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Video Release: “Fabulous Fives” 555,555 Milestone; Visits with Joseph & Michael

Posted in Arizona, ILX, Legend, Milestones, NSX on February 5, 2018 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 558,967

Odometer (Vigor): 109,340

It’s no mystery that my friend Josh Clymer and I are Mileage Masters. We thrive on seeing that odometer turn just one more digit…. again, again, and again. About 5 years ago, Josh launched a blog called TSX Travels, and he began documenting his journeys in his 2005 TSX, just like I started with this blog in Spring 2011.

Josh and I have collaborated on drives and milestones in the past, despite the fact that we live 926 miles apart. In fact, we got together for a “Dueling Acuras” video production in February 2016. Somewhere along the road, we got the crazy idea that we should coordinate our all-fives roll-over for the same time and place.

Well, here’s the grand finale! Josh drove from Boise, Idaho, I drove from Phoenix, Arizona, and we met in the middle – St. George, Utah – for a monumental milestone celebrated together last October 7th, 2017.

It was a busy and fun weekend here, with a friend visiting from southern California and a trip to a new destination in Arizona to see another friend’s car collection. Years ago when Honda was first getting into the transportation industry, its first mobility tools were scooters and motorcycles that were sometimes sold under the advertising tagline “You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda.”

I think the same general motto holds true today for Honda and its other other brands, because my friends Joseph and Michael are two of the most quality individuals I’ve ever met. Joseph is the proud owner of a 1992 Acura Vigor and I first met up with him at last year’s Japanese Classic Car Show. He rolled into Phoenix on Friday afternoon in a newly-acquired 2003 Acura CL in stunning Aegean Blue Pearl with only about 60,800 miles on the odometer.

We enjoyed a night out in Old Town Scottsdale with friends, including sampling the dessert menu at Sugar Bowl, a landmark for the last 60 years since it opened in 1958. The hot fudge sundae was (as my mom says it) “T-D-F.” Or, in other words, to die for.

Saturday morning, Joseph and I took a road trip in the NSX about 35 miles away to the west end of the Valley near the base of the White Tank Mountain range. There, a small community has sprung up in recent years called Verrado. Though it falls within the broader Buckeye, Arizona city limits, Verrado is very much a self-contained and unified little town. Its cozy Main Street had a variety of restaurants, and we chose Tempo Urban Bistro for our meet-up with another Acura-owning friend, Michael. He drives a 2014 ILX 2.0.

Michael’s latest acquisition – which he shared as a surprise after brunch – was a 1988 Acura Legend L sedan Florence Blue Metallic. From the moment I opened the driver door and took a whiff of the interior, it took me back to some of my prior cars. That classic “Old Honda” smell is something so unmistakable. We took the Legend for a spin and it drove smoothly and solidly – a testament to its build quality for being nearly 30 years old. Can’t wait to see what Michael’s plans are for it.

Speaking of blue cars, I took the opportunity to do a little test-driving this weekend too. One of my local dealerships, in Tempe, Arizona, now has a 2018 Accord Sport 6-speed manual in stock. It’s finished in “Still Night Pearl” – a striking color shared with the TLX A-Spec. The driving experience left me overall pretty impressed.

The Accord’s motor is small: a 2-liter turbo, but it’s able to crank out over 250 horsepower. That made ample “oomph” to get up to highway speed on the I-10 onramp at Warner Road with ease. The clutch was soft and the car felt “big” to me – perhaps because I’m used to daily-driving my little Integra. I think it’s awesome that the Accord is still offered with a stick shift for those of us who prefer to row our own gears. For $31,200, it’s a lot of car for the money.

Here’s a video from the day trip to Verrado and some scenes with Joseph’s CL, too.

Group out at Sugar Bowl in Scottsdale

Saturday morning NSX cruise

1988, 1992, and 2014

The Accord that I test drove had a few miles on it, at 133

Have a great week!

19 Comments »

Sunday Brunch at the 1929 Wrigley Mansion, More Visitors in Phoenix

Posted in Arizona, Integra, Legend, Milestones, Misc Travel on January 30, 2018 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 558,659

Odometer (Integra): 246,106

Imagine being wealthy enough in the late 1920s to own several mansions across the United States: Chicago, Philadelphia, and other cities — the smallest of which, in Phoenix, at 16,000 square feet.

William Wrigley Jr. was an entrepreneur from a young age, starting his own business selling soap and baking powder at age 29. At that time, he would give his customers 2 packages of chewing gum as an incentive with each can of baking powder they purchased. Wrigley’s chewing gum soon became more popular than any of his other products, and the rest was history. Wrigley went on to hold a controlling interest in several other companies, own the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, and build 5 residences. Next time you’re chomping on a stick of Big Red, think of him.

Wrigley’s mansion in Phoenix (photo above from 1949), is set atop a 100-foot-tall knoll with views of the Biltmore and the community below. Construction was completed in 1931, only a year before Wrigley died at age 70. The mansion went on to be owned by another big wig in the food industry: Geordie Hormel, known for creating Spam (he also claimed to have invented the corn dog). Hormel bought the Wrigley mansion as a $2.6 million 50th wedding anniversary for his wife, and restored it to his former glory. He passed away in 2006 but the facility lives on as a private club for Sunday brunch, fancy weddings, and other special events.

On Sunday, January 28th, 86 years and 2 days after William Wrigley passed away, I rolled up the steep driveway from Telawa Trail Road with my dad & stepmom and valet parked my Legend sedan for a brunch reservation I’d made online about 6 weeks prior. The view of the city was spectacular and the weather couldn’t have been better.

