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Archive for August, 2016

My New House in Central Phoenix: Introduction and Quick Tour

Posted in Arizona, House on August 28, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (U-HAUL Truck): 52,122

Odometer (Legend coupe): 544,457

Odometer (Legend sedan): 150,595

Odometer (Vigor): 105,948

Odometer (Integra): 237,259

Odometer (ILX): 180,646

Odometer (NSX): I don’t know! It’s coming back from my brother’s place in a few weeks!

I’ve moved into a garage. Well, not literally, but pretty much.

On Friday, August 26th, I officially closed on a new house that has more garage space than living space, and I’m totally okay with that. Allow me to introduce my residence in central Phoenix. Conveniently located in the up-and-coming “Uptown” area, this 1949 place started life as a simple, brick, 3-bedroom, 1-bath home. It was later remodeled to incorporate an additional bedroom, bathroom, and laundry on the east end. Then finally – and most importantly – a massive multi-car garage was tacked on and the existing carport was enclosed as well. Here was the photo from the for-sale listing that I first saw.

My (2 or 3) avid blog followers may recall that it was Friday, May 27th when Jason and I drove to the Arctic Circle in Alaska. Later that same day, my friend Rob in Phoenix sent me a text message saying that there was a home with a 5-car garage for sale near him. My interest was piqued but I was far too busy road tripping to think about real estate transactions. Besides, I was perfectly content in Scottsdale even though it meant renting out storage units in other parts of town for a couple of my cars. I’d been doing it for over 7 years and was used to the routine. Here was Rob’s text convo (a screen shot from his phone, and the photo is now missing).

The Alaska trip concluded and I got back to my daily grind without thinking twice about the Phoenix home. About a week later, Rob sent another text. “Price drop of $20,000 on the 5-car garage.” “Oh yeah,” I thought. “I should at least do a drive-by.” And I did so that weekend. I liked the home. While sitting in the car – my Legend sedan, as it were – in front of the house, I pulled out my phone and shot a quick email over to my friend (and real estate agent) Leif. That was June 11th. Here’s what I said:

The rest of the story – and it’s full of twists and turns, I assure you – I’ll leave for another day if I end up sharing it at all. But hundreds of emails, thousands of dollars, and almost three months later, I own the home.

Or rather, my mortgage company owns it, but my name’s on the paperwork! Here’s a summary of the timeline:

May 27 – Notified of the house
June 5 – Return from Alaska
June 6 – Price drop of $20k
June 11 – Emailed my agent
June 21 – Sellers accepted my contingent offer, my home listed
June 29 – Lowered my price $4,500
July 8 – Lowered my price $5,000
July 18 – Lowered my price $5,000
July 27 – Offer accepted
August 4 – First buyer fell through
August 8 – Back-up buyer’s offer accepted
August 12 – Inspection performed
August 26 – Final repairs completed, both properties closed!

It really was a miracle that things came together in the time that they did. I cannot say enough about the level of professionalism and skill of my real estate agent, Leif Swanson. He was so organized and on the ball. Every meeting we had, his paperwork was filled out in advance and he had the ultimate of respect for my time.

Here’s the verbatim summary from the for-sale listing of my new home:

Beautiful 4 Bed, 2 bath, 1552 sq ft, 5 car garage (split into 3 separate garage units, 2/2/1) lovingly remodeled by artist and engineer. Large back yard, fully landscaped with garden/utility shed, w/ irrigated lot. Split, open floor plan, neutral color palette, 6″ baseboards & crown molding. Large screened patio, breezeway, dusk to dawn outdoor lighting. Interior tile flooring, newer dual pane windows, shutters/blinds, soft water unit, electric hot water tank, and updated 200 Amp electric service. Renovations have been legally permitted & approved through the City of Phoenix. Open kitchen offers pantry, Granite Island, stainless French door refrigerator, and in-island convection oven. See Doc tab for list of additional items to convey.

The property itself is a corner lot with over 10,000 square feet in area — twice as large as the piece of land I sold in Scottsdale. Can you say yard maintenance? That will be a new experience for me! Guess it’s time to start shopping for a Honda lawnmower.

I wasted no time in having company over, as my friend Branson flew down from Salt Lake City to spend the weekend with me. Following are just a few of the many photos sharing the events of this exciting transaction!

Check the 6-minute video for a full tour. Be sure and watch to the very end for a fun blooper.

Home before remodel (taken from Google) – May 2014

After remodels – June 2016. Extreme makeover?

U-HAUL time! I put 78 miles on this thing and it took 2 trips to get my furniture transported.

