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NALM 2015 in Houston, Part 4: Awards Ceremony, Drive to El Paso

Posted in Legend, NALM on September 27, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend coupe): 537,541

Odometer (Legend sedan): 149,207

Day Distance: 742 Miles

Texas is too damn huge. How is it possible that James and I spent an entire day driving and never left the state? Here’s how today’s drive directions could have been written:

Enter I-10 westbound at mile marker 750
Drive 742 miles
Exit I-10 westbound at mile marker 8

That’s it. I’m pretty sure those 742 miles could have taken me through several states in any other region of the country. I guess there’s one great thing about a simple day on the road – it gave me plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and appreciate the chance to listen to good music without worrying about navigation. James and I have just checked into a hotel in west El Paso for the evening after spending about 11 hours staring at the open road. A couple of nice things about driving westbound: We’ve already gained back one of our two “lost” time zones, and we were chasing the sun so we had more daylight to work with.

This morning, NALM Awards Director Kevin P. Amoth took the spotlight during the closing ceremony for the 11th Annual National Acura Legend Meet. Kevin’s presentations are always fun-filled and thoughtful. He even had a few special items for me: A license plate frame, some replacement cruise control & audio buttons (mine are well worn), and a replacement sticker for the top of my coupe’s airbox cover. “It’s the last one in the country!” Kevin told me. I believe it. Kevin and I have a special tradition for NALM events that we’ve been carrying out for a few years now. Each year, I take a silver Sharpie marker and sign my name – and a short message – on the underside of his trunk lid. This year, it was the first time he’s brought his 1994 “Polar Bear” coupe, so I had a clean slate to begin with.

I had some ants in my pants after a couple of hours in the meeting room, especially knowing how long James and I would be driving later that day, so we said our farewells and made our way to the parking lot to hit the highway shortly after 10:00 in the morning. Unfortunately, that meant that we missed the announcements about award recipients. Here’s what I know so far:

Best in Show: Jeff
Best Wheels: Kevin
Cleanest Engine Bay: Mike
“Because Racecar”: TJ
Best Paint: Larry
Most JDM: Ross
Longest Drive: Sergey (Seattle area, WA)
Best Participant: Ed
Most Improved: Chris

Truly those awards were very well deserved. In all, NALM attendees drove a total of over 25,000 miles to be in attendance at the meet. It took a lot of time, effort, and money for them to be a part of it. And you know what? I bet you could ask any of those guys if they thought the trip was worth it and they’d say YES without even thinking twice about it. Here I am 11 years into it and not regretting a single mile.

An isolated thunderstorm dumped just enough water on the Katy Freeway to make it the first time my Legend GS has been driven in rain since 2008. No matter. “It’s not going to melt,” as someone wise once told me. I’ll detail it up when I get home to Phoenix sometime. By the time we got to San Antonio and beyond, the skies were clearing. Everything west of the Highway 1604 interchange got a little more desolate and I was okay with that, because it meant I could set my cruise control at 83 miles per hour in the 80 mi/hour zone and not be worried about excess traffic.

Our only stops today were in Sonora, Texas at the Pizza Hut and then at the Love’s gas station in Van Horn, Texas, for fuel. An easy-peasy drive – and tomorrow, we have only 6 hours remaining until our arrival in the Phoenix area. Stay with us as I’ll have one more installment at the conclusion of this adventure!

A few more photos from today follow.

Kevin presenting Mike with the “Golden Glow” Award this morning.

Quick photo of my car with Ben’s white coupe. I will see Ben in a few weeks at NSXPO in Palm Springs, and we’re going to get a similar photo of our NSXs together.

I-10 westbound approaching San Antonio – this isn’t something you see in Arizona. “Hurricane Evacuation Route”

Pizza Hut parking lot in Sonora, Texas

And the open road awaits

Fueling up at Love’s in Van Horn, Texas

Dinner is served!

Safe travels to all you other NALM-goers who are still traveling to your respective homes.

14 Comments »

NALM 2015 in Houston, Part 3: Car Show, Dealership Visit, and BBQ

Posted in Legend, NALM on September 26, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 536,775

Howdy y’all. See? It’s only been 48 hours since I made myself a Temporary Texan, but I’ve already assimilated to the language and culture of this region. The last couple of days have been action-packed with Legendary activities. We are, quite literally, “sweating to the oldies.” Old cars, that is. With lots and lots of Houston humidity thrown in.

Our group took over the Marriott breakfast area on the 10th floor of our hotel, then migrated to ground level and pulled our vehicles around to the west side of the building where they could be staged in preparation for our car show and visit to the neighboring Acura dealership, called John Eagle. NALM Director TJ Vetrone had arranged with the manager of the dealership to have our cars roll through the Service facility in preparation for a quick photoshoot of each. He made special considerations for my two ‘twins,’ and we got a photo of them together. John Eagle is the largest-volume Acura dealership in all of Texas. I believe it. The facility is gargantuan, and its staff members were most welcoming.