We had about 15 minutes to wander around the facility before being seated at our table, so we went upstairs to see a few of the 24 bedrooms and 2 of the 12 bathrooms. All of the finishes, materials, and fixtures retain their original appearance but have been well preserved or restored.

Hearty buffet provisions were available in 3 separate rooms: The first, with fruits, bagels, and salad items for lighter fare. The second had the main brunch courses: beef, prime rib, shrimp, lobster, potatoes, and an omelet station. And the last was up a few stairs in what appeared to be a library, stocked with all sorts of cupcakes and other sugary goodness. Each time one of us would get up from our seat to make another pass at the buffet, the servers would come around while we were gone and roll up our napkins again. There was a lot of fine attention to detail.

For $59 a plate, the Wrigley champagne brunch is definitely not a McDonald’s McMuffin value menu, but for a rare treat with special guests, I thought it was well worth it for a way to spend a classy Sunday and get a panoramic view of the city skyline on a crystal blue January day. We returned to the valeted Legend feeling full and satisfied. “You’re going to have to roll me to the car,” Tanya said. No wonder we weren’t hungry again until much later that evening.

The revolving door at Hotel Hugie hasn’t had a break yet — the month of January I ran at nearly 100% occupancy and loved it. Last week, Dad & Tanya drove 1,421 miles in fewer than 48 hours from Seattle to Phoenix for a trade show called Oasis. Each January, it draws more than 3,000 buyers to the Phoenix convention center to see and order knick-knacks and souvenirs for their gift shops and visitor centers. Dad and Tanya hand-craft wooden items like antler-adorned walking sticks, keychains, magnets, and money clips for their company, Yellowstone River Trading.

It was an action-packed few days with the family visiting, with lots of things to do outside the 9-5 trade show grind. We dined at some new restaurants, visited an escape room, and took care of a few home improvement projects. I also spent a bit of time at the local junkyard, harvesting a piece of a quarter panel to repair some damage to the left rear corner of my Legend sedan. It was my first time using a heavy-duty angle grinder and I am pleased with the results! Thanks to my friend Mirel for the tools and the expertise.

New and old pieces of quarter panel. Updates to come!

Below are a few more photos from recent events. I received a visit from Redline Reviews’ Editor-in-Chief, Sofyan Bey.

Here’s a 5-minute video filmed just before dropping Sofyan off at the Sky Harbor airport.

Earlier in the week, I dropped off Kevin from Duluth, GA. I’ve been to the airport a lot lately!

Kevin recently sold his 1994 Legend L sedan. He had owned the car for 18 years, 11 months, and 26 days. Fortunately, he still has a 1994 LS coupe, his “Polar Bear.”

I got my front bumper plugs installed on the Vigor – paint matched & all!

Integra parked streetside just west of Chase Field, where the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team plays.

Visiting the Oasis gift convention.

Dinner at ‘Camp Social’ restaurant on 7th Street in Phoenix – we ate in a little trailer like that!

Pretty cool old-school Ace Hardware sign.

Dinner on the patio at Hula’s Modern Tiki, with special guest Jake the poodle.

Home Depot on a Saturday in the coupe.

Junkyard find: 1989 Honda Accord LX 5-speed

It had 349,271 miles on it!

Escape room group in Tempe, Arizona

Legend sedan parked at Wrigley’s valet area

Upstairs hallway at Wrigley Mansion

View from our dining table

Buffet room #1

I spotted my car valet parked below

Tanya & dad

Headed back to real civilization after a few minutes living the high life.

Organizing my new Kobalt tool chest!

Fits right in in the garage.

Have a great week!

12 Comments »

Mom’s Visit, Half-Marathon, Vigor Bumper Refinish, Future Classic Car Show & Special Guests

Posted in Arizona, Car Show, Legend, Running, Vigor on January 21, 2018 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 558,577

Odometer (Integra): 245,989

My guest room is fully booked this month — if it seems I’m light on travels, it’s because I’m hosting all sorts of company. And I wouldn’t have it any other way! Now if only I offered free breakfast & a fitness center.

Mom flew down from southern Utah for an annual tradition: The Rock & Roll Half Marathon which starts & ends in Tempe, near Arizona State University. We have the whole routine down to a science: Where to have brunch the day prior, what to wear, where to park the car, and even where to meet at the conclusion of the race. Because – let’s face it – we already knew that mom was going to beat me to the finish line by a solid half-hour or more. And she did.

I missed out on the North American International Auto Show this past week. In case you missed it too, there were some big announcements from Acura with the debut of the all-new 2019 RDX sport utility vehicle. AND – drumroll please – the Type-S name is coming back!

That same day, I had “Ultimate Finish” – a mobile bumper repair/repaint operation – come over to the house and re-shoot both bumpers on my 1994 Vigor GS. I must say, for having been a driveway job and completed from start to finish in a matter of 6 hours, it turned out phenomenally. They charged me $300 per bumper.

I attended the third annual Future Classics Car Show on the upper parking deck of the Scottsdale Quarter shopping center. It was quite the grab-bag of vehicles, but that’s what makes the show interesting. James took his 1999 Isuzu VehiCROSS, Kyle his 2005 Pontiac GTO, and Scott his 2012 Mini Cooper. I was in the 1992 Integra GS-R. None of us went home with any awards but we enjoyed hanging out with fellow gearheads for the evening.

