justice. This car is stunning!
Check out the Build & Price utility on Acura.com if you want to customize an ILX of your own.
drivetofive 
May 30, 2012 at 10:18 pm
“There’s no interstate connecting Phoenix and Las Vegas (yet) but the highway system is always getting better”
Az has been in a constant state of free way building since I was first down there in 1983! Hurry up and finish those free ways!
NOT taking the coupe on a road trip? How the heck did THAT happen!?
May 30, 2012 at 11:00 pm
I know! It actually worked out perfect to ride along with friends because I’d just finished washing & waxing the coupe so it was able to stay clean and tucked away all weekend. I fully agree on the need for some big infrastructure improvements between PHX-LAS. The new bypass bridge on Hwy 93 at Hoover Dam was a huge leap forward, but we need a lot more. Hopefully you can road-trip it down here to the SW sometime soon!
May 30, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Hi, I’d like to custom order an ILX please? Haha! One of these days…. Hi Ho Silver just turned over 95K.
Never a dull weekend with you around, as I am sure your buddies can attest. I did enough relaxing for you, too, this past weekend — and wore my Acura hat in your honor. Any predictions when and where for The Legend’s 555K milestone?
P.S. I like the look of shoes with no socks. New shoes? They are like car tires, you know, and eventually wear out. (wink)
May 30, 2012 at 11:01 pm
Yes, thanks for sharing your Acura hat modeling skills! Perhaps I should feature said picture on this here blog! 555k’s time and place is yet TBD. Those are indeed new shoes. Etnies from a store at Tempe Marketplace called Tilly’s!
May 31, 2012 at 3:11 am
I sure do love the looks of that new Fathom Blue from here. Can’t wait to see it in person someday soon, and know just what you’re talking about, Tyson!
May 31, 2012 at 6:49 am
Tyler, I tried playing around with the time stamps but they’re still not cooperating! Yes, Fathom is a real eye-catcher! Hope your week is going well, my friend.
June 1, 2012 at 7:22 am
Fathom Blue huh? Neat name- similiar to Kinetic Blue? Still love the ’08 TL-S in that color as you know 🙂
June 1, 2012 at 7:59 am
Yeah, Marc. I’d actually say the Fathom is quite a bit darker than Kinetic – it’s more of a royal blue. Still very stunning in direct sunlight. I’ll always love Kinetic! There’s someone at my office who’s been parking a KBP TL-S next to my Legend a few times a week. I drool on it every time.