Posted in CL, Legend, NALM, TL on March 10, 2021 by tysonhugie
It had to happen at some point!
Time to clear a little space now that I’ve had my fun finishing out the 1990s fleet. Below are the links to my 7-day, no-reserve listings on AutoHunter for the 1999 2.3CL, the 1996 2.5TL, and the 1993 Legend L coupe.
I have something fun up my sleeve in the next few months for a new toy, so stay tuned for that.
No, seriously. It’s 115 degrees outside and it feels about like you would expect for AZ in mid-July. At least it was my washing machine that decided to bite the dust this week instead of my air conditioning unit.
I’ve been cooped up a bit and needed to stretch my road trip legs again, so yesterday I took the Legend coupe on a 200-miler through the desert west of Phoenix. It was a pretty simple little loop that provided a nice getaway.
The highlight, of course, involved food. I had to sample the Green Chile Burger at a little drive-in called Screamer’s that I saw featured in a news article not long ago. I ate indoors – I don’t think they do in-car service at this drive-in, at least not this time of year. And the burger was everything it was cracked up to be. It feels like a special treat to eat like that nowadays, because my diet has changed a lot now that I’m eating at home. I’ve lost 15 lbs this year.
I might have also lost something else this year – a little bit of what sanity I had to begin with, when I decided to deck out my garage as a cheesy 1990s used car dealership a while back. Hope you get a kick out of this 45 second commercial. The $50 I spent on Amazon swag was well worth the results.
But for reals, I’m selling a car. It’s time to re-prioritize and think about my short-term and long-term plans for the Acura collection. It’s now been 5 years (exactly) since I picked up my 1994 Vigor GS in Colorado and brought it home. I’ve enjoyed it for 13,000 miles, and shown it at RADwood and Japanese Classic Car Show.
Now it’s time to move it along to the next worthy owner. Here’s a link to the auction. This makes my Acura Vigor officially the first Vigor ever sold on Bring a Trailer. The site has had 14 Legends and at least that many Integras.
How come I’m selling? Let me count the ways. Career uncertainty, I can’t drive it (and my 8 other cars) enough, there are other projects and cars I have in mind in the future, it’s a good chance to free up some garage space, and to help the Vigor model gain recognition since the enthusiast network is so obscure and forgotten. So bid away!
Along with that, I filmed a 14-minute very detailed video about the ins & outs of the car. The intro to the segment involved re-creating the cover photo from the 1994 Acura full-line brochure.
I extend thanks to my friend Josh of Clymer’s Carport for his innovation and creativity in developing a custom, hand-built Hot Wheels display board for me. I put together a video on it.
I recently created a login for Newspapers.com and started browsing the archives from the 1980s and 1990s. I dug up some particularly cool ads for Acura dealerships from back in the day.
A friend of mine picked up a 6-speed ILX to replace his RSX as a daily driver. It’s “Fathom Blue.” Last month also marks 8 years of ownership for me with my ILX.
My friend Chuck found an old pic that was taken the day after I got the car new in 2012.
I decided to do some small upgrades to the west garage on my property. It’s a small space where I keep one car, my lawn mower, and other yard care items. A neighbor recommended Garage Flooring LLC as a place to pick up plastic tiles, so I placed an online order and did the install. I opted to not put tiles over the entire floor but only about half of it for now.
NALM Arizona Update
The announcement was made on 6/26 that in light of current events that are heavily impacting the Arizona region currently (and for the foreseeable future), it is prudent to postpone this year’s National Acura Legend Meet to fall 2021 instead. More to come as registration re-opens, but our placeholder dates are October 6-10, 2021.
On the 4th of July I picked up my friend Lance for breakfast in a 6-door limo that’s being stored at my house. It belongs to my friend Devan. The car is 20″ longer than a quad cab Duramax pickup. I had to ramp up my depth perception a little.
I also enjoyed a little excursion in the Super Sonic Blue 1999 Integra. A few Saturdays ago (I think – my sense of time is all out of whack lately), some friends and I cruised up the twisties of Highway 89A to Prescott. We stopped along the way to pay respects to the 19 firefighters who were killed during the 2013 Yarnell Wildfire.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend staying safe out there. Send ice cream and snowflakes.