The following evening, I had a couple of special guests arrive.

Peter Cunningham, President of the NSX Club of America (NSXCA), and Donald Osborne, auto appraiser extraordinaire, came over for a VIP visit to my humble car collection. We went to dinner nearby at a Casa Añejo. Meanwhile, my roommate picked up my friend Chris from the Phoenix airport. A few years ago, we started the tradition of Chris visiting Arizona each January for a several-day visit which centers around attending the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction. I’ll have more on that in a dedicated next post!

Chris put a few miles on my cars while I was at work the next couple of days, including taking an 800+ mile drive to southern Utah and back in a single day. He’s a little nuts, but I guess that’s why we get along so well. Destination #1 was Monument Valley, one of my favorite places. He also hit up Four Corners and spent a little bit of time in Colorado and New Mexico. As in, probably a footstep’s worth of time in each! My car was dirty so I spent a good chunk of the afternoon today getting it cleaned up. I decided to film a walkaround video since a few had asked for a current one. Ask and ye shall receive.

Below are a few more photos of the last few weeks’ activities. Have a great evening!

Picking up mom at the airport

Pasta prep

Dinner crowd at my place

Saturday morning in downtown at the marathon expo

View from the patio at our brunch spot: FEZ

Tyson, Kevin, Adam, Jon, Tia, Rob, Julio at brunch

Doing a little yard sale-ing with mom (she’s in the sideview mirror proudly holding up a new red dress she purchased for $5)

Mile 10 of the marathon on Sunday morning, with the clock already showing just under 2 hours elapsed.

Finished! And headed home.

Departure back to Utah, dropping off mom at the airport

Peter Cunningham signing my guest book at the house

Donald Osborne, Chris, me

Airport run in the Legend sedan to pick up Kevin from Georgia

Tyson, Kevin, Chris

Chris’ post to the 5,000-member “ALOE” group on Facebook. It stands for Acura Legend Owners & Enthusiasts.

Breakfast at Zookz on Camelback

Chris heading out to Carefree to see the world’s largest sundial.

Chris and Kevin enjoying a relaxing evening in my backyard.

More to come, soon!

14 Comments »

Best Hits of the 80s & 90s: “Radwood 2” Car Show in Anaheim, California

Posted in California, Car Show, Legend, Road Trip on December 3, 2017 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 557,148

Trip Distance: 356 Miles

Let’s take a moment to appreciate my fashion sense in this photo from circa 1990. I’m pictured at left here with my two brothers. Rolled up jean shorts? Check.

Popped collars, fanny packs, and porn-staches greeted me upon arrival to “The Phoenix Club” yesterday morning just a few miles from Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It was almost as if I’d gotten stuck in a time warp and traveled back in history 20 years. When I saw this Delorean a few minutes later with license plate “BKNTYME,” my suspicions were confirmed.

Yesterday’s event was the most brilliantly-executed and exciting car show I have attended in years. It was something different, and something very “me.”

“Radwood” was a contrast to go from the white-collar LA Auto Show media days which I attended earlier this week, with its forever growing ego-contest and snooty “the coffee at our booth is better than yours” attitude, to a venue where cutoff jeans are appropriate, Bud Lights are readily available, and Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me” is blasting on the loudspeaker. I loved every minute of it. I only wish I’d invested in a slap bracelet, Hypercolor T-shirt, or some stone washed jeans ahead of time so I could better dress the part. One smart attendee was even taking pictures with a disposable camera! You know, the kind that you “click,” then have to manually advance the film.

This event was born as a small show in 2016 in the Bay Area catering specifically to the era of vehicles produced from 1980 through 1999. Now in only its second year, the event shifted venues to a place with far more capacity and still sold out well in advance. Thanks in part to clever partnership with Jalopnik, Clarion, Japanese Nostalgic Car, Bring a Trailer, and many other sponsors, the word was spread far and wide.

Attendees traveled from all around the country to attend. One attendee – Peter Monshizadeh – drove all the way from Overland Park, Kansas, and entered three vehicles in the show: His Dodge pickup truck, which was towing a trailer with his Nissan 300ZX and a period correct motorcycle. That’s dedication.

And who could forget automotive journalist extraordinaire Jason Cammisa running around in booty shorts that would make Richard Simmons jealous. This was a sight to behold. Jason’s immaculate BMW E30 station wagon, among many other “feature cars” including my friend Chris Hoffman’s CRX, was on display in the main tent area near the stage. Jason ended up taking home an award – a 1985 Nintendo game cartridge glued to a plaque, of course – for his Bimmer, and it was well deserved. His enthusiasm added to the fun and atmosphere of the program.

I was in good company in the Honda/Acura family. My friend Rob Pia proudly showed his immaculate, 130,000-mile 1994 Legend sedan in glistening Cashmere Silver Metallic, and next to him my friend Chris Green parked his award-winning 1986 Honda Prelude with only 50,000 miles on the odometer.

I had the privilege of meeting a couple of ‘new’ Legend owners, too, and had some friends stop by who live in the area. Cars from all regions were accepted and recognized. Even the 1991 Pontiac Bonneville parked in our row with nearly an entire keyboard of buttons on its steering wheel attracted lots of attention. Another guy named Tyson who drives a beautiful black 1997 BMW M3 introduced himself and his car to me – complete with a period correct cassette tape sitting on the center console.

But how about this?

