NALM 2019 Registration is Live! Legend Anniversary, HPJ Visit, & Tucson NSX Event
Odometer (Legend coupe): 565,337
Odometer (Legend sedan): 160,602
The time has come! The National Acura Legend Meet, otherwise known as NALM, is accepting participant registration for its 15th annual event. Launched in 2005 in Dallas, Texas, NALM has been held in 14 cities around the country and this October will have its first event in Florida. Here is a blog what shows photos and videos from each year / location.
Hosting this year’s event will be Alan Jackson, Alex Alperovich, Chris Miller, Thomas Stinson, and myself. The festivities will kick off on Wednesday, October 9 in Ormond Beach along the Atlantic coastline, with a full roster of activities concluding on Saturday evening with a dinner and awards ceremony. For me it’ll be a 5,000+ mile road trip, but I’m up to the challenge and excited to drive Interstate 10 end-to-end across the country.
Here is the registration link on Google Forms. The cost is $85 through the end of August, and the fee includes a T-shirt, NALM-sponsored food events, access to all activities, lanyard with name badge, sticker, and awards/prizes. Keep an eye on the forums for more information about schedule and other announcements.
Special thanks to Jason of Pawela’s Garage for some awesome graphic design including the above logo & below announcement!
There are all sorts of anniversaries taking place. I’ve now had my Legend coupe for 16 years and put around 470,000 miles on it. I decided to drive it to work on the anniversary date, March 26, and snapped a photo before heading to the office.
Current odometer:
I was pleased to share the anniversary date with Patricia, the original owner of the car, who reported that she was enjoying her time in South America and wished me another happy “sweet 16.”
I also heard from Acura General Manager, Jon Ikeda, who wrote a very nice and meaningful email about how proud he is of the vehicles themselves as well as the people who manufacture them. This guy knows what’s up!
Mom even made cupcakes for the occasion. Thanks, mom!
The Arizona region was happy to have a special guest in our presence earlier in the week: Jason “HondaPro” Richmond of Chicago was passing through the area and joined a Taco Tuesday meet up at Dos Gringos in Tempe. I stopped by to greet everyone briefly.
Over the last 7 years, Jason has been a traveling “brand advocate” for Honda – meeting with dealerships, training their staff, and building a massive social following / community for brand awareness. Here he was chatting with Chris Sadowski, who recently completed a right-hand-drive conversion on his 2G Integra.
Jason’s Civic Type-R is the only one in the country painted yellow.
Yesterday morning, I made the 2-hour drive to Tucson bright and early in my NSX for an event hosted by Chapman Acura. The dealership provided hospitality and refreshments for about 20-25 cars including a surprisingly high volume of second-generation (2017+ NSX models). When the group split a little after 10:00 a.m. to make a Mount Lemmon run, I headed back to Phoenix.
Halfway to Tucson at ‘Picacho Peak.’
Thermal Orange Pearl 2019 model front & center.
Both of these ones were rebadged as Hondas.
Love the aero treatment & wheels on Adrian’s Formula Red car here.
The SLX is chugging along and occasionally even gets freeway use. I dared take that top-heavy box to 75 miles per hour the other day. Haha.
Also, I am continuing to make enhancements to the house / showroom. I recently added $14 worth of LED strip lighting to the glass showcase. Fun little upgrade!
drivetofive 
March 31, 2019 at 9:17 am
First of all, congratulations on 16 years of ownership! 470,000 miles and 16 years – what a great story of a car that came bolted together correctly from the factory, and that has been lovingly maintained for all those years. Any ideas yet for the 600,000 mile mark?
Looking forward to your travel adventures for NALM 2019. And Jason’s promo work came out beautifully, too. Any big work on the coupe planned before the journey east?
All those NSXs were drool-worthy. I especially appreciated the Honda badging!! Have a great week!
March 31, 2019 at 12:52 pm
I’m not sure what’s in store for 600,000 but that’s still several years away – I think the car only sees about 7-8,000 per year now. My bigger immediate concern is to remember to capture 567,890! I probably won’t do any heavy maint between now and the Florida trip.