That took me long enough. The Legend coupe was at 572,XXX ever since getting back from Florida last October. I was getting sick of that 2 staring me in the face. I’ve been plugging away over here in my director chair coming up with content for YouTube.
Except, I don’t just occupy a director chair. For a total of 9 episodes now, I’ve taken each car in the collection and cleaned it, prepared supporting documentation, filmed it, edited the footage, and uploaded it. I’ve scheduled releases through the beginning of June, each Saturday. That was a lot of work but it’s also been super rewarding.
The Legend video has made it into 2 news articles (Motor1 and Carscoops) and even an article in Germany. As I type this on Wednesday April 22nd, the view count has surpassed 120,000 in just the 3 weeks it’s been live.
Here are two more uploads exclusive to the blog since they won’t be public on the channel for a while.
Integra SSBP GS-R Video
RL Video
I also took a little bit of time to put together a summary video of the 15-year history of the National Acura Legend Meet. This 5-minute piece captures select highlights from each year of the event starting in 2005.
The other day, I was rummaging through my case of printed car pics. Back in the day, I used to have all my media printed up at Walmart. I have hundreds of photos in plastic organizers, split out with dividers according to model, month, and year. This shouldn’t surprise any of you. But I came across a couple of photos from 2004 of my 1989 Prelude Si – the first Honda that really got me hooked – and it prompted me to do a little more digging.
These pictures show my friend Branson holding a camcorder and recording the scene. We were looking at my then-wrecked (former) Prelude at a salvage yard in St. George, Utah. We just happened across the car coincidentally. I’d sold it about four years prior, and the new owner was rear-ended which ultimately was the demise of the car. To this day I still have the rear “H” emblem off the trunk lid in my display case at home.
Anyway, I was determined to find the footage that Branson filmed that day. And I did. Below is a video showing the scene. It opens up to October 30, 2004 when he and I were swapping wheels on a newly-purchased $700 project car, a 1991 Legend L coupe 5-speed, that I’d purchased from my friend Mike to use as a “winter beater” while I was going to school at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.
The video then cuts to Branson’s footage of the Prelude. Next it takes you through some other things like me attempting to start detailing that $700 pile of junk. Some things never change.
Below is another video from the same “Hi8” cassette tape that I found interesting. It contains test drives of my 1986 Chevy Celebrity with 194,000 miles (displayed as 94,000) when I bought the car back for a brief moment of time in spring 2005. It also has a clip of driving the Legend coupe. It had about 165,000 miles on it at the time and as you’ll notice, it had the “TCS” (Traction Control System) light in the gauge cluster illuminated. I remember that being because of a faulty TCS Control Unit, which was fixed later in September of that year.
Perhaps most interesting from this video though is that it has a brief walkaround of the 2000 Acura 3.5 RL, which I ended up buying back earlier this year after it had been passed around the family for 14 years. The RL at the time of the video clip had only 23,880 miles on it.
Today, it has about 212,000. Thankfully, it looks about the same cosmetically with the exception of now having the factory 16″ wheels on it instead of those awful aftermarket chrome 17’s. You’ll also get introduced to our family cat, Gizmo, who is long gone.
Video quality has come a very long time over the last 15 years, hasn’t it?
I’ve crossed a few more home-improvement projects off the list in the last couple of weeks, including something I’d been meaning to do for a while. Below you’ll see the last addition to the garage: A sign for my (pretend) dealership. The lettering is made from 3D foam from a company in LA called Front Signs. I told them the design I had in mind, supplied the artwork, and they mailed me a box with everything I needed including the template to get everything installed in proper alignment.
The letters came in plain black so they needed to be primed, painted, and clear coated. The whole process took a couple of weeks because I ordered all the supplies online as opposed to breaking my quarantine and going to the hardware store. Additionally, the lamp you see there was ordered on Amazon and I had to run the power cord through the garage cabinet in order to get it wired up and working.
Here’s how it played out in a 1-minute video.
The next garage to get more work will be the ‘west’ garage which is begging for some custom flooring and paint. All in due time.
A friend tipped me off on an article that showed up in the February 2020 Japanese magazine called Honda Style. The magazine reads “backwards,” in other words, the pages flip from left to right instead of right to left. The SH-AWD 1997 SLX that was part of last year’s RADwood build made a 3-page article! I ordered 2 copies of the mag and sent one of them to the Public Relations team at Acura.