Perhaps one of my favorite vehicles was Ryan Glass’ 1992 Ford Explorer, which started life as a pretty ho-hum Eddie Bauer edition but has been extensively and painstakingly converted into a Jurassic Park movie icon. “Spared no expense,” were the words that came to mind as he described to me the custom wrap, brochures in the back seat, bumper and taillight protector guards, and even a pair of velociraptor-spotting goggles on the passenger seat.

As the day carried on, I reflected on how much I appreciated the laid-back and friendly vibe at Radwood. I hope the event continues its great momentum and carries on for years to come. I’m already starting to brainstorm ideas for next year’s trip, and it might have to be in the Vigor since I didn’t see one this year. Now if I could just get ahold of some Reebok Pump footwear. Below are some more pictures and a short video!

I knew the day started off right when I saw this pay phone outside my motel in Orange, California.

I put my custom wheelstand to use that my brother hand-built for me out of aluminum.

Roll-in shot, thanks to Chris in the 1986 Prelude.

Photo with Rob in ‘vintage’ motif.

Ran into my friend Grant with his beautiful Mercedes SL. Check that fanny pack, too.

One of two super clean generation 1 Legend coupes on display.

And another. Becki was awesome! How much Aqua Net did she need for her hair?

Visit from Penny.

Shooting the breeze with Jalopnik’s Andrew Collins.

A visit from Fred and checking out the Clarion Legend coupe.

The aforementioned 1991 Bonneville! With a “LeBra” on the front, of course.

Love me a big-body Benz 560 SEC.

Original owner 1990 Honda Civic 4-speed manual with over 300,000 original miles.

Just $6,635 MSRP for this thing. I think he got his money’s worth!

My friends Felix and Matt

Love the 1990s Mitsubishi Eclipses. What happened to Mitsubishi?

Good NSX representation, too.

Sweet CRX, but look what’s on the roof.

That’s right: Boombox and some cassettes!

Reconnecting with the man himself: Matt Farah and his now-969,000-mile 1996 Lexus LS400. I drove this car a couple of years ago and blogged about it. It’s on a quest to hit a million miles.

Oooh, love this old 5-series BMW.

2G Integras with a super clean 3G Prelude.

My friend Derek, repping a Mazda 929 sedan.

Late night drive home to Phoenix!

24 Comments »

2017 “AutoMobility” & Los Angeles International Auto Show

Posted in California, Car Show, Legend, Road Trip, Vehicle Reviews on December 1, 2017 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 556,770

Trip Distance: 379 Miles

Greetings! I’m jotting down a few words here from the Media Center at the Los Angeles Convention Center. LACC is now pretty familiar turf for me, as I’ve had the opportunity to attend a number of times. Here are write-ups from my prior LA Auto Show visits:

I had to miss 2016 due to work engagements, but I still made it to some of the social events. Redline Reviews‘ Editor-in-Chief Sofyan Bey was kind enough to extend an invitation to me so I could be a part of the festivities this year.

After two full days about about 10 miles walked between the South Hall and the West Hall to see all the latest and greatest, I can tell you there is a lot of change brewing in the automotive industry as a whole. Personal mobility is taking on a whole new dynamic, as technology speedily moves toward an increased focus on autonomy. As cars become faster, safer, and more efficient, similar strides are being made in self-driving technology. It’s no mystery, though, that I’m a driver. Is “automobility” something I should dread or embrace?

My trek to LA started on Tuesday afternoon from Phoenix in the Legend coupe. It’s a tried and true road warrior, and certainly a more comfortable cruiser than the 1992 Integra I drove to Utah last weekend for Thanksgiving. The closer I got to the epicenter of the 13-million-resident LA metro area, the more congested my beautiful open roads became. I was delayed about 35 minutes on I-10 nearing Riverside thanks to a combination of accident + commuter traffic. Gotta love it. In all, the 379-mile one-way trip took me close to 7 hours.

Wednesday was a jam-packed day of press conferences, kicking off with a BMW presentation around 8:30 and a stampede of journalists migrating from one booth to the next throughout the day. Some of the big news this year? Oh just a few highlights that stuck out to me: Lexus coming out with a 3-row RX SUV. BMW launching a convertible i8 and new M5. Mercedes has a new CLS. Mazda’s next-generation 6 sedan is out. Subaru has launched its biggest SUV yet, a 3-rower called the Ascent. Nissan’s “Kicks” replaces the Juke, and Hyundai has its own new cute-ute called the Kona.

600 horsepower, all-wheel-drive BMW? Hotness. Not to mention that color.

Jeep’s Wrangler comes back again looking about the same but with a completely new chassis and lots more tech. Kia debuts its new Sorento, Infiniti shows the QX50, and Lincoln ditches its alphanumeric naming conventions for traditional names like its new Nautilus (replacing the MKX). That’s a step in the right direction, don’t you all agree? It was a slow-ish show for Honda & Acura, with no formal press conferences but still plenty to look at inside the respective booths. I can’t begin to squeeze two full days of automotive news into a few paragraphs here, but check out Redline’s YouTube playlist on the auto show for a glimpse at some of the sights and sounds we enjoyed.

The vehicles on display at LAAS are only part of the appeal of the event. It attracts some of the world’s renowned auto journalists. Our team ended up seated in the Media Center right behind most of the Jalopnik staff, including Andrew Collins who I can thank for this awesome piece he put together about a year ago.

