April | 2016 | drivetofive

Archive for April, 2016

2017 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Track Event in Phoenix

Posted in Arizona, Vehicle Reviews on April 27, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 543,115

Odometer (ILX): 161,603

There’s nothing like a little “horsepower high” to break up a mundane Tuesday! I escaped the office for a couple of hours recently to attend a track event at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona.

pass

The Ford Performance program – formerly known as SVT (Special Vehicle Team), and also formerly known as SVO (Special Vehicle Operations) is the company’s division dedicated to performance and race vehicles. Anybody else remember the long-gone 1998 Ford Contour SVT?

The performance program has recently undergone a lot of changes both in structure and in branding, and Ford has developed a new lineup of vehicles tailored around speed and performance for people who demand more get-up than the average Joe.

nicole_tyson

Many of those vehicles were on display at the track, all the way from the entry level Fiesta ST up to the supercar “GT” model which debuted recently and hasn’t yet gone on sale. Somewhere in the middle of that hierarchy lies the Mustang, and Ford’s engineers have gone to great lengths to make this one a viable contender against the competition.

briefing

Jim Owens, Marketing Manager at Ford Performance, gave our group of 25-30 individuals a run-down on the lay of the land. His organization’s goal is to instill the “addiction” for performance in consumers early on and work them through the product lineup as they mature and are able to move on to bigger and better offerings from the company.

interior

After some safety briefings and an introduction to the track layout, I was saddled up in the passenger seat of the 526-horsepower, 6-speed manual Mustang “Shelby GT350” beast and driven around by a professional driver from Ford’s race team based in Salt Lake City at Miller Motorsports racetrack. Finally I had the chance to do some of the driving myself. The rumble of the V8 powerplant was unlike anything I’ve driven recently. I found the clutch take-up to be intuitive and easy to balance. In a flash, I was already in 3rd gear and I stayed there for pretty much the entire driving portion, taking instructions from my passenger and doing my best to not make a fool of myself on the track.

tyson_mustang

I had a riot! The car revs willingly to the high end of the rev range because redline isn’t until 8,250 RPM. I had a great time pushing the car nearly that limit on the long straightaway and I found it to be a better-handling car than I’d expected. For a $48k entry level starting price, the Shelby GT350 is a helluva play toy for grown ups. Many thanks to Ford for the invitation to the event! Here is a short video showing brief highlights from my day.

Here are a few more photos from the past several days:

On Saturday morning, I went to Tucson and test-drove a clean 1994 Legend GS sedan 6-speed. Oddly enough, this car used to belong to my friend Ryan in Utah 5 years ago! I shared a walkaround video with him.

That afternoon, my friend Leif and I attended a historical tour of the sights in Phoenix surrounding a controversial murder case. Back in 1931, a woman named Winnie Ruth Judd killed her two best friends in a sort of dramatic love affair ordeal. She cut up the bodies, put them into large trunks, and shipped them to Los Angeles via the railway. She later was caught, convicted, and spent 40 years of her life in jail (though she escaped 7 times). What a story!

Our two-hour ride took us to some of the sights in town which were significant in the case, including the home of Winnie’s (married) boyfriend Jack Holleran which we went inside, and a drive-by of the original “murder house” in central Phoenix.

“Hip” Historian Marshall Shore led the tour

shore_luggage

Starting point was the historic (and also very hip) Clarendon Hotel

ILX with the Clarendon in the distance

The scene of the crime!

On Sunday, I had a lake day with friends at Lake Pleasant, a 12-square-mile lake formed from the Agua Fria river. We rented a couple of boats and spent the day exploring around. Here is the approach of Scorpion Bay Marina.

Half of our group on boat #2

I gave my friend Ira a scare. He tracks my location and saw me out in the middle of the water.

Part of the group. Living the Arizona dream!

There was some drama this week when my storage unit roll-up door was backed into.

Luckily, the car was far enough forward (plenty of room!) that nothing was damaged.

Hope everyone is having a great week! Getting closer to Friday!

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Press Preview: Pretty Pacifica in Paradise Valley

Posted in PAPA, Vehicle Reviews on April 22, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (ILX): 160,923

When I showed up to my 15-year high school class reunion last August in southern Utah, I realized just how big of a business minivans are. Gotta tote those kiddos around! Graduating class of 2000: doing our part to populate the world. The scary part is that kids who were born the year I graduated, are now in high school themselves. Reality check!