Next up, we received instructions for our NALM “Concours d’ Elegance.” We just called it a car show; we aren’t that fancy. Voting forms were passed out which contained 8 categories by which attendees were asked to pick one “best” car for each. The competition was extremely fierce and emotions ran high. Alan from FL and Kevin from GA got into an especially heated discussion (all in good jest, of course) over some apparent misrepresentation of who owned which car. We’ll see how the award recipients end up playing out at tomorrow morning’s NALM Closing Ceremony. Each car owner took the time to explain his vehicle’s story during the show while the judging was conducted. Here’s Chris giving the lowdown on his 1994 GS.

TJ brought out our catered lunch and served up sandwiches & sodas from the bed of his pickup. It was great to prop up a camp chair and sit in the shade while conversing over riveting topics like “What’s the Legend’s weight?” I saw an opportunity to take a special survey during that downtime, so I grabbed a pen & paper and walked along the lineup of Legends in the car show to take note of the mileage reading of each. Here are the findings:

19 Legends being judged
18 generation 2; 1 generation 1
Average miles: 218,292
Total miles: 4,147,555
Total trips around the earth: 166

Those are some impressive statistics from our group of long-lived cars! This evening, my local Houstonian friend Mark came over in a legendary car of his own, a 1995 Subaru SVX. I hitched a ride with him to dinner in his so-called “spaceship.” The SVX model design is famous for its 10 windows. Mark’s car is even more unique because he’s changed out the automatic transmission for a 5-speed manual. It made a great shuttle ride to our dining destination at Spring Creek Barbeque.

As the sun sets on another fun day with friends and cars, we are nearing the conclusion on this great annual event and people are already starting to talk about where the event may land next year. Here are the rest of photos and a play-by-play of what went on throughout the day here.

My friend Aaron has a tradition of throwing himself over the hood or roof of my cars whenever I see him. Today was no exception. Hey, don’t scratch the paint!

To a non-Legend enthusiast, all this NALM Nonsense is a bit insane. I had a good laugh at my friend Leif’s comment via text this morning.

There’s no doubt the nerd level among some of us is off the charts. I realized that fact this evening when I asked my friend and fellow attendee Ben to recite his car’s 17-digit VIN. He spat out the number just as memorized as if I’d asked him to say the alphabet.

It wouldn’t be a NALM without at least some kind of mechanical need! I noticed a nail in my front left tire this morning so I promptly replaced it with my full-size spare… which was also flat. Luckily, Evan came to the rescue with an air compressor and we got it loaded up to 33 psi for the long upcoming trip home.

My friend Humberto and his buddy Vikas stopped by to say hello! Humberto drives a Milano Red Acura TSX and has been a Drive to Five reader for some time now. Thanks for the quick visit, guys!

Lunch is served:

Matt showed us the original purchase invoice for his 1994 Acura Legend sedan. It’s been in the family since brand new.

Matt brought along the youngest member of the Legend fanclub, Gus!

Everyone checking out Larry’s immaculate engine during the car show.

Ed, Alan, and Mike had the right idea with the camp chairs in a shady spot.

Mike’s “Golden Glow Pearl” was stunning in the sunlight!

Chris displayed his window sticker & fact sheet on his 1994 Legend GS.

Ross brought his Cobalt Blue Pearl 1991 sedan out, and included a few notes about what makes it special.

Notice in his summary: He saved this car from the junkyard and put it back on the road where it belongs!

Spoilers for days.

Car show, engine judging.

TJ presented me with a “LEGEND” customized vanity Nevada license plate. Thanks, man!

Little preview into some of the car show drama we had! More on that in an upcoming video.

Figured it was worth a shot to walk just a block down the road from our hotel and get a picture with Chris at the entrance to Houston.

Checking out the undercarriage of Chris’ Legend GS at John Eagle dealership a little later.

Dinner location at Spring Creek BBQ

Group at dinner

And saying a fond farewell to Mark, Misty, and Ian who joined us for tonight’s meal.

Thanks for joining for another day! The adventure continues tomorrow with a long drive home ahead.

11 Comments »

NALM 2015 in Houston, Part 1: Scottsdale AZ to Katy TX

Posted in Legend, NALM, Road Trip on September 24, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend coupe): 536,520

Trip Distance: 1,149 Miles

I MADE IT. My annual pilgrimage to Legend Mecca is underway and it feels like I’ve done this before. In fact, I’ve done it ten times – every year driving to a different city around the country to meet up with other car geeks. On Tuesday night, a few fellow enthusiasts with the same idea stopped by my house in the late evening. James, Gabe, and Mirel took a short break in my living room before heading out in the middle of the night. James had driven all the way from the San Francisco Bay Area, Gabe from Los Angeles area, and Mirel a local guy just getting ready to embark. We had 6 Legends at my place in Scottsdale for a couple of hours.