The after-hours activities this year were just as entertaining, with a Hyundai-sponsored party the first evening at Novo night club, and a social event in West Hollywood the following night at Doheny Room where I connected with a few fellow journalists. All too soon, it was time to again part ways with those colleagues. The Redline team flew out Friday morning and I made my way (90 minutes to drive 38 miles – thanks again, LA!) toward Anaheim for a car show to be held Saturday morning. More on that to come in a future post!

Acura booth with the redesigned 2018 RLX on display

Don’t mind if I do hang out here!

I admired some of Honda’s hardware while in the booth. These dozen or more awards are just from this year’s LA Auto Show alone! There are boxes and boxes of things like this sitting at the corporate office in Torrance.

Fellow car geeks Brian and Chris

Some of you may recognize this ‘other’ Brian – none other than the famous Brian Cooley from CNET.

Quick shot with the Redline team (Sofyan, Peace, Rob) and Honda’s Davis Adams.

Street parking the coupe in West Hollywood!

This might just be the best motel parking space I’ve ever had. Huge.

Bonus: A few pics from last weekend’s Thanksgiving trip to Utah

Brother’s redoing his living room and said I could park in it. Why not?

My nephew Locke

Cruising around some of my old stomping grounds

HUGE shout-out to blog reader Eric who had this custom embroidered Polo shirt made up for me, with the date of my 555 milestone from back in October! Thanks, Eric!

Over and out!

13 Comments »

Reader’s Ride: “Clarion Builds” 1994 Acura Legend LS 6-Speed Coupe

Posted in Legend, Reader's Ride on November 24, 2017 by tysonhugie

It’s crazy how sometimes things come full circle: How one day you can be standing in a dealership in Nevada looking at a used car, and then after that car travels through 13 years, 51,585 miles, 6 owners, 3 U.S. states and a Canadian province, the same exact car turns up in front of your face at a show 400 miles from your house. That’s exactly what happened with a specific car that’s been on the show circuit lately with Clarion Builds, and I’ve had some close contact with the team responsible for it.

I’m a firm believer that every vehicle out there has a story to tell. It’s one of the reasons I’m fascinated with visiting salvage yards and poking through the relics to try and piece together the life that each one lived. Today, I’ll share a history lesson on this one in particular.

The vehicle wearing VIN JH4KA8174RC001646 is a special car. For one thing, it’s one of only 25 Taffeta White on Ivory Acura Legend LS coupe 6-speeds produced for the 1994 model year. But beyond that rarity, it’s special because of its notoriety in the Legend community as one of the best-kept in existence.

On June 7, 2004, this very Legend was 10 years old and had only 6,533 miles on the odometer. The story, as I knew it, was that the car was held for that decade as property of Honda – stashed away in a warehouse somewhere in Torrance until finally brought to light. How the Acura dealership on Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas got ahold of it is a mystery to me, but my friend Louie who was – and still is – in Sales at that facility was happy to pull it out of the showroom for my friend Jeff and me to slobber over in the daylight.

I was 22 years old at the time, and the proud fresh owner of my own Legend – albeit far more worn in at over 100,000 miles. I drove the 90 minutes /100 miles from St. George, Utah to Las Vegas for the preview – even though I was nowhere near being able to pay the $25,000 asking price. Check out that odometer!

These were a few more of the photos I took at the time when Louie pulled the car out and we parked it nose-to-nose with my own coupe (and its flashy 18″ Mille Miglia chrome wheels at the time). Remember, I was 22.

I’ve been able to piece together a rough timeline on this Legend’s lifespan from 2004-onward.

May 27, 2004: Sold at Desert Southwest Region Auction as manufacturer vehicle with 6,502 miles for $23,750. For reference, this was a year after I had bought my 1994 LS coupe with 95,000 miles for $9,500.
June 7, 2004: For sale at Falconi’s Acura in Las Vegas, Nevada 6,533 Miles
July 2, 2004: Located in Mountain View, California
July 13, 2004: Mountain View, California at 7,622 Miles
July 31, 2006: Still in California at 12,708 Miles
Jan 23, 2007: Left California per forum member Raxmaxwell moved to Dayton, Ohio
January 24, 2008: Rasmaxwell listed it for sale on Acura-Legend.org with 16,000 Miles
September 20, 2009: Purchased by Mitch in Indiana at 19,952 Miles
November 26, 2009: Sold to Frank of North Reading, Massachusetts
December 7, 2009: Passed safety inspection in Massachusetts with 20,551 Miles
February 7, 2012: Still in Massachusetts with 40,666 Miles
Unknown: Owned by Alaeldeen in Alberta
Unknown: Owned by Jay in British Columbia
December 8, 2015: Listed online, posted on Bring a Trailer for $12,500 with 56,000 Miles
January 26, 2016: Back in California with 56,944 Miles
September 23, 2017: Shown at Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach, California with 58,118 Miles
December 2, 2017: Scheduled to be shown at Radwood, a car show in Anaheim CA focusing on 1980s-1990s cars. I’ll be there, and I’m bound to see it again!