Chrysler engineers know a thing or two about minivans. Of course they do – they invented the minivan, way back in 1983. My family never had one – the most kid-friendly vehicle my mom ever drove was a 1988 Jeep Cherokee. But I rode around plenty in minivans belonging to other family members, like my aunt Jodi’s ride right here with my younger brother Bentley out front. This van was pretty “pimped” out for its time. It had a VCR & TV in the back!

I first saw the new Chrysler Pacifica at the Detroit Auto Show in January. The Pacifica shares its chassis with the Dodge Caravan and touts over 100 available safety and security features. The Uconnect Theater rear seat entertainment system is a far cry from the VCR in that pin-striped Caravan my aunt had back in the 80’s. Chrysler marketing executives call this a “no-compromises” minivan for today’s demanding buyers.

tyson_james

On Tuesday, I attended a special event for journalists from the Phoenix Automotive Press Association (PAPA) held at a resort called Lon’s at the Hermosa, in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Chrysler representatives Scott, Matt, and Angela were on-hand to give our group of about 15 people a high level overview of the new Pacifica and its many merits. Two pre-production vehicles were there for demonstration and driving, ranging from a low-trim entry level to the fully-loaded “Limited” which rings in at just shy of $47,000 including destination.

left_rear

Chrysler has made extensive efforts to set itself apart from the competition – namely, the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna. While there are other minivans in the marketplace (Kia Sedona, etc), from a market share perspective the big players are the Honda and Toyota. Minivans in general sell about 1/2 million units a year, so even though a lot of today’s families have shifted to SUVs and crossovers, the minivan is still an important market.

Matt told us there were 37 “segment firsts” launched in the new Pacifica. Its 287 horsepower V6 and 9-speed automatic give it a power advantage over the competition – in fact, it’s 40 horses stronger than the Odyssey. Pacifica touts a 360-degree “bird’s eye view” camera system and three available sound systems, maxing out with a 20-speaker Harmon-Kardon surround system that is guaranteed to wake up the neighbors. Maybe owning a minivan isn’t as “un-cool” as society makes it seem?

odyssey_stickerr

Interior amenities are spacious and versatile as would be expected from a vehicle in this segment. The second row seats fold completely flat and the Pacifica can reportedly accommodate 64 4×8 sheets of plywood. I don’t know of any moms & dads picking up that much lumber at Lowe’s but it’s nice to know the capability is there. The 3rd row of seats have power reclining, the tri-pane sunroof gives a glimpse of the world above, and the vacuum – yes, Chrysler has copied the HondaVac – actually has a longer hose than the Odyssey does. “You can vacuum a boat you’re towing, or another vehicle in the garage next to it,” Matt explained.

dash

Next came the discussion of my favorite feature: the “Are We There Yet?” App on the “UConnect” entertainment system. Kids in the back seats can see on the TV screens ahead of them exactly how much longer they have until reaching their destination. If you’ve ever been on an airline and seen a real-time map update with current location and ETA, the idea is the same here. Pretty clever, I must say.

screen

remote

Driving dynamics impressed me. The shift knob is a rotary style dial that I twisted into Drive and hit the gas. I found the power to come on smoothly and the Pacifica accelerated briskly for a vehicle of its size. The touch-screen audio and climate systems would take some getting used to, but luckily some of the functions also have duplicative buttons & knobs for those of us who don’t want to deal with a screen. Everything is intuitively laid out, including the gauge cluster with a large digital speedometer readout as well as an analog gauge to its right.

left_side

The overall Pacifica package is a well executed attempt to take a larger bite out of that minivan segment pie. Clearly Chrysler has done its research on what buyers want, and I won’t be surprised to see this one being well received by families everywhere. Now, what’s the change interval on that vacuum canister? Every 3,000 miles?

Many thanks to Chrysler for the invitation and up-close look at its newest people-hauler!

Our group assembled underneath the umbrellas

Matt McAlear, Senior Manager, giving us the run-down

View of the 2nd row of seating. Fancy piping & leather!

A few folks from our group taking notes on what they learned.

Thanks for reading!

Few pics from this week:

Lonely parking – the way it should be!

Date night at Tempe Marketplace

Have a great weekend!

14 Comments »

Legend Spy Shot Roundup #7

Posted in Legend, NSX, Spy Shots, Vigor on April 20, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 543,106

Odometer (ILX): 160,842

Happy hump day. The garden hose came out and the ILX got a much-needed bath on Sunday morning.