Lastly, a friend in Seattle hooked me up with an ‘actual’ 1992 GS-R window sticker, although it’s missing a chunk. This helps as a point of reference either way, especially when coupled with the replica that Jason helped me with a couple of years ago.
Hope everyone is having a safe and enjoyable week out there. Take care.
If you’ve ever wanted to visit Arizona, I’ll give you a reason. This year’s 16th annual National Acura Legend Meet is now open for registration as of this past Sunday. In the first 5 days, 13 vehicles have already signed up. We could be on track to witness the largest meet of its kind since 2014 in Los Angeles which saw about 30. Come be a part of history.
In other news, my blogging time has been limited lately because I’ve put a little more effort into my YouTube channel which is nearing 6,000 subscribers. I invite you to join me there for a few updates on automotive projects and other activities. I usually post a new episode (or more) each Sunday. I’ll post 5 of them here to catch you up. Some are still ‘unlisted’ so I can stagger them out over the next few weeks. Get your popcorn ready.
Integra Part 4
Integra Part 5
Integra Part 6
SLX Video 10 – The Project that Never Ends!
Do you want to test-drive 10 cool cars in 5 minutes? Then I have just the video for you. Last Saturday, I had a really unique experience of helping my friend Greg (the same guy who I wrote about with all the Japanese RHD cars) document the driving experience for a collection of cars that he’ll be auctioning off on Bring a Trailer website later this month. Among them was this exceptionally rare 1989 Pontiac ASC-McLaren Turbo Grand Prix with only 5,500 miles on it.
Check out that tech!
Here was the list of cars, in order of appearance in the below video:
1989 Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix
2000 Mercedes-Benz CLK55 AMG
1989 Dodge Lancer Shelby 5MT
2000 BMW M5 6MT
1989 Honda Prelude Si 4WS 5MT
2000 Honda S2000 6MT
1992 Toyota Aristo (RHD)
1992 Jeep Wrangler Renegade 5MT
1990 Nissan 300ZX TT 5MT
1992 Autozam AZ-1 (RHD) 5MT
Which was my favorite? Honestly, and this might get me in trouble with my Honda friends, I fell in love with the BMW M5. The sturdy shift feel, the power, the growl, and the utility of a ‘sportscar’ 4-door sedan with a manual really made that one check all the boxes for me.
And speaking of Bring a Trailer auctions, you might have missed this so I’ll share it here. A record-setting sale took place this week when a 1994 Legend LS coupe 6-speed sold for over $25,000. Here’s the link.
Maybe my own collection will be worth a dollar or two someday as well? I guess time will tell.
As Spring Training baseball games get underway here in Arizona, we are soaking up our last few weeks of very enjoyable weather and I’ve been spending quite a bit of time working on the never-ending list of “to-do” items. The latest 1999 Integra, which started out with a laundry list of 50 “needs” that I listed in an Excel document, has already been through half. So in two months’ time, it’s come a really long way.
One of the major milestones for that car was a comprehensive ‘professional’ detail, for which I engaged the help and services of a friend named Travis who helped not only with the interior & paint, but with removal of the hodge-podge of aftermarket stereo & alarm spaghetti wiring that was strung throughout the car. It was strangled.
The results speak for themselves. This paint was rough, and it came out brilliantly.
The NSX doesn’t get a video this time around, but I took it to the experts at Science of Speed for a regular checkup and it’s doing great at 116,000 miles.
I had a few special guests in February including folks from Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Seattle. The guest book is nearing page 50 and I’ve already purchased a second volume because pages are running out.
Here’s Tim:
Jaysen and his sister Tavali
Brad and Richard
Dave
Finally, I had to share some new wallhangings in the garage. I loved this anniversary 1986-1996 photo enough to frame and hang it up.
And the one in the middle here – I have to show you that a little more closely.
It contains the 6 Acura models from 1997.
The paragraph suggests that you pick whichever one fits “your definition of luxury.”
Except, the punchline suggests you should just buy a big garage and own all 6 (highlighted above).
Does that remind me of anyone else you know? This is the ad that goes along with it.