Today, the car shows just as well as it did the first day in 2004 when I saw it. The build that it has undergone under Clarion’s ownership has been comprehensive but the car remains mostly stock. Michael Farino from Clarion Public Relations shared some details about what has been involved. Here is what he relayed to me:

Engine and transmission fully serviced by AutoWave
Paint and body completely reconditioned and repainted in factory white by Diamond Hills Collision
Suspension refreshed with OE springs and KYB shocks by Niguel Motors
Wheels replaced with refurbished OE 5-spoke wheels
Tires provided by Michelin
Seats reupholstered in Italian leather in OE matching Ivory color scheme by Westminster Upholstery
Stereo system supplied by Clarion: NX807 source unit with Clarion speakers, installed by Beach Auto Sound

To those of us in the Acura classic car collector community (Should I call that the ACCCC?), it is great to see this car getting so much love and attention. Having a pristine Legend being shown at venues like JCCS brings light and attention to a genre of cars that is often overlooked: the up and coming 1980s-1990s segment. Plus it helps people learn and appreciate more about the rich history and heritage in the Acura brand now that it’s 32 years old.

Many thanks to the folks at Clarion for sharing some information about this car. I think they deserve some recognition for the hard work and diligence in restoring, preserving, and promoting it.

Here are some other photos from the Japanese Classic Car Show last month.

And a few great photos from Larry Chen, provided to me by the Clarion team.

15 Comments »

Catching Up: Acura Day in Torrance, St. George Marathon, & 555,555 Milestone

Posted in California, Integra, Legend, Milestones, TL, Utah on October 15, 2017 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 556,062

Odometer (Integra): 241,233

Check this out. You are looking at 7 friends on a hill overlooking St. George, Utah. And those two cars – at the precise moment this photo was taken – had a combined 1,111,111 miles on their odometers. It was a special day on Saturday, October 7th when my friend Josh and I coordinated this meet-up with much anticipation.

I’m so far behind on blogging that today’s post will be more like a newsletter on what you’ve missed. I just returned yesterday from spending a few days in the Los Angeles area where I took part in some activities at the main office of American Honda Motor Company for “Acura Week.” Invited by my friend and Acura Public Relations manager Matt Sloustcher, I drove out there Thursday evening and participated in an all-associate Q&A interview.

It was an exciting experience to talk about how I’d become interested in the brand, share feedback on current & future brand direction, and interact with people who are just as passionate about these topics as I am. Joining me on the stand were Jon Ikeda, General Manager for Acura, and Jeff Conrad, Senior Vice President for Honda. In all, the ‘formal’ program on Friday afternoon lasted only about 1/2 hour, but the campaign ran a total of 5 days with activities each day designed to educate, promote, and generate awareness for the Acura brand among internal colleagues. The level of hospitality was awesome. Thankfully, I didn’t get too tongue-tied.

Just a week prior, I was tasked with two huge milestones of a completely different nature: I ran the St. George, Utah marathon and I achieved that long-awaited “all-fives” odometer reading on my 1994 Legend coupe, in partnership with Josh who celebrated the same on his 2005 TSX. It was a rollover more than a year in the making, executed with painstaking precision with the help of a half-dozen friends who wanted to be there for the occasion. It took a lot of planning to get Josh’s car (700 miles away, in Boise) and my car (400 miles away, in Phoenix) to the same midpoint and pointed toward one another on a closed road within 2/10ths of a mile of each other. But we succeeded.

There’s much more to come on the “Fantastic Fives” achievement, as a video production is currently underway and you’ll see it soon enough. For now, here’s a 2-minute teaser!

I recently got to spent an evening with Donny Nordlicht (Cadillac) and Sofyan Bey (Redline Reviews) who were in town for a media event. Thanks for inviting me out, guys!

I have some special recognition for a couple of friends who went above and beyond the call of duty. My friend Kyle put some elbow grease into the TL and got it looking shiny and new after our Zion hike, and my friend Hy entrusted his prized TSX with me for a couple of weeks while he performed a full detail on my 1994 Vigor. The car came back yesterday sparkling better than ever before! Thanks Kyle and Hy!

Finally, along with my behind-the-scenes look at the Honda main office on Friday, Brand Champion Charles Schnieber told me about some exciting new things going on in the racing circuit. Check out a video he narrates on Civic performance heritage.

I’ll let the rest of the photos below tell the story. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Westbound at 4k+ RPMs in the Integra on Thursday

Fueling up in Palm Desert

Friends Logan, Davis, and Vince who work at Honda HQ

Acura Week schedule

With Acura PR Manager Matt Sloustcher

The below greeting card was given to all associates at corporate on Friday morning, along with an “A” emblem lapel pin.

Meeting up with my journalist friend Lance who was lucky enough to get an NSX on loan for a few days.

Hitting up “Fleetwood Square” in Tarzana before heading home. The building is in the shape of a Cadillac front end, in case you couldn’t already tell!

Last weekend’s trip to southern Utah included a drive through Vegas, including the Strip, which was a somber place to be just 4 days following the tragic shootings.

Friday morning 10/6 in St. George with mom, and with my friend Conor who’d flown in from New York.

Off to see the town in the Legend

“Face-swapping” with my 5-year-old nephew Beckam. Yikes.

The half-million-milers reunited once again.

St. George Marathon – probably the most scenic 26-miler you could ever run.

Plus, how’s this for motivation? (And they did deliver on that promise)

Mom (with more energy than she knew what to do with), Josh, Conor, and Jason

Grandma was there with her traditional poster. I had 2 cousins also running.

Trying to keep up with nephew Beckam when he sprinted with me for a block.

Finish line!

Josh getting the TSX prepped for its showtime.

Quiet on the set!

Anddddd, success! High five for fab fives.

Looking purdy with all those miles.

Interview session back at my brother’s.

Mom serving up breakfast pre-departure Sunday morning.

More TL-S glamour shots

And my ‘visitor’ at the house for a couple of weeks, Hy’s immaculate 2004 TSX.