Later in the day I took the Legend to a neighborhood in Chandler, Arizona that has a street named Tyson.

It’s that time again for some spy shots! Here are the previous roundups for your viewing pleasure. These are all thanks to you, my loyal Legend hunters, who continue sending them to me on a daily basis.

Tim gets the grand prize of all Legend spotters for finding Ayrton Senna driving a 1991 “Twilight Blue Pearl” LS sedan for just a few seconds during a 51-minute video. Tim, you’re a winner! Look at 27:49 in this YouTube video.

We’ll kick this one off with a non-Legend photo. My good friend Conor in New York spotted this fully A-Spec’d out TL!

And here we go with the Legends:

Vigors

NSXs

SLXs

Preludes

7 Comments »

Group Road Trip to Skull Valley, Arizona & Kyle’s Pontiac GTO 100,000 Milestone

Posted in Arizona, ILX, Road Trip on April 16, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 543,032

Odometer (ILX): 160,566

Trip Distance: 253 Miles

One of these things is not like the others.

garage

No matter how hard James tried, he couldn’t get his weekly test vehicle, a 2016 Nissan Titan, to blend in with the rest of the participants on this weekend’s half-day jaunt to the Prescott National Forest in north-central Arizona. Maybe that’s because the Titan is a 3.5-ton, 20-foot-long behemoth compared to the cars it accompanied. No matter; we don’t discriminate. In fact, it was fun to get a look at Nissan’s fancy latest truck.

group

It was a perfect day to get out of town (when is it ever not?) so we rallied the troops around 10:00 in the morning and 7 of us headed north in search of cool weather, curvy roads, and tasty eats. Sounds like a winning formula for my kind of Saturday. Our hodge-podge of vehicles spanned a variety of types:

Brad: 2013 Audi RS5
Jack: 2006 Acura RSX 5-speed
James: 2016 Nissan Titan
Kyle: 2005 Pontiac GTO 6-speed
Tyson: 2013 Acura ILX 6-speed

Chandler and Rob also came along for the ride, and they swapped between the cars throughout the day.

i17

This was a special day for Kyle’s GTO as it surpassed the 100,000 mile mark not long after starting our drive. Since interstate traffic was moderately heavy and we had 4 other cars in tow, Kyle opted not to pull over to the shoulder but Rob as passenger was able to capture the odometer reading just in time. Kyle’s car was by far the loudest of our bunch with its roaring exhaust system that probably activates car alarms with just its burble.

kyle_100k

kyle_100k_odo

It wasn’t long after our fuel stop in Wickenburg on US Highway 93 that we veered eastward on Highway 89. Looming ahead of us was what we call the Yarnell Grade: a sharp-curved stretch of highway with two lanes in each direction that climbs from about 2,000 feet in elevation to about 4,700 feet.

yarnell_grade

Some of the turns are posted as low as 25 miles per hour so it’s quite a technical piece of road. Sadly, this is where James had a distinct disadvantage in his pickup truck. I was still impressed at how well he tossed it around given its heft.

winding_road

A Corvette club had parked its cars all the way down the main street in the tiny town of Yarnell, so we didn’t stop there but continued on to the junction about 8 miles down the road where we would head toward our destination of Skull Valley. Nestled in the mountains on Highway 10 lies a teeny little town of 743 people. While amenities are scarce – in fact, just one market – Skull Valley is only 20 miles from the larger town of Prescott so it’s not entirely isolated from civilization.

tyson_skull_valley

The town’s name comes from human remains that were found when the area was settled. Those remains were determined to have been the result of battles between the Native Americans and the early settlers in the 1860s.

gto_rsx

We snagged a few photographs and watched a freight train go clanking by, then changed things up a bit by swapping cars. I took the keys to Jack’s RSX, Kyle took my ILX, and Jack took Kyle’s GTO. Right off the bat I noticed a few things about the RSX that I fell in love with. The overall visibility is amazing thanks to thin A-pillars and a low hoodline. I love how the gauges are set up with zero mph / RPM in the 6:00 position on the dial.

skull_group

Since Jack’s car is not a Type-S, that means it only has 155 horsepower as opposed to the 201 that the S got. But you honestly can’t tell! The car revved excitedly and its light chassis felt nimble. The 5-speed gearbox has that perfect Honda seamlessness to it, and on some of the steeper grades I downshifted to 3rd or 4th gears to get the revs up. The steering wheel has a small diameter and good feel, and perhaps what surprised me most was just how tight and quiet the cabin was for being 10 years old. It made my 7-year-newer ILX seem so loud in comparison.

