drivetofive

Odometer (Legend sedan):  145,443

Odometer (Legend coupe):  530,701

I can’t believe I’ve been going to NALM for 10 years now!  Each time I come to this event it’s a giant family reunion.

Along with a few other long-distance travelers, I made a 430-mile drive across the hot desert from Phoenix and arrived in Thousand Oaks, California around 6:45 p.m. on Thursday evening, just in time for the meet & green and kick-off activities.  Master of Ceremonies Gabe Teran had developed a Legend-specific trivia game for the 30 or so participants in attendance.  Our brains were racked as he asked for specifications like horsepower and torque figures and year-over-year model changes.  I admit that even I, after having owned 9 Legends, could not answer many of his detailed inquiries!

It was a comfortable 72 degrees in the parking lot when we were outside shooting the breeze later in the evening.  Such a refreshing break from the oven that is my home.

Here are a few photos from that day’s westward drive on Interstate 10.  Thanks to TJ for capturing this one of Chris (in my sedan), me (in my coupe) and Alex on the road.

It’s a trip to watch my own car come up in the sideview mirror.

Lunch at Carl’s Junior in Quartzsite, just about 19 miles before crossing into California.  Chuck’s car, at far left, is a 1993 LS coupe 6-speed with only 31,000 miles on it.

Fueling up in Palm Desert, CA.  At one point on the trip, the 4 of us compared gas mileage and discovered that my GS sedan got the best of the group.  Here are the quantities of gasoline each of our cars took to drive the same distance (roughly 130 miles).

• Chris – 4.2 gallons
• Alex – 4.77 gallons
• Tyson – 4.72 gallons
• Chuck – 4.8 gallons

Alex stopped to get a picture at the border to CA.  He drove his car about 2,600 miles to get to this event.

Chris and I with an enthusiastic thumbs up after enduring some HEAVY delays on freeways 210, 134, and 101 approaching Thousand Oaks.  Kicking at a clutch pedal gets kind of old when you’re rolling in stop and go traffic!

Today, Friday, was where the fun really got started.  After feeding on breakfast from Hampton Inn, I headed out solo toward the American Honda main office in Torrance.  Traffic on the 405 freeway was, not surprisingly, flowing at a crawl or not at all.  I pulled up behind a Silver Moon Acura ILX at one point and it ended up being a couple of guys from Acura’s advertising agency, Mullen.  Sure enough, they parked right near me at the visitor lot at the Honda office.

A Crimson Garnet ILX 6-speed was sitting on display in the lobby.

I had a nice visit with Vince Manganiello from Acura Public Relations.

Sadly, during my visit I received a parking violation from Corporate Security for backing my car in!  Apparently that’s not allowed.  Lesson learned.  The best part was that the officer filled in “2000” as the year of my car.  Hey, I guess it looks 6 years newer than it is!

Next, it was time to cruise .8 miles down the road to the private Honda Collection Hall:  A facility where Honda has stashed away one-off and early production vehicles that are notable in the history of the Honda/Acura brands.  The gang of Legend drivers had already arrived – when I pulled into the parking lot, the Legends lined the parking lot as far as the eye could see.  Dave Heath who oversees the Auto Shows & Exhibits for Honda was kind enough to give our group some great background.  Then, he turned us loose to explore the facility and check out the cars.  Special vehicles of note were a yellow Integra Type R with only a few thousand miles on it, and the first ever 1994 Honda Accord built.

We pulled our Legends around to the back of the building for a photoshoot at a loading dock.  By 2:30 p.m., we were ready to roll out en masse and return to our host hotel in Thousand Oaks.  Traffic was the pits, as expected, but everyone made the 55 or so mile drive back safely (though it took almost two hours).

Here are some stats about the cars:

• 28 Legends, representative of first, second, third, and fourth generations
• 14 second generation Legend coupes
• 9 second generation Legend sedans
• 13 manual transmission cars
• 2 original owner cars:  Ben with a 1992 LS coupe and Steve with a 1995 L sedan

Grab bag of pics to follow!  Hope those of you who weren’t able to attend in person will enjoy these.

Chris’ arrival at the hotel.

Chris Martin, Tyson, Vince Manganiello

Chuck’s shirt reads “You’re Looking at a Legend.”

1986 Legend sedan on display

Thumbs up!

Catered lunch

Acura RLX on display outside.  The RLX is Legend’s successor.  I got the chance to drive & review one last year.

Dave, Tyson, Penny, and Ben

Checking out the Phoenix Red 1991 Legend coupe.  It had only 300 miles on it!

Dave getting comfortable in the 1991 NSX.  Looks good on you, Dave!

Dave also wins the award for coolest – er, hottest – engine bay.  He has airbrushed flames!

Photoshoot from behind the museum.

I couldn’t even fit all the cars in the camera viewfinder!!

I got to ride in the backseat of my own car on the way to tonight’s dinner at Toppers Pizza.  I like being chauffeured around!

Dinner group 1

Dinner group 2

It’s been a phenomenal day with friends!  Stay tuned — tomorrow we’re taking a drive up the canyons!

This entry was posted on July 25, 2014 at 10:54 pm and is filed under California, NALM. 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.