Clearly I had the wrong car to be driving by “Legend Cleaners.”

And look what I test drove a few weeks ago: a Fir Green Mica 1996 Acura SLX Premium. Oh, boy. I passed on that.

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Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) 2017 – Long Beach, California

Posted in California, Legend, Road Trip on September 25, 2017 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend sedan): 155,969

Trip Distance: 760 Miles

Hey, look who came home with a second place award!

This weekend, I drove to Long Beach, California to participate in the 13th annual Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) along the banks of the Pacific. It was not my first time being part of the event – in fact, I guess you could say I’m a bit of a seasoned veteran now.

Unfortunately, the “Neo” show – specifically dedicated to 1980s and 1990s cars – was suspended for 2017 due to a potential venue change, but special consideration was made for 20 spots in the “regular” JCCS show to allow for cars from that era, and I jumped at the opportunity. There are awards given in a total of 25 categories — 3 of which are specific to Hondas. By comparison, 8 are Datsun/Nissan and 6 are Toyota, so the Honda representation tends to be smaller at this venue. I was glad to take part.

One highlight was also the fact that I wasn’t the only second-generation Legend in attendance. Clarion, known in the aftermarket industry as one of the premier car audio companies, has just completed a build of a sound system inside a very clean 1994 Legend LS coupe 6-speed. Jubal Leierer, Clarion’s Manager of Merchandising and Special Programs, was in attendance at NSXPO earlier this month and told me they’d have the Legend out at JCCS, which was exciting. I’ll have a special post about that car in the coming weeks.

My trip to Long Beach took place last Friday, September 22nd. I fought some westbound traffic on Interstate 10 getting out of Phoenix, which is to be expected during the afternoon rush hour. Saturday morning I had a short 15-minute jaunt from my hotel in Torrance to the JCCS venue at the Queen Mary. Right off the bat, I ran into a few friends at the registration line.

I was assigned a parking space next to a newfound friend, Daniel, who drives a 1990 Accord coupe 5-speed which he inherited from his grandmother. It was a stunning blue color. I also met a guy named Ryan who is the proud owner of a 1988 Daihatsu Charade. It was the only Daihatsu entered in the whole show. And it was mint! Only 56,000 miles and a 5-speed manual.

The oldest vehicle on display was this 1965 Honda T500 pickup truck.

Throughout the day, I wandered around and enjoyed the scenery. By 10:00 a.m., I was already ready to give the food truck vendor $17 for a grilled cheese sandwich with turkey and avocado. It hit the spot. My friends Davis and Joseph came out to say hello – Davis works at Honda in Public relations, and Joseph is a long-time Acura fan who painstakingly restored his 1992 Vigor recently. During the 1960s, Honda ran a motorcycle ad campaign that said, “You meet the nicest people on a Honda.”

Well, I’ll second that statement!

My short video here:

Here are a couple of videos that my Legend made it into.

MotoManTV piece at 19:00:

And 1:39 here:

Westbound drive on Friday evening near Desert Center, California

Crossing over a series of bridges on the way to the Queen Mary in Long Beach

Check out this lineup of ultra-clean Honda CRXs

Meeting Marcus, owner of HeelToe Automotive

Very clean Celica

A whole rainbow of colors on display

Meeting the famous Tim “Merciless” Mings who is based in Duarte, CA and who specializes in restoration of Honda N600, S600, and Z600 cars.

Windows sticker of an old Z car

With lots of brochures and literature on display

My friend Chris H’s 1980 Honda Accord

Meeting the crew including Zac from Bring a Trailer, one of my favorite automotive websites.

Logan and Davis stopping by to visit

Joseph stopping to visit

This is Joseph’s “Royal Plum” 1992 Vigor. It’s in great shape for 188,000 miles!

My friend Chris G’s two Preludes: 1986 and 1989. They have 49,000 and 70,000 miles respectively.

Interior of the ’89 Si

Love this little foam core display board he had up in the rear window.

Pop-up headlights!

“Made in this 80s. Loved by the ladies.” This sticker was on a 1980s Nissan Pulsar.

Headed back to the desert via Hwy 91, Hwy 60, & Interstate 10.

Arrival in Phoenix around 11:00 p.m. on Saturday after an easy drive.

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Reader’s Ride: Vlad’s 2015 Honda Legend

Posted in Integra, Legend, Reader's Ride on July 5, 2017 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Integra): 239,459

The one and only Honda Pro Jason (“HPJ”) has a network of Honda and Acura enthusiasts that puts mine to shame. (85,000 YouTube subscribers, 128,000 Facebook followers, and 82,000 Instagram followers). He’s kind of a big deal in the community but he’s still humble about it!

Jason put me in touch with one of his followers who’s taken an Acura RLX (successor to the Legend & RL, which debuted for the 2014 model year) and completed a badging conversion to Honda Legend. Overseas, the RLX continues to be called the Legend. Here are a few words from my new friend Vlad from Seattle, Washington:

I had about 16 Hondas in my life and currently have 5. I bought my Acura RLX back in 2015. It is the Advance model. I went on my first trip with my wife in August 2015 to Scottsdale; I really love that place. Right now, I only have 13,900 miles on it, and I just completed my Honda Legend conversion. I found a guy on eBay who shipped me all Honda parts to me.

However, I still want to find and somehow get the airbag from Honda Legend with the “H” emblem on it and floor mats with”LEGEND” on them. I can only get those from the Philippines since they have left-hand-drive Honda Legends there and those floor mats will fit. I have only had this conversion for one week and already have many compliments. So many people stop by and look at it and are surprised that this car originally is Honda Legend.