But, apparently Kyle liked my music selections while he was driving it…

prescott

Rosa’s Pizzeria in downtown Prescott was the next destination for our hungry bunch, so we stashed our vehicles in a 4-story parking garage a few blocks away and wandered over to grab a table. Our waiter had it pretty easy since 6 of the 7 of us ordered the exact same thing for lunch: The “Rosa’s Special” Chicken Martini. Chandler was the only one who had to go against the grain and make things difficult.

lunch

We made a quick visit to Lynx Lake on the way out of town and it was bustling with people out for Saturday recreation, then completed our loop on Highway 69 and I-17 back to the Phoenix area.

lynx_lake

Hope you enjoyed coming along for the drive! The rest of my photos are below.

Northbound on I-17

i17a

Chandler as passenger in the RSX

My ILX as seen from the sideview mirror of James’ Titan

Check that out! Look: a Sugar Daddy and a Big Hunk

Fuel stop at Mobil in Wickenburg

Heading up toward Yarnell on Highway 89

Next stop Kirkland, then Skull Valley, then Prescott. I covered Bagdad in another post.

These pumps in Skull Valley were out of order.

Lunch spot in Prescott

rosas

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Seeing Double: Arcadia Green 1994 Acura Vigor GS Twins

Posted in ILX, Vigor on April 14, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 543,029

Odometer (ILX): 160,207

Odometer (Vigor): 105,500

together2

Feast your eyes on some “BG-30P” code paint deliciousness! This here is a double-dose of a color that we all saw back in the 90’s that has long since been replaced by today’s boring silvers, grays, charcoals, and…. yawn.

Several weeks ago I bought a new T-shirt on blipshift.com that says “Alive With Five.” It felt appropriate that I wear the shirt to a meet-up on Monday night with newfound friend Chris in Scottsdale, Arizona who happens to be an old-school Acura 5-cylinder fan just like me.

My friend Ryan made a snide remark about how little I will probably wear the shirt.

Bridging the gap between the Integra and the Legend, the Vigor split the difference between 4 and 6 cylinders with its 2.5-liter, 176-horsepower inline-five-cylinder motor. I shared some history about the model when I picked up my own Vigor last July in Denver.

This middle sibling was forever overshadowed by its larger, more popular, big brother the Legend. The Vigor enthusiast network in general was just a lot smaller. While the Legend community has been able to support enough interest to host an annual meet every year since 2005, the Vigor club members held regional meets until about the early 2000’s and then the fire died out. Consider the fact that there were more than ten times as many Legends sold as Vigors.

Acura Legend sales, 1986 – 1995: 477,831 units
Acura Vigor sales, 1992 – 1994: 43,908 units

The Acura Vigor Club was an online community started in 1998-1999, right around the time that I was spending my teenage years browsing Legend.org (still alive for archive purposes) and HondaPrelude.com (long gone). In January 1999, a “Yahoo!” group was founded for the Acura Vigor and Legend Club.

vig_club

More and more members began joining the community at acuravigorclub.com, with “Timely Topics” monthly DIY tutorials being posted by contributors and with meets being organized in select regions. In 2005, the website hit its peak with about 100,000 total hits, including one specific day in March that had over 900 views. Here is a (grainy, tiny, characteristic of those early days) photograph of a meet in Seattle in the early 2000s.

In the decade since, the website has become a ghost town. Last updates were posted in 2007 but by then the Vigor model was already 13 years old and a good chunk of the Vigor fanbase had likely moved on to the wildly successful new Acuras being offered on the showroom floor, like the crowd favorite 3rd generation 2004-2008 TL.

tyson

“Chris” was one of the rare, few people who took interest in the Vigor model when it was near-new. In 1996, he bought his car with around 25,000 miles on it. Over the last 20 years, it’s gone from daily driver, to weekend cruiser, to pretty much sitting around all the time – now that he has 3 other vehicles and a motorcycle competing for his attention. Thus the reason why he finally decided, at 200,400 miles on the odometer, he’s considering letting his pride and joy go to the next worthy owner.

together1

I was impressed with the condition of his car from the moment I arrived. It’s clearly been cared for. A mechancial engineer by trade, he’s performed all of his own maintenance over the years – everything, in fact, except for the tire installations and balancing. The timing belt was changed 20,000 miles (and 8 years) ago. The radiator and battery are new, and he says he’d trust the car to drive across the country without thinking twice.

engine

“Nice Vig,” was Chris’ comment when he saw my car. And, I definitely return those sentiments. We took his for a spin and it was interesting to get used to not kicking at a clutch pedal, but it idled, ran, drove, and braked as smoothly as could be – even with twice the miles that my car has on it. Hope you enjoy seeing some of the photos of his car that I captured during my visit.