Retrieving the last load from Scottsdale.

This is how my die-cast model cars were transported. More on that in a second!

Starting to get settled in.

Retrieving the Legend sedan from the storage unit where it had lived for the last 2 years.

Clean-up time at the Scottsdale home!

The banner was the last thing to come down.

Unloading at the new house, with some help from Rob and his Ford Escape.

James paid us a visit in his Fiat that day.

Visit from Lance from Seattle who I bought the Integra from.

Enjoying my back patio.

Saying goodbye to the Scottsdale place one last time.

Friends Chandler, James, Jack, and Rob at the new pad

Following up with Charlie and Cindy, who I bought the new place from. They’d left me detailed (and laminated) notes on each of the plants on the back patio, with care instructions!

Charlie and Cindy were great. They’ve even now sent me photos from throughout the home’s remodel! There was a fireplace removed, a wall pulled down, and the original casement windows were repurposed as a gate in the backyard.

Original windows

Gate to alleyway

The final transaction details came to me via text. The deal was final as of 2:01 p.m. on Friday the 26th!

Making it official with a key handoff. My neighbor Drew took the photo for us.

This is now the first time in over 4 years of ILX ownership that the car will have a garage space.

Removal of the for-sale sign the following morning.

Visit from Justin

Climbing on top of the roof with Branson to find a new home for the model cars.

Perfect!

Pulling the Vigor out onto the back driveway for a day-trip.

James and his mom paid a visit, too.

Official change-of-address confirmation received! Pretty sweet!

Now, time to try out some of the neighborhood cuisine…

Come visit me!

48 Comments »

Quick Trip: “The Quail” Motorsports Gathering in Monterey, California

Posted in California, Car Show on August 21, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 544,256

Odometer (ILX): 180,000

Happy weekend! I spent a day rubbing shoulders with the automotive elite at an exclusive motorsports show called The Quail in Carmel, California on Friday. Some 3,000 entry tickets were pre-sold at $600 apiece. I was lucky to score one for free, thanks to prior involvement with the NSX Club of America and the fact that Acura is a major sponsor of the event. It was a feast for the eyes, ears, and tastebuds.

From the moment I showed my credential and was given a site map / lanyard, I turned my gaze to the entrance of the event. Immaculately manicured lawns were lined with brightly-colored supercars and exotics. Event workers dressed head to toe in white apparel flanked the entryway.

This was not just your everyday “car show” in a Home Depot parking lot with people plopped down on camp chairs and shooting the breeze. Instead, wait staff brought around wine, champagne, and caviar. There were 5 or 6 different tent pavilions with free regional-themed food and live music. And I don’t think any vehicle on display had a value of fewer than six figures. Many were seven.

I made the rounds as I worked my way toward the large Acura display and was greeted by a couple of colleagues who were already there: Chris Willson from Science of Speed, and May Lee, the VP of the NSX Club of America. On display was an elevated white platform with the Acura Precision Concept in the middle, with the NSX GT3 racecar on the left and a ‘street’ NSX at right. Around 11:00 a.m., seasoned racecar driver Dario Franchitti arrived for some interviews. I shook his hand and we talked a little. He’s no stranger to fast cars, having won 4 Indy races. He’s ordered a “Nouvelle Blue Pearl” 2017 NSX which will be delivered to him later this year.

Right down the street, the Bonhams collector car auction was taking place all day. My friends Scott and Sandy were selling their 1959 Mercury Park Lane – lot number 74 – and hoped for a good outcome. I caught a shuttle ride over there to meet up with them. The entire area was bustling with people, music, and activities – with auction bidding coming over the loudspeaker in a British accent. “Nine hundred fifty, do I have nine hundred fifty?” he’d ask. Seriously? $950,000 – people spend that kind of money on cars. The most expensive car sold this week in Monterey was a 1955 Jaguar D-Type that went for $19,800,000 at RM Sothebys Auction on Friday night. Pocket change.

The quick in-and-out Monterey trip capped off with a car event that differed greatly from The Quail. It was called Concours d’LeMons, and it was a tribute to “the oddball, the mundane, the truly awful of the automotive world.” Scott, Sandy, and I cruised in their Mini Cooper over to check out the festivities in Seaside on Saturday morning. The Concours is free and “you get what you pay for.” This tongue-in-cheek poke at the hoity toity Pebble Beach and Quail crowds seems little a little more my style. We saw an Amphicar, a couple of AMC Pacers, and of course a Yugo on the grounds. My friend Jason Cammisa from Motor Trend was on-hand as one of the judges.