Below are some photos that Vlad shared with me. Hope you enjoy! Such a clean ride.

I escaped the heat over the long holiday weekend to head 45 minutes up the hill from Phoenix where it was 20 degrees cooler.

Car of choice for the day was the 1992 Integra.

Since everyone got such a kick out of the 1982 Chevy Citation in the last post, how about another fine piece of 1980s General Motors metal? This is my friend Spencer’s 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix SE. It’s seriously one of the cleanest I’ve seen in decades and it only has 82,000 miles on the clock.

It’s a lot like my mom’s of the same year when I was a kid. Except, mom’s was a 5-speed manual!

I sought out a spacecraft yesterday. Back in February, an artist thought of a clever way to repurpose a concrete truck tank. He painted it up like a space capsule that had parachuted out of the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the shiny speck in the distance here was about as close as I could get, thanks to it being right along the busy I-10 freeway and set back from the road behind a fence and a good distance away.

Fireworks last night from my friend Greg’s 16th-floor condo balcony! Not a shabby way to close out of the holiday.

Hope everybody had a great one!

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Alex’s Legendary 6-Speed, 6-State Tour to the Pacific Northwest

Posted in Legend, NALM, Road Trip on June 19, 2017 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend sedan): 154,939

Trip Distance: 3,495.7

Who’s ready for summer? If anybody needs me, I’ll be indoors for the next 3 months.

My friend Alex borrowed my car for a 3,500 mile road trip, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.

Most of us have driven a rental or loaner car before. What are your driving behaviors in a rental car as compared to in your own vehicle? Have you ever heard of anyone returning a loaner in better shape than when they picked it up? Now I have.

There’s one car in my collection that rarely goes anywhere. I call it the garage queen for a reason: In 9 years of ownership, I drove it fewer than 20,000 miles. I think it was driven in the rain only twice during that timeframe. It’s garaged, preserved, and babied. Well, that garage queen became a road trip warrior for an 8-day span when my friend Alex flew in from Fort Myers, Florida to take an epic west coast road trip including a visit at this year’s NALM in my 1994 Legend GS sedan 6-speed.

Alex’s route covered 3,495.7 miles and took him through 6 states. His journeys were documented with several GoPro camera clips as well as over 200 high quality photographs. It was truly the trip of a lifetime, and the only thing that could have made it better would be if I had been able to be a part of it with him in person. Experiencing it after the fact through his thorough documentation is the next best thing for me, as well as for all of you!

Alex and his fellow Floridian Alan spent a good chunk of their NALM time perusing the local junkyards for Legend parts. After having been discontinued from production for over 22 years, you can imagine a model like the Legend does not have very robust support for replacement parts. As a result those of us who intend to keep our cars on the road forever have to resort to dumpster diving from time to time. Among the treasures A&A found (and installed) on my Legend GS were:

Master window switch with functional auto-down
‘Beauty bar’ plastic trim cover over front bumper hardware
Uncracked center A/C vent trim
Radio antenna
Upgraded chrome door strikers and matching bolts
Bracket for clutch hydraulic hose
Battery tie-down
Windshield washer fluid cap

When I cut south on Interstate 5 on Sunday, June 11th when NALM concluded in Sacramento, Alex went north in my now “enhanced” Legend GS. He continued on up toward Portland, but he took the scenic route in doing so. Among his stops were the massive drive-thru Redwood tree in Leggett, California called Chandelier Tree and some scenic stretches of Highway 101 in southern Oregon. (Thus the T-shirt!)

Alex took the time to stop for photographs at each state line he crossed. He reported that the car performed near flawlessly. The only issues to note: The speedometer is inaccurate at higher speeds, sometimes reading up to 10 mph faster than actual speed. The rear brakes are squeaking. The radio volume controls from the steering wheel don’t work. And it might be time for spark plugs (last changed in 2009).

But Alex completed his adventure on Wednesday, June 14th after having completed his nearly-3,500-mile road trip. He flew back to Florida later that evening, but not before we took the NSX out for a bite & drink.

Thanks Alex for giving my old car a chance to see some parts of the country that many people will only dream of experiencing! Here are just a few of the photos Alex took & shared with me (posted here in random order), and a short video showing a few GoPro scenes just prior to hitting the Oregon state line.

Alan at the wheel

Alex and Alan about to go junkyarding in the Sacramento area

Arizona state line

Bridge crossing

California state line

Chandelier drive-thru tree in Leggett, California

With me in the rearview!

Me being cheesy!

Lots of rain – thank goodness for those new wiper blades a week before the trip!

Traveling the Extraterrestrial Highway (Hwy 93 in Nevada)

So many stickers you can barely make out the sign!

NALM group at Lake Tahoe

Idaho state line – and the car visible in the far background

Semi truck with a pretty cool name / logo

Mountain scenery

More scenery all around

Nevada state line

Pacific Ocean

Oregon Trail information

Oregon state line

Another shot from NALM

Redwood National Park entry

Alan and Alex at Lake Tahoe

Tunnel crossing

Washington state line

Spreadsheet nerd that I am, thought some might appreciate this. It’s a quick & dirty calculation I did the other day to see how many of the 22,401 miles that my car has been driven that *I* have actually driven them.

As it turns out, roughly 1/3 of the car’s mileage accumulation in those last 9 years have been from other people.

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