Best angle!

My own Vigor in the background.

Front end is remarkably rock-chip-free for 200,000 miles

I need that spoiler!

The 2004 BMW in the driveway is one of Chris’ newer vehicles

Extra mats in the trunk! I need!

Cognac-colored interior has held up well, minus the driver’s seat & console lid.

Rare finds in this kind of condition.

And I happened to be passed by a 1991-92 Legend sedan whilst on my way home!

legend_sighting

A few other bits & pieces today to catch everyone up. Cruise on by TSXTravels.com, and say hello to my friend Josh who is now only a mere 8,000 miles away from the big 500,000 milestone on his 2005 TSX!

I got my tires ordered for the ILX. I ended up going with Michelin Primacy 215-45-17s for $725. They’ll be installed in early May just before the Alaska departure. Michelin has a $70 rebate going on right now so I figured the timing was right to go ahead and get them ordered.

Check out my new cologne from Nordstrom:

My friend Jason seems to think it should smell like leather & burlwood. No such luck!

My mom flew in last night to get her G35. Here’s a video she captured of me pulling up to the airport to pick her up!

And she delivered a diecast model car (Chevy Nova) to my nephew for me when she arrived home with her G35 this afternoon. My brother sent me this pic. Love that kid!

becks

Catch ya later!

22 Comments »

A Million Mile Accord, Alaska Trip Planning, & Jack’s New RSX

Posted in Arizona, ILX on April 10, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 543,021

Odometer (G35): 20,246 (Mom’s new car still at my house til Wednesday!)

Odometer (ILX): 160,000

Sometimes just a simple piece of paper can bring back so many memories. I was rooting through a box this week in search of something and came across a Bill of Sale dated March 19, 2005 – just a little over 11 years ago – from when I sold my first car for a whopping $250. Yes, it ran and drove! Funny how I felt the need to clarify “No Warranty” on a car that was 19 years old and had 194,000 miles on it. It’s a little irrational (okay, downright crazy), but I actually do miss my 1986 Celebrity from time to time. Especially that plush velour front bench seat.

celebrity_bos

It’s been an Acura used car lot at my house as usual. Joining the crowd here Scottsdale, Arizona comes this 2005 TL. I helped a friend of mine sell it today for $8,500 with just 83,000 miles. Non-navigation, tan interior, new Michelins. The buyer got a pretty solid deal!

I’m only 6 weeks away from departing on a 7,800-mile, 16 day road trip to Fairbanks, Alaska with my friend Jason. Yes indeed, it’s time to stretch our highway legs and see the north country. Beginning on Friday, May 20th, I’ll be taking you – Wifi access & blogging time permitting – on a trip through 7 states and 4 provinces in my (now-160,000-mile) 2013 Acura ILX.

This trip will be a re-creation of the same journey that my dad and I took exactly 10 years ago in my Legend. In fact, I’m going to do my best to capture photos at some of the identical locations, like this welcome sign to the Yukon Territory.

Planning is well underway, as I’ll be having the ILX serviced prior to departure. I’m also having new Michelin Pilot tires installed next month and I’ll be taking 2 spare tires. I’m an Eagle Scout after all, so “Be Prepared” is a motto that I live by, especially when embarking on such a journey. Jason is similarly busy getting his Mazda ready.

Yesterday I did a little junkyarding in south Phoenix and came across this miraculously straight 1994 Legend sedan in Desert Mist Metallic. It’s a shame the interior was pillaged before I got to it, because I bet it was in really nice shape. The entire dashboard, in fact, had been removed, but from the stickers on the windshield I know that it had 169,000 miles on it and came from Acura of Peoria. Wild guess: Some original owner traded it in with a blown head gasket and the dealership sent it to the junkyard because it needed engine replacement.

I also found an old 1990 Integra sedan that reminded me of my family’s first Acura.

