drivetofive

Odometer (ILX):  52,517

I’ll never forget the day I met Mirel.  It was a beautiful sunny springtime Phoenix day in 2006 and I was cruising eastbound on Dunlap Avenue in Glendale, Arizona in my 1994 Legend coupe.

To my delight, I saw approaching in my sideview mirror what appeared to be another Legend.  Its red paint was eye-catching.  I slowed down just slightly so that the Legend following me would get closer and pass by on my left.  Sure enough, up drove a super-clean Milano Red 1994 L coupe with Mirel at the wheel.  We stared at each others’ cars as we rolled alongside each other, and then I made the gesture of “pull over!”  He knew what I meant.

Soon we were standing next to our cars in a parking lot and exchanging contact information while talking about Legends.  Since that day, Mirel and I have remained good friends.  His Acura ownership experience began long before he bought that red coupe.  He previously owned this green Integra.

And also this Rosewood Brown Metallic 1991 Legend L coupe.

Below are pictures from a very small (3-car) Legend meet in Phoenix on March 1, 2006.  My Legend had about 210,000 miles on it at the time.  I can’t remember exactly where this summit is but I need to get back up there for another round of pictures soon.

The Sherwood Green 1994 L sedan in the middle belonged to our friend Chris.

We got creative with the pictures and climbed up on the hillside for a new angle on things.

Hoods down, now.

Mirel’s Milano Red coupe was an automatic.  Those chrome wheels gave it plenty of bling.

At that time, my Legend was wearing 17″ wheels from a 2004 Acura TL.  I also had a McCulloch 6000K HID headlight kit and some European Domestic Market (EDM) clear corner lenses installed.

Mirel’s red coupe was sold not long after that first meet-up, when he picked up a super clean 1994 LS 6-speed in a highly sought-after black on black color combination.  Soon, however, his young family outgrew the car and it was also sold two years ago.  As of last week, Mirel is now back in the Legend game.

This is his 1993 LS coupe 6-speed in Granada Black Pearl with Ivory Interior.  The car has only 110,000 miles on it.  That comes out to just 5,500 per year over its 20 years of life.  Low mileage!  Mirel found the car listed on Tucson craigslist and called the seller right away.  That night, he made the purchase and drove it home to Phoenix (about a 125-mile trip).  He called me from the road and I could sense his excitement.

This car is a rarity with that kind of mileage.  He gave me the key and I drove it around the block.  It sure does ride nice and smooth.  All the gears were flawless, the clutch had plenty of life, and the suspension & steering were tight.

Aside from a few tears on the driver’s seat, the rest of the interior is in excellent shape, including the factory floormats.  I couldn’t find any cracks in the clearcoat on his burlwood center console trim.

The Type II engine is barely broken in.

A few cosmetic flaws, including the clearcoat deterioration on the tops of the roof & trunk lid, will soon be addressed.  For now, Mirel is just thrilled to be back behind the wheel of a Legend.

Congratulations my friend!  And welcome back to the family.

Here’s what my next 6 days will look like!  I’m traveling to the 9th Annual National Acura Legend Meet (NALM) in Asheville, North Carolina in my 1994 Legend coupe.  I know my car is ready for these 3,922 miles.  But am I?

Stay tuned as I’ll make every attempt to post each night at my planned stops along the way (flags on the map).  Northern leg is the outbound; southern leg is the return.

Off I go!

This entry was posted on August 20, 2013 at 8:01 pm and is filed under Legend, Reader's Ride. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.