And with that, I was dropped at the curb of the cute but functional 4-gate Monterey airport and shed my fleece sweater, knowing that in about 2 hours I’d be back in the desert’s inferno and dealing with nearly twice the temperature. Thanks for coming along for the adventure! And, many thanks to the folks at Acura for making it possible for me to attend. Here’s a very short video, along with some of the other photos I took.

Porsche-mania: Cars for sale at Bonhams.

Breakfast is served

Ultra rare BMW “Z1” with only 34 kilometers on it. This went for $90,000.

Ferrari something-or-other that’s worth more than any home I’ll ever own.

Love these lines.

Hey, finally a red car I can relate to. This 1991 NSX with 85,000 miles looks showroom fresh and belongs to Acura headquarters.

A few celebrity sightings, including this one with Acura’s Chuck Schifsky.

RealTime’s Peter Cunningham, whose collection I visited in Milwaukee last month.

Science of Speed’s Chris Willson

Acura PR’s Gary Robinson

A few folks from Hagerty Insurance, including Jonathan Klinger who inspired this blog 5 years ago.

Like the colors of Skittles candy.

With my buddy Donny from Cadillac, leeching off the free food at the Rolls Royce booth.

Feasts for the eyes, too.

Acura CEO Jon Ikeda – a friend of mine since his days with the Acura Design Studio.

Scott and Sandy’s 1959 Mercury with 40,000 original miles, which went for $40,000.

Scott and Sandy themselves. Thanks for the hospitality, guys!

As seen from the parking lot of the Concours d’LeMons. Hey, wait?

The original owner of this 1987 Chevy Cavalier was especially proud of it. And he’d driven it all the way from Michigan!

Before you go, check out the website of author Darius Nabors. He and his friend Trevor set out 59 weeks ago to visit all 59 national parks in 59 weeks. They’ve achieved their goal! I learned about Darius while thumbing through the American Airlines magazine on my flight from Phoenix to Monterey on Thursday night. Congratulations, Darius!

21 Comments »

My Car Went to Idaho Without Me, Some Attic Finds, and a Road Trip to the Landfill

Posted in ILX, Road Trip on August 14, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 544,176

Odometer (ILX): 179,669

Statistics can be fun. I never thought I’d utter (or type) those words when I took Stats as a sophomore in high school, but today I’m a numbers junkie and I enjoy them – especially in automotive applications. Like this: In an AutoTrader search query on August 9, 2016, I pulled up all the 2013-2015 Acura ILX models for sale in the country. Here’s what I found:

863 automatics (83,033 highest miles)
27 manuals (63,578 highest miles)

So 27 manuals out of 890 total cars = 3%. That makes my car pretty rare.

I have to admit, my conscience has gotten to me: In recent weeks, some of the miles on the ILX weren’t “earned” by me personally. My friends Jack and Chandler borrowed the car for a 2,166-mile, 5-day road trip to Boise, Idaho and back for a wedding. When flight pricing didn’t look reasonable and attendance was critical (Chandler was a “best man”), I offered up the ILX to them because it’s a reliable and fuel-efficient car for long trips. And you know the miles don’t scare me a bit.

The only thing I asked in return was that Jack take and share a few photos from along the way, and that he did! Here’s the route they took, with the Utah leg northbound and the Nevada (return) leg southbound.

Lots of the eastern Nevada area is foreign to me. I’ve been a few places out there, like Wendover during my open-road race in 2007, and the town of Rachel, when I toured the Extraterrestrial Highway around Area 51. As it turns out, I’m probably not missing a heck of a lot though. Jack sent a photo from the entry to Wells, Nevada: “Gateway to the East Humboldts.” Originally named for a swampy area near town along the Humboldt River, it got its start as a passenger train stop along the transcontinental railroad.

The historic El Rancho Hotel there has lots of history, having been opened from 1952 to 1980. Currently there’s not much happening there, but luckily it hasn’t been left completely to ruin. Note that the El Rancho Hotel is not to be confused with the similarly-named Hotel El Rancho, which is in Gallup, New Mexico. I visited that back in 2013.

Historic pic

Today

Jack reported that much of the drive looked something like this. I told him to go ahead find out what the ILX’s speedometer was governed at. I’m not sure if he did or not, but on a road like that, how could you NOT be tempted to have a little fun?

Next they arrived in Ely. It’s a town about four times larger than Wells, but still only home to about 4,200 people. This town is (or was) a key stop along the railroad. A steam locomotive in the background of the old train station pays homage to that past. Ely (pronounced “eely”) was a boom town in the early 1900s thanks to the discovery of copper. This photo was taken in front of the Northern Nevada Railway Museum.