Gabe, Mirel, James, Tyson pictured below. Those three crazies next to me continued on to Houston around 11:30 p.m.

On Wednesday afternoon after work, my friend James and I hit the road in two matching 1994 Legends: My 1994 LS coupe, and my 1994 GS sedan.

Ahead of us was a 6-hour drive that evening to an overnight stay in Las Cruces, New Mexico with our friend Jason. When we rolled our convoy in the combination KFC / Taco Bell in Benson, Arizona, the cashier gave us a head nod and said, “Nice cars!”

Jason rolled out the red carpet – and comfortable sleeping accommodations – for the weary travelers. His place is located right off I-25 so it made for an easy getaway the following morning bright and early. James and I fueled up on Lucky Charms and then hit the road with another 11-hour stretch of road ahead of us. Those 11 hours soon became closer to 13, thanks to a few delays. No cross-country road trip is complete without them. First of, all we got gridlocked in El Paso traffic right at morning rush hour. After breaking free from that mess, I got on the walkie talkie and told James that I wanted to pit stop in Van Horn, Texas next. By then, both of us were ready for a bathroom break and a beverage. James snagged this photo of me with the cars.

The next several hours, I kept a close eye on James in my rearview while enjoying the west Texas countryside ahead and around me. Traffic broke up and pretty soon we had our cruise control speeds set at 85 miles per hour thanks to the 80 mph limit on those interstate freeways. Our next fuel stop was in “Ozona,” a quaint little town of 3,200 people and a few gas stations. At each fuel stop, I topped off both cars. The interesting part? The Legend sedan consistently got about 1/2 mile per gallon better mileage. I guess that might be in part due to the fact that it has only 148,000 miles on it as compared to the coupe’s 536,000. The window sticker quotes a highway rating of 26 but both cars were getting beyond that – the sedan sitting right around 27.

San Antonio traffic was a cluster. I thought I was being all clever to suggest that we avoid downtown at rush hour by going AROUND town on a 26-mile bypass loop called Highway 1604. But, my confidence was quickly squashed when we came to an immediate halt on the offramp. For the next 30 minutes, we dealt with aggressive drivers, narrow lanes, heavy traffic, and a woman in a Ford Expedition who was so dead-set on not letting James merge that she nearly caused an accident in the process. We were glad to get back on the open road toward Houston when we reconnected with I-10.

Finish line in sight, James and I had just about 50 miles to go to the NALM host hotel in Katy. As the sun dipped down in my rearview mirror, I was rocking out to some good music and I had a Red Bull in hand for a little extra caffeine kick. James said over the walkie talkie: “So, this is where we get to figure out how to balance a Red Bull between our legs?” The Legends equipped with a manual transmission have zero cup holders, so handling a beverage on the go inevitably becomes a bit of a challenge.

Once again, our enthusiasm was dampened when traffic came to a literal stop on the freeway. We sat in a parking lot on I-10 eastbound for about 15 minutes. I even turned the car off because people started getting out of their vehicles. Do you know how frustrating that is to be within 50 miles of your 1,300-mile road trip destination and be stuck in a traffic jam? Worst of all, I knew we were missing the pizza party at Brother’s Pizza where all other NALM attendees were dining out. When we finally DID start moving again, we were engulfed in a cloud of dust because the construction zone sent us through an unpaved portion of road. Goodbye clean cars!

I didn’t care, though, at that point. Because we were about to meet up with my long time friend Chris Miller of Baltimore. For the last 8 weeks or so, Chris has painstakingly been preparing his new acquisition, a 1994 Legend GS, for participation at this year’s NALM. Except – I was one of only a few people he told about it. His arrival at NALM was to be a complete secret for most of the attendees. James and I met up with Chris at a Walmart parking lot off the Katy freeway, then arrived at the Marriott host hotel in caravan. The reactions of those who hadn’t before seen Chris’ new car was priceless. His work and efforts had paid off. When Chris pulled into the parking lot and put his car among the 30 or so other Legends in the parking lot, he had everyone’s attention.

And so began the reunion with all my great Legend friends. These are people from all over the country who come together once a year in celebration of this crazy thing called Legend Love. Ben flew from Shanghai, then drove his car from San Francisco. Sergey drove from Seattle. Alan drove from Florida. Kevin brought his 300,000+ miler from Georgia. Nothing stops these people! They are here because they want to be, and I’m honored to call them friends. We have a fun next few days in store and I’ll bring you the latest as time allows.

Here are a few first pics from the adventure!