On the Integra topic, here’s a first look at my next car. This is a rare 1992 “GS-R” model in Aztec Green Pearl, owned by my friend Lance in the Seattle area. Lance has been performing an extensive restoration on this 234,000 mile car over about the last year or so, bringing it back to stock condition by sourcing and installing OEM suspension, wheels, exhaust system, and other items. The results speak for themselves. You could eat off this 1.7 liter engine!

Stock ride height means there’s a lot of fender well gap, but it looks “right” for a 1990s period Honda.

Remember automatic seatbelts?

gsr_int

These photos were taken today at HondaFest car show that Lance entered.

Looks great! And I should have my hands on this one within the next couple of months.

I haven’t forgotten about the 1993 L sedan. It still needs quite a bit of work but it starts up reliably.

My friend Devan visited this week from Fort Worth, TX and we grabbed lunch on his birthday.

And my friend Jack became the proud owner of a 2006 Acura RSX. He’d been looking for a reliable, cheap, fun-to-drive commuter to replace his 2002 Lexus IS300, so this fit the bill perfectly. Here’s a photo from the test-drive.

Seller Jacob is also a friend of mine. I was glad to be able to facilitate the deal!

And Jack drove off as a happy camper in his 5-speed RSX.

Finally, here’s a mileage achievement story worth seeing. Planet Honda in New Jersey has taken into the showroom a one-owner 1990 Honda Accord coupe that recently turned its one-millionth mile. The car looks great! And we can’t help but draw similarities to Million Mile Joe who also drove an Accord of the same bodystyle.

Video link here:

Over and out!

10 Comments »

Weekly Updates & “Serial Number One” – 1967 Honda N600 Restoration Project

Posted in ILX, Legend, NSX, Vigor on April 3, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend coupe): 543,021

Odometer (Legend sedan): 150,233

Odometer (Vigor): 105,477

Odometer (ILX): 159,320

It was 39 years ago when Honda made its entrance into selling passenger cars in the United States. The company’s first model, a simple (and teeny) “N600,” was cute and efficient. Little did the world know that it marked the beginning of an automotive power-player that would sell over 123,000 units in the month of March 2016 alone. Honda is big.

One special car – the first – is currently in the hands of “Merciless” Tim Mings, a southern California-based mechanic who is heralded as THE subject matter expert on Honda’s early cars like the N600, Z600, and S600 models which were the precursors to today’s Honda lineup. Some of you may recall the special little Z600 that I test-drove last year from my friend Scott’s collection in Palm Springs.

I’ll be following this restoration project very closely and hope you’ll do the same!

I have an assortment of updates from the last week or so to share today. It should come as no surprise that I’ve been playing with cars as much as time allows, so I’ll let the photos tell the story and keep this week’s blog entry short and sweet.

My friend Armando and his pup Sable visited from California. We took the NSX to breakfast.

Armando is the proud owner of two Subaru SVXs, a Mazda, RX-8 and a Mazda RX-4

My family members from Utah visited and soaked up the sun for a few days.

My friend Jeremy visited from Utah as well for a few days and picked up a ‘new’ BMW X5 diesel here.

I made an attempt at installing some spare “A-Spec” wheels on the ILX but found out they were the incorrect bolt pattern (5 x 120 instead of 5 x 114.3), which means they came off an Acura RL instead of a TL. Shucks, no new wheels for me!

Night drive in the NSX

“Cars & Coffee” in Scottsdale, yesterday. This huge event draws hundreds of high-end cars, every first Saturday of the month.

Quick pic with automotive spy photographer Brenda Briddy who was there

After C&C I took the ILX to explore a remote area called Rio Verde, northeast of town.

Most of Rio Verde’s population lives in the 55-and-older golf community.

I made a quick stop at McDowell Mountain Regional Park. It has over 80 miles of hiking trails so I’ll need to plan another visit back soon.

Stopped by “Legends” automotive repair shop. (Notice the sign)

Fun fact: This location at 2412 N Scottsdale Rd was once the Valley’s first Acura dealership, 30 years ago.

I have to wonder if the people who currently own & operate the business even know that history.

Mom’s G35 is still awaiting its new owner. She’s flying down a week from Wednesday to pick it up.

I went and grabbed the Vigor. This car will probably go in for a timing belt change in the next few weeks.

At the grocery store, I happened to park next to a 1992-93 Honda Accord in my same paint color, code BG-30P “Arcadia Green.”

Twinners!

That’s it for now. Have a great week everyone.

13 Comments »

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