Ely lies at the eastern end of U.S. Route 50 which was named in 1986 by Life Magazine as “The Loneliest Road in America.” That just makes me want to drive the entire 408-mile stretch of it! Adding that to my road trip destination list right now, in fact.

Thanks to those travels, Jack and Chandler brought me back a few souvenirs in the form of slaughtered bugs. I took care of them promptly the next day. Wouldn’t want them to bake in!

This is how you do summer in Phoenix.

I’m in the process of cleaning out my house for a potential move (I’ll know this week if things are final, then I’ll spill the beans accordingly). But after spending most of my Saturday indoors boxing things up, I decided it was time to brave the heat and climb into the attic to see what kind of relics had been stashed up there. My iPhone overheated – that’s how warm it was up there.

My home was built in 1979 and has been updated very little since then. I’ve lived there for almost 8 years. The attic was a storage area for 5 boxes of Christmas decor that I needed to bring down. But while I was up there, I decided to root around a little and see what else I could find. The access point is a trap-door style ladder in the garage, akin to the one Clark Griswold uses in National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation.”

Well, looky here. I found some luggage up there that’s not mine. This is a “Lady Baltimore” suitcase with an American Airlines tag on it. Google reveals that this brand of luggage was big in the late 1950s. Oddly enough, it’s locked and I don’t have a key. Feels empty inside but I need to get in there somehow anyway just because my curiosity is getting the best of me.

I also found some steel-toed boots up there. Again, not mine.

And a STOP sign. Where in the world did the prior owners of my home get that? It’ll make a nice addition to my future garage anyway.

My favorite find was this poster. I’ve had it since I was about 13. “Justification for Higher Education” with a series of fancy cars and a nice oceanfront home. About 20 years later, I’m pretty much there – but minus the ocean, and with vintage Acuras instead of Porsches and BMWs.

The ILX got landfill duty to transport and dispose of a bunch of lumber and miscellaneous garbage that I piled up. I think I was the only person out there roaming around in the trash and mud in an Acura. But until I get a pickup truck, this is the best I can do!

I even felt compelled to put together a 3-minute video about my landfill experience. Riveting, it is not. But if you’re so inclined:

This coming Thursday night, I’m off to Monterey, California to “The Quail” Motorsports Gathering. It’s part of Monterey’s week-long focus on automobiles and a very exclusive event, as only 3,000 tickets are made available. Face value of each? $600! Luckily Acura is a major sponsor this year and I scored a ticket for free thanks to helping out with last year’s NSXPO.

Have a great week!

18 Comments »

Legend Spy Shot Roundup #8

Posted in Legend, Spy Shots on August 9, 2016 by tysonhugie

Greetings!

I guess I might as well kick this draft post out the door. I’ve added a few photos tonight that tallied it up to an even 80 Legend sightings. My last Roundup was posted on April 20th. So in fewer than four months, I’ve received 120 total cars. That comes out to a little more than one car per day hitting my cell phone or email. Here today, courtesy of you my readers and friends, I bring you:

80 Legends
11 NSXs
11 Vigors
3 TLs
3 ILXs
7 Preludes
1 CL
1 RSX
1 Integra
1 EL
1 European Accord

A few winners to feature as we kick things off:

My favorite picture in the lineup is brought to you by Rob, who had traveled to Hawaii for work and who made a special visit to the local Acura dealership in Maui to pick me up a license plate. Thanks, Rob!

Second place goes to James, who even during his vacation in Paris this summer, managed to find a pretty nice looking second-generation coupe. I wonder if this car is still there. As of July 1st (just a little after James’ trip), all cars older than 1997 were banned in Paris as a smog-control measure. Yikes.

And I can’t remember who sent me this one (pipe up!), but it somehow captured both a Legend and a 2016+ ILX in the same frame. Nice snag!

Here are the remainder of the Legends, in random order.

Here we go with the NSXs

And the Vigors

A few TLs

Some ILXs

A handful of Preludes

And everything else!

Whew! Thanks for playing!

23 Comments »

Tribute to Million Mile Joe, Home Improvements, & Car Updates

Posted in Arizona, Blog, ILX, Integra, Legend, Milestones on August 6, 2016 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 544,118

Odometer (Vigor): 105,807

Only in Arizona could a church use this as an advertising ploy! I’m tempted to convert.