After 15 years of driving all around the country for the National Acura Legend Meet, to 13 different states, my trip to the 2020 annual event will require me driving… guess how far? Just 25 miles from my house to the host hotel! That’s because NALM is finally coming to my own backyard, and I’ll be co-hosting the event here in Phoenix, Arizona along with a few other volunteers.
The dates will be October 7-11, and without getting into too many details – I’ll save those announcements for some future blog posts – there will be some great venues and some great times for all to enjoy. Here is the announcement post on the forums.
Prior event locations are here:
Year
City
State
2005
Dallas
Texas
2006
Tulsa
Oklahoma
2007
Las Vegas
Nevada
2008
Chattanooga
Tennessee
2009
Branson
Missouri
2010
Salt Lake City
Utah
2011
Morristown
New Jersey
2012
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
2013
Asheville
North Carolina
2014
Los Angeles
California
2015
Houston
Texas
2016
Atlanta
Georgia
2017
Sacramento
California
2018
Colorado Springs
Colorado
2019
Daytona Beach
Florida
I’ve created a NALM account on Instagram called @nationalacuralegendmeet where you can follow along for regular updates as we unveil some of the exciting aspects of the itinerary. Maybe I’ll bring out a different car from the garage for each NALM day. And one of the events – of course – is a behind the scenes visit at my house. I might be crazy for opening my doors to an anticipated 25 cars and 50 people, but I’ve said it before: These people are like family to me and I look forward to hosting them as best I can.
Speaking of hosting: Occupancy rates at the house have been running high so far in 2020. Ever since the festivities for Barrett-Jackson, I’ve had company every weekend and enjoyed playing host. My friends Derek, Jay, Nick, and Chris all stopped by. Here they are in that order.
Derek, before I took him to his brother’s place.
Jay, passing through town with his gorgeous new Sherwood Green Legend LS 6-speed.
Nick, at right, here from Key West for a weekend in the desert.
And Chris, visiting from CA and about to take the NSX for a spin with his buddy Tony.
I also managed to squeeze in a few automotive updates in video form, so if you get time, tune in for the recent videos on my YouTube channel. The 1999 Integra is at Hon-Man in Tempe for a laundry list of issues, but I’ve replaced the front emblem, shift knob, license plate bumper plugs, and owner’s manual. I also got those nasty exhaust tips shined up thanks to a product from Mother’s called Mag & Aluminum Polish.
Check that before & after!
And another before & after! All about the details.
The RL received some paintless dent removal, new tint, a new windshield, and some touch-up paint.
I finally got my library of car maintenance binders in order, thanks to some new cabinets my dad and stepmom installed in my laundry room recently.
The two biggest blue binders are BOTH for the Legend coupe. Volumes 1 & 2.
We also installed a flat screen TV in the garage that is looping 148 Acura commercials from 1986 through 1999. It’s 1 hour 47 minutes of runtime. Seriously. I turn it on when guests are visiting.
I’m writing weekly now for ClassicCars.com in the “Pick of the Day” section. Basically, every Thursday I have an article about a vehicle of my choosing that is selected from the 40,000+ listed for sale on the site. The write-ups are short and sweet, but maybe you’ll be interested in taking a look to see if any of the cars I spotlight interest you.
How was everyone’s weekend? It’s been busy around here as I’ve been getting back to my routine. Just two days after returning from the mega Florida trip, I had company in town from San Diego and San Francisco for a few days. My guest book is spilling over onto page 41 since I bought my house in September of 2016. Let me know when you want to book your reservation (rental cars are available).
I’ll let the photos tell the story below because there’s really not much else to elaborate on.
Ryan and I took the ‘homeless’ white Legend that I’ve been storing for about a year to brunch.
He has his sights set on the Vigor. At 6-foot-6, he barely fits in that thing.
We also took the 1992 Integras out for a spin.
I’d like to introduce my friend Michael’s new 1996 Prelude Si. It’s beautiful!
Ben and Smiley arrived on their way back to the Bay Area from Florida on Saturday evening.
Ryan’s Accord 6-speed was looking extra juicy.
I took the Legend for its emissions test last Wednesday. It passed the test without any challenges.
Here are the recordings for pollutants since I first registered the car in Arizona about 12 years ago. In some cases the numbers are questionable or inconsistent. Actually – the numbers this time were better than they were 2 years ago, for all 3 measures. Go fig.