March 31, 2019 at 9:44 am
Happy sweet 16 to the coupe! Will you gift it a power steering rack as a present?
March 31, 2019 at 12:52 pm
I need to start a Go Fund Me for that purpose, haha. It’s cheaper to just keep a bottle of PS fluid in the trunk and top it off from time to time…
March 31, 2019 at 9:52 am
Woah can’t believe it’s that time of year already to sign up for NALM. I need to buy me a t-shirt since I sadly won’t make this one…. or will I 🤷♂️🤔. Congrats on 16 years, considering the American average of owning a car is less than 5. Also those cupcakes looked scrumptious af. 🤤😋
March 31, 2019 at 12:53 pm
I know. I should have had mom pack those cupcakes in a temperature-controlled package and send them down to us.
March 31, 2019 at 11:56 am
I wonder if the SLX is the only “Acura” with the fuel cap on the right side as seen by that cluster pic.
March 31, 2019 at 12:53 pm
I think you are right, and every time I take it to the gas station I momentarily forget to park on the opposite side of the pumps.
March 31, 2019 at 4:22 pm
Congratulations on 16 years – that’s really cool! (can you airfreight me a cup cake?). I have to say that is one cool looking car – It looks superb in those photos.
When mine does finally give up the ghost (or I finally get fed up of changing those clutches) – I might have to look into getting myself an old 90’s Honda (or similar). I’m not overly fond of modern cars – too many bells and whistles!
Another Great post! 😀
March 31, 2019 at 9:35 pm
Thanks Stuart! By the way, how many kilometers are on the red ratmobile now?
April 1, 2019 at 12:22 am
um… not sure of km but it has 125,000 miles! Still young really.
April 2, 2019 at 6:15 am
Happy sweet 16 to the Legend! Still looking great. Glad the NALM promo stuff came out good. Hope the guys like it. Do I spy a Long Beach Blue fixed headlight NSX in the mix? LOVE those. Those LEDs really made the display case pop! Now we need to figure out a way to get some LEDs in the base boards of the garage showroom. 😉
April 2, 2019 at 6:17 am
Yeah, Long Beach Blue! One of my favorite colors ever on an NSX – offered in 2002-05 only, and pretty rare. Oooh, you keep coming up with such great ideas on house & garage enhancements! I’m keeping track 🙂 Thanks for reading!
April 7, 2019 at 12:28 pm
I like that display case. 🙂
April 7, 2019 at 12:53 pm
Thanks Carlos! I’m glad to finally be able to showcase some of the items I’ve been collecting.
April 7, 2019 at 11:26 pm
Happy Sweet 16, Tyson!
The Legend looks as good as it did the day you got it! Unbelievable!
Here’s to another 16 years!
April 8, 2019 at 6:26 am
Thanks Wes, I appreciate that!
April 8, 2019 at 11:46 pm
[…] thought it was possibly a car dealership. Then I learned it is Tyson, ablogger from drive to five (here), and he has been driving his used Acura for 16 years. His Acura Legend now has 565,337 miles on […]
April 9, 2019 at 6:14 am
So fun that you found me through Stuart! Thanks for the mention!
April 9, 2019 at 11:47 am
Yeah that was cool!
April 9, 2019 at 2:22 am
Aside from the fact that I’m a little late to the post, I love the modified stance of Adian’s car. I’m not normally one for non-standard wheels and ride-height adjustments, but his car just looks and sits oh-so-right. I assume with you taking the SLX to Highway speeds, you’re comfortable that the transmission is solid enough? I must also say, I had to Google a car in your last post – the ’92 Dodge Stealth. I’ve never seen or heard of one before. It’s a neat looking machine, Id love to import one over here, it would get so much attention. Hope everything else is going well with you. Cheers!
April 9, 2019 at 6:15 am
Thanks Adam! The Stealth is essentially the same as the Mitsubishi 3000GT. I’m surprised you haven’t seen them in your area. The SLX transmission is definitely not reliable but I’m learning how to manage it around town so I can get from A to B. Haha. Hope your week is going great! Talk to you soon!