First, a tribute to a man who inspired many. “Million Mile” Joe LoCicero of Maine became a hero of mine when he and his 1990 Accord reached a million miles back in the fall of 2011. Coincidentally, that was right around the same timeframe when my Legend reached half that distance. Unfortunately, Joe recently passed away but he will be missed. As Jason of Driven for Drives put it, “That was a good run.” Joe, we salute you!

I was able to track down the VIN to Joe’s Accord, and (nerd that I am) I couldn’t resist running a Carfax report just to see what it looks like when a car’s 6-digit odometer effectively resets itself to zero.

As expected, the title history shows ‘branded’ since the odometer mechanically can’t even show a 7th digit. (Reminds me of my 1986 Celebrity which only had FIVE digits on the odo).

The Accord was in for service in April 2011 at Berlin Honda in Portland, Maine at 970,333 miles. The next time we saw an odometer reading, it was almost two years later, at Auburn Motor Sales when the readout was 2,707 miles. Mileage Inconsistency, says Carfax. Well, duh!

The most recent Carfax entry on Joe’s old Accord was in December of last year, at 3,341 miles, when the car was purchased by someone in Jefferson, South Carolina. I’m not sure where the car is today nor who’s driving it, but I hope it’s still getting some time on the open road and not mothballed to a museum where it will dry up and deteriorate.

On the subject of Carfax, I was glad to see that my recent Integra’s emissions pass now shows up, so it’s no longer tarnished by that failure when I brought the car to Arizona earlier this year.

My apologies for sporadic blog posts in recent weeks as I’m still underwater with home and career activities. It seems the road tripping has taken a back burner. My home in Scottsdale, Arizona is on the market and I’ve taught myself how to do some basic repairs.

I was quite proud of some drywall repair results, and I spent an entire evening doing a repaint on my guest bedroom which turned out pretty flawlessly. Here a friend captured me attempting some bathroom updates whilst multi-tasking with my work laptop.

I ended up with more paint on my hands and shorts than on the wall, I’m pretty sure.

It’s yet TBD if I’ll be getting the “dream house” I have my sights set on, but I’m crossing fingers and hoping so. It would be great news from a car-parking perspective as it has lots of garage space.

I had an electrician at my home correcting a few small things on Friday afternoon. I was in the kitchen and he was in the other room working on a light switch. “All those cars outside yours?” he asked. “Yeah, I have six cars.” He responded, “What’s that, you fix cars?” “Uhh, yeah, that’s right,” I said. Sometimes I’d just rather not explain the car-collecting craziness.

This week I visited my friend Mirel at his new shop where he’s started a used car dealership. On site were 3 Legend coupes and a 1992 Dodge Stealth (I’ve always liked those).

Cool plate!

All these Legends are 6-speed manuals. Mirel has the right idea!

My friend Chris in Maryland has a “twin” car to my Legend sedan. Awhile back we both decided to go out for a special treat in our own way. Though separated by 2,009 miles, I enjoyed my iced caramel macchiato and Chris enjoyed his strawberry shake. My photo on top, his on the bottom. It’s interesting how the lighting conditions can change the color so much. In person, they’re identical “Desert Mist Metallic” paint codes.

I extend THANKS to a couple of my friends and readers! Jason recently had this awesome canvas print made up from my photo at the Arctic Circle back in May.

And Tim mailed me these sweet posters from a Honda museum in Ohio capturing the race team. Looks like I have plenty of art to adorn my garage now!

The Legend is getting ready for its trip to Atlanta this September. I’ll be gone for a full week.

And the ILX is in the hands of a couple of friends this weekend in Boise, Idaho.

Green with envy. These ones want a road trip, too.

The NSX is still in southern Utah and my brother had his friend Grant from Renu Auto do a full detail on it. The paint is finished off with an “Optimum Gloss Coat” paint coating. Results speak for themselves!

Looking forward to bringing this one back to AZ later this fall.

Lastly, you all know I have my “Spy Shot Roundup” posts on a regular basis. In all my years of collecting spy shots from people, I’ve had the same car submitted by multiple people before. Like twice. But in recent weeks, FOUR DIFFERENT SPIES have sent me this 1992 Legend L sedan wearing Wisconsin plates! The owner has to be wondering by now why she’s being followed by such a skilled group of paparazzi!

From Beau, July 16th, 2016

From Jack, July 20th, 2016

From Matt, July 21st, 2016

From Kyle, August 1, 2016

Unreal! I’m bound to run into this one eventually!

Check out our wacky late-summer “monsoon” weather. This 17-second video shows a courtyard at my office on Friday. First, getting torrential rains, and later – within a couple of hours – with blue skies and sunshine. Make up your mind, Mother Nature!