I needed to juggle some cars around so I parked the 2 ‘reds’ in the driveway for a few pictures on Sunday. You’ll see more of the SLX in the coming months as it’s involved in a special project.
Similar gauge layout, vastly different driving experiences.
Do you prefer Formula Red or Radiant Red?
My buddy Chris from Maryland, who has the twin to my Legend GS sedan, knew that his recent trip to Florida would cause his car to surpass mine in mileage. So we figured out a way to commemorate the milestone. I took my car to Wendy’s and recorded the odometer after I parked it back in the garage.
The reading was 161,440 at the time.
So Chris, similarly, took his Legend to Wendy’s.
And he captured a picture at 161,440. At this point, Chris’ car is likely to stay ahead of mine for the foreseeable future.
I took a scenic drive on Sunday in the RL out to Saguaro Lake in the Tonto National Forest. I was scouting drive & lunch locations for a potential bid to host the 2020 NALM event here in Phoenix next fall.
More to come on that, but here’s a 3-minute preview video to the scenery & venues for consideration.
Have you been following any updates on the special Acura TLX PMC Edition? It’s a TLX built at the NSX factory in Marysville, Ohio, and they’re only making 360 units. The first one I saw in person was #026, on 7/26/2019 at Acura North Scottsdale.
And since that one was behind velvet ropes, the first one I actually sat in was #146 on 9/26/2019 at Acura of Tempe.
I’ve yet to get behind the wheel but it’s a pretty cool car because it blends Advance and A-Spec packages which historically have been mutually exclusive. Have a good week!
It’s about time. I’ve been home for over a week from the longest trip I’d taken since 2016, but I’ve been trying to play catch-up. Below is some event coverage I’ve put together already that you may wish to peruse.
If if you’re more a watcher than a reader, you can fast-forward all the way to the bottom of this post because there are 4 YouTube episodes there for your viewing pleasure a total of about 40 minutes’ worth of runtime. How about that? You get to experience a 13-day road trip in a fraction of the time. You’re welcome. Haha.
NALM – the National Acura Legend Meet – has led me to various parts over the country over the course of its now-15-year run. From New Jersey in 2011 to Sacramento in 2017 and Milwaukee in 2012 to Houston in 2015. Which reminds me, I need to rummage through my closet and see how many prior-year NALM T-shirts I still have.
This year’s voyage was unlike any other. As time goes on, long-distance road trips get more challenging: I’m older, the car’s older, parts are tougher to come by, and it’s more and more difficult to break away from work for such an extended period of time. But the reward – or the juice, as my boss likes to say – is totally worth the squeeze. In other words, if it’s NALM, I’ll be there. Plan it in Tierra del Fuego if you want to. I’ll probably drive there.
I stayed with a variety of friends throughout the trip, which took me through 7 states as I stayed on (or close to) Interstate 10 the entire way. One night was spent in the luxurious garage of Jason from Pawela’s Garage. A couple of days later, I got to drive the Guinness World Records “Longest Continuous Bridge Over Water” (that’s a lot of qualifiers) which runs 23 miles over Lake Ponchartrain in the New Orleans area. I’m a sucker for “world’s largest” anything, and most of you know that about me by now. And I got to meet a long-time blog reader and friend named Carlos in Miami who proudly showed me his stack of records on his 2005 TSX. Thanks, Carlos!
Key West, Florida is a destination that had been on my Excel “road trip bucket list” for some time now. It felt like something I should probably cross off since I’d already be in the same state, so my trip was lengthened by 2 days in order to allow me to visit the Southernmost Point in the Continental United States. And that side-trip was 100% amazing. Coincidentally, I had a couple of Arizona friends in the area who invited me on a catamaran for a sunset ‘dinner cruise’. Thanks again for that, Hy and Linda!
I checked in for the NALM festivities during dinner on day two of the event, while everyone was chowing down on tacos at Jimmy Hula’s in Ormond Beach. My favorite part of the program happened the next day, when our Legends swarmed Daytona Beach – on the beach itself. Daytona is one of the few oceanfront areas in the country where you can still drive your personal vehicles on the sand. I guess when you consider I had my Legend in Los Angeles earlier this year, it pretty much drove from the west coast to the east coast this calendar year.
And perhaps as a reward for that achievement, my car was one of five Legends allowed to park inside the showroom at AutoNation Acura North Orlando, where General Manager Rob Breedlove was gracious enough to roll out the red carpet for our entire pack of Legend fans. He staffed the BBQ grill outside while our group was addressed by Honda Brand Culture Champion Charles Schnieber about the history of Acura and some fascinating trivia. Thanks Rob!
All too soon, it was time to conclude our festivities with a beachside pizza party & awards ceremony. I was awarded a certificate for having the cleanest floor mats in the group, which admittedly was a little unfair because the mats I had in the car are only used for shows and I don’t actually daily drive with them!
My last stop before making the marathon trek westward was to visit an Acura enthusiast in Jacksonville named Andrew, who I can only describe as “me, but on the east coast.” Andrew has a significant collection of cool cars, including a Honda Odyssey, Honda Ridgeline, an Acura Legend, two Acura CLs, and an Acura NSX. He and his wife rolled out the hospitality in a big way and I felt right at home.
On my way home, I stayed another night with Jason in New Mexico – this time, celebrating a milestone with him. (We’re kind of making this a habit). This time, the achievement happened in his now-100,000 mile 2014 Lexus IS350. I was happy to be able to celebrate with him.
You’re all asking: How’d the car do? Well, it delivered 27 mpg and performed pretty flawlessly for its age and miles. The only maintenance items worth mentioning were a bottle of power steering fluid used up, a pair of new tires installed for precaution (they’d been a worn before I even left Arizona), an oil change, and replacement of a taillight bulb. My comprehensive fuel log is posted below – totaling about $640 in fuel expense.
And in Excel form for the nerds in the house.
When it comes to adventures, this was definitely one of the most memorable I’ve had. And I thank you for coming along on the journey with me!
Jason’s garage
“Prada Marfa” – a worthwhile offbeat destination in rural Texas: It’s a fake Prada store in the middle of nowhere.
This sure felt like a marathon.
Checking out my friend Michael’s TSX Sport Wagon in San Antonio
Dinner group at Flying Saucer in San Antonio
Rolling 567,890.1 on the coupe with 234.5 on the trip meter
Tire replacement needed in Tallahassee – Discount Tire had my size & brand in stock!
Carlos’ TSX and DJ’s MDX in Miami
Headed out on the “Overseas Highway” to Key West – remarkable scenery
My two-night stay in Key West – highly recommended
Southernmost Point!
Unreal sunsets on our dinner cruise
I stopped by Acura of Pembroke Pines on my way back through the Miami area, and one of the individuals I met was Jon in his gorgeous Monte Carlo Blue NSX
Sean stopped by too – he’s a NALM veteran, as he and I attended the first event in 2005 together!
Sunrise view from host hotel, Coral Sands Inn, in Ormond Beach
Daytona Beach scenes
Chris and his 1994 Legend GS 6-speed. He authored the last post on this blog.
“World’s Most Famous Beach”
No car club event is complete without plenty of good grub.
Dealer day photos
Presentation from Charles, with my Legend in the foreground
Greetings, blog readers. I arrived a day late to this year’s NALM so I invited a colleague, Chris Miller, to write about his experience that first day leading up to my arrival. See below for his words and photos.
My complete write-up on my 5,600-mile trip, and a series of 4 videos, are pending in the coming days & weeks.
Thanks for reading!
_______
NALM 2019, departure from Maryland to Florida and Day 1 Activities
This year was no different, 20-plus Legend enthusiasts and a few spouses came from all over the country, and even Canada to gather in Ormond Beach FL, just a few miles north of Daytona Beach. The drive for me this year was relatively easy: Get on I-95 South a mile from my house and take it to the Ormond Beach exit, 872 miles away. I had to work on Monday so I drove to DC, worked till 3:00pm and drive to Fayetteville NC for the night. Tuesday I drove from Fayetteville NC to Floral City FL to visit the famous Legend Land to visit the famous Legend Savior himself, Alan Jackson. Wednesday morning Alan, his wife Nancy, and I convoyed the 2 hours from Floral City to Ormond Beach via back roads through Ocala National Forest.
This year’s hotel was the Coral Sands Inn off Route A1A which is their main coastal road and was right on the beach with views of the ocean from every level. Wednesday night dinner was at Lagerheads about 4 miles north of the hotel. The special that evening was Mahi Mahi tacos which I found to be very tasty with a little kick. The veranda outside Thomas’ room was the place to hang out afterwards and catch up with old friends and our little Legend family.
One newcomer this year was Avery Tulak who lives in British Columbia. I spent some time talking with him about his travels to Florida. It started with a 7 hour drive from B.C to Seattle and then a 5.5 hour flight to Florida. Avery doesn’t own a legend…yet. He does have an RL, a Vigor and an Integra in his stable and knowing he was on the hunt I informed him of a famous NALM quip: For the right price, every Legend in the lot is for sale. We welcomed him to our event and ensured he got to ride different Legends throughout the events.
Thursday morning we went down the street to Alfies for breakfast at 7:45. We were the first and largest group in the restaurant and my breakfast choice, along with a couple others, was the French toast with Bacon. It must’ve been 6 slices cause I could barely eat it all.
At 9:30 we gathered across the street from the hotel to stage the cars and we promptly departed for Daytona International Speedway just a few short miles down Interstate 95.
Once we arrived we were greeted by our tour guide for the morning. We loaded into tram-like cars behind his pickup truck and we proceeded around the perimeter of the track on a road just above the jersey walls. Our tour guide gave us a brief history of the track since it first opened in 1959. The speedway is known for the most prestigious race in all of Nascar, the Daytona 500 which is held in February. The complex is not only home to 2.5 miles of nearly 200mph races, it also houses road races, motocross and superbike competitions on smaller tracks within the complex.
Our tour guide shared an impressive amount of knowledge with us during our tour. He told us how many light poles were erected, the number and wattage of the bulbs used during night racing and other interesting facts. He told us that when it comes to re-paving the speedway it takes over 6 months from start to finish. When they repave the speedway all the asphalt is ground up and hauled off, right down to the dirt. You wouldn’t think paving would take 6 months but a great deal of the effort is the preparation. The protective fencing above the jersey walls and safer barriers has to come down.
The banking around the curves is 31 degrees and to keep the paving equipment from sliding or tumbling down the bank they have equipment that runs along the perimeter roads alongside the paving machines with safety lines tethered to them. We weren’t allowed on the banked curves but we were allowed to get out and walk the start/finish line which is banked at a mere 18 degrees but proved to be a little difficult to climb. We also got to tour a few buildings in the infield which houses the press corps and we got a group photo taken inside Winner’s Circle. After a short elevator ride we went up to the grandstands to get a view of the entire speedway.
Our last stop was the Daytona Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum. Inside the entrance is Denny Hamlin’s Toyota which won the Daytona 500 this past February. It’s tradition for the 500s winning racecar to be put on display in the museum for one year until the next 500 winner is crowned. The car is displayed in the same condition as shown on t.v., soda, champaigne, confetti, and all kinds of asphalt and debris still clinging to the paint. The only thing done to the car is it’s drained of any remaining fuel. Inside the museum is the famous Hudson Hornet, cars from Dale Sr., Jeff Gordon, as well as a few funny cars, dragsters, and even a couple boats.
The next event was a short scenic drive and photoshoot in the local area but I decided I’d head an hour south and take a tour of the Kennedy Space Center. While watching the various multimedia exhibits and IMAX presentations I was keeping an eye on Tyson’s location. I knew he was heading north from Key West and I wanted to convoy north to Ormond Beach with him as our dinner that night was at Jimmy Hula’s. There’s something neat about following the coupe version of your car going up the highway; especially when we share the same car color.
Yes, I’m almost as nerdy as Tyson is in some respects. We fueled up at the Exxon station and headed north on I-95 through a nasty rain storm that lasted a few miles. The first day or two of NALM was very windy with scattered heavy rain showers reducing visibility to ¼ mile or less. We made it to dinner a little late but I enjoyed a Rice Bowl with Chicken similar to what you’d get at a Chipotle. Tyson feasted on a couple Tacos after making his rounds and saying Hello to the gang.
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!
A friend sent me a snapshot of an article with a “then and now” comparison. It talked about how the average cost of a car in 1982 was $5,967. His comment was, “You still pay that price.” He’s not wrong! Haha. I love my garage full of $5k oldies.
I recently got my hands on some pretty sweet data recently regarding the breakout of ILX automatics to manuals. My fellow Acura geeks won’t need this history lesson, but for the benefit of everyone else: The ILX entry level Acura sedan launched in mid-2012 as a 2013 model, slotted below the TSX in the hierarchy. There were three available drivetrains: a 2-liter automatic, a 1.5-liter hybrid with a continuously-variable transmission (CVT), and a 2.4 liter with a 6-speed manual transmission. I ordered my ILX as a manual and took delivery on June 12, 2012 with 16 miles on the odometer. It was #00082 on the production line. The rest is history.
In the years following the ILX launch, “take rate” on the 6-speed manuals was never very good. Some surmised that it might be as low as 3-5% of overall sales. To nobody’s surprise (but much to my own disappointment), the manual option was dropped when the car was first refreshed for the 2016 model year. Newly-released information from Acura indicates that over the 2013 + 2014 + 2015 model years, only 2,786 cars were sold with a manual transmission. That works out to about 4% of the overall volume, which was right in line with predictions.
What does it all mean? Nothing, really, other than the fact that I can feel sort of exclusive in driving a “rare” model. The vast majority of car buyers today don’t want to be troubled with a third pedal. Chew on that data for a little while.
I had a couple of action-packed recent weeks, with my dad being here in Phoenix for a trade show, travels to southern Utah for a birthday party, and some out-of-town guests. Keeping you up to speed on current & upcoming events:
Registration is now open for the 3rd annual “NSX WestFest” event in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be held April 11-14 and promises to be one of the best NSX events of the year aside from the annual NSXPO. This year’s NSXPO is slated for October in Washington D.C. More to come on whether I’ll be able to make that cross-country drive / flight / teleportation.
It’s also been announced that this year’s 15th annual National Acura Legend Meet (NALM) will be held in October as well and headquartered in beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida. Here’s the official posting from the AcuraLegend.org forums with the latest information. Lodging and registration details will be posted on March 1. I’m looking forward to the journey – I haven’t missed a NALM since the event started in 2005. This will be one of the longest trips in the history of my 1994 LS coupe, at roughly 4,500 miles round trip. I’m even thinking of starting the drive from San Diego, California so I can make it a true “Pacific to Atlantic” adventure.
It would be the car’s longest trip since Alaska in 2006.
Daytona looks beautiful!
Here are some assorted pics from over the last few weeks. This is my friend Mitch from Indiana. He is a long-time fellow Honda & Acura enthusiast who was recently featured last month in an article by Hagerty about his restoration process of a rare Zanardi NSX.
I had dad’s MDX in town for a couple of weeks. Tech has come a long way since the 1997 SLX!
Sedan out to dinner.
And a couple other random beauty shots on my way to work.
Legend sighting at the parking structure of the Phoenix Convention Center. Name that color!
I finally sourced some “bumper plugs” for my 1992 Integra sedan. Here in Arizona, we don’t have front license plates, so I needed something to cover up the unsightly holes where the bracket would attach in other states.
Helping dad set up his booth at the convention center – before.
And after.
Went and saw the latest LEGO movie, courtesy of Chevrolet, with James and Abigail. Go check it out!
Legend coupe in for an oil change.
And a fairly clean bill of health – just leaks noted for the power steering & oil. I already knew about those.
Check out my “safari sunroof.”
Got Branson’s Legend out for a little spin.
Road trip back to Utah in dad’s MDX.
Visiting niece Ava Mae. Beckam had blue hair that day.
And celebrating grandpa’s 88th birthday.
Late night meet-up with my friend James who has a Moroccan Red 2007 TL-S 6-speed.
Little bit of EGR carbon clean-out in the Legend, courtesy of my friend Shaun who paid me a visit from SLC.
Shaun at the wheel of the GS.
And doing a little junkyarding. We pulled the center console vent trim out of this 1991 LS.
Donald stopped by to join the party in his Vortex Blue 2009 TSX.
My 1990 Honda Accord EX, recently sold on Bring a Trailer, (finally) goes away tonight and is headed to Dallas, Texas tomorrow!
drivetofive 