James following me out

Fuel stop in Benson, Arizona

Entering Texas

And getting stuck in El Paso traffic

Group text with other NALM attendees. I guess they weren’t having any better luck in Houston than I was in El Paso.

I kept checking Chris’ location to see if he’d beat me to Houston, since we were trying to align our arrival times.

Split of I-20 and I-10. I took this same route earlier this year when I drove the ILX to Dallas.

Rolling 536,000!

Legends as seen outside Sonic in Ozona, Texas during our lunch.

Closing in on San Antonio on I-10 eastbound.

Traffic. Bleh.

Fuel up at Love’s just east of San Antonio.

Legend Lineup at the Marriott in Katy, Texas. Just a fraction of them!

More to come! Stay tuned.

12 Comments »

Houston, We Don’t Have a Problem: Getting Ready for NALM 2015

Posted in ILX, Legend, Maintenance, NALM on September 20, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (1994 Legend Coupe): 535,330

Odometer (1993 Legend Sedan): 178,352

Odometer (1994 Legend Sedan): 147,051

Combined Legend Miles: 860,733

Now that my fleet of Acu-rides has grown to a half-dozen, one of my readers requested a photo of all the keys in a lineup. Well, this one’s for you, Sunny! In order here L to R are 1992 NSX, 1993 Legend sedan, 1994 Legend sedan, 1994 Legend coupe, 1994 Vigor, and 2013 ILX.

It’s that time of year again when the Legend fans of the world (all two dozen of us, ha!) get together at an annual event called the National Acura Legend Meet (NALM). It’s tradition – even obsession – for some of us to make sure it happens each year. For 2015, our host city will be at the fourth most populous city in the United States (at a staggering 6.3 million residents in the metro area): Houston, Texas. This destination marks a homecoming of sorts, since the inaugural NALM in 2005 was held in Dallas a few hours to the north.

For this voyage, you’ll be joining me for a trip length of 1,178 miles each way, which according to Google Maps should take 16 hours & 24 minutes of drive time. Get your road snacks ready.

This will be my 11th NALM. The last few years’ events are detailed here:

NALM 2011: Morristown, New Jersey
NALM 2012: Milwaukee, Wisconsin (took the ILX for this one)
NALM 2013: Asheville, North Carolina
NALM 2014: Los Angeles, California

Here’s a photo of last year’s program in Los Angeles. I think we had 30-someodd cars in attendance. Panorama!

A 2,400-mile round trip journey is no small undertaking, so I have to make sure my Legends (2 of the 3, anyhow) are up to the challenge. For this trip, my 1994 coupe and 1994 sedan will be making the drive. Thanks in advance to a yet-unnamed friend who will be driving one of the cars on my behalf. On Saturday morning, I took the Vigor over to swap it out for the 1994 Legend sedan in storage.

Back at the house, it was nice to start “seeing double” again. I’ve had the coupe since 2003 and the sedan since 2008. They were built 5 months apart (9/93 versus 2/94) but they are the same model year, color, and drivetrain.

Let’s take a peek under the hood and check out a few fluid levels. Here’s the 4-door.

And here’s the 2-door. Identical, right? Only to the untrained eye. The coupe is missing a sticker on its airbox (Kevin, I know you sent me one – I just haven’t installed it yet!) and has some aftermarket stereo wiring.

For kicks, the new 1993 sedan. Some clear differences here. Let’s ditch that aftermarket air intake soon.

The coupe went in for maintenance on Thursday afternoon and received a full inspection and 5W30 oil change at Acura of Tempe. I added a new page to my 2-binder collection of receipts, and a 257th line to my maintenance spreadsheet on that car. The technician noted some (known) oil leaks and he said the front tires are “yellow” status so I should probably rotate those on my next oil change. Otherwise, a clean bill of health and Dana, my service advisor sent me off with “Have a great trip!” Even she has no doubt the car will get me to TX & back.

We will depart on Wednesday evening. I’ll post as best I can with regular updates, so come back soon!

I have a few fun high-mileage topics to share with you:

My coworker, Todd, achieved the 320,000 milestone in his Volkswagen Passat this week and sent me a photo. Congrats, Todd!

My friend Spencer sent me photos of an Accord his dad took on trade at the family dealership in California. It’s a 2000 model year with 509,000 miles on it, and the original automatic transmission! Looks pretty decent for that kind of mileage!

509,000 miles on a 2000 comes out to 33,933 miles per year!

And finally, I’ve reached out to the folks at The Smoking Tire who are on a mission to get to the 1 million milestone on a 1996 Lexus LS400. Site founder Matt Farah bought the car not long ago with just a little fewer than 900,000 on the odometer. He’s passing it around to various automotive journalists around the country and letting them help the old Lexus get to 7-digit territory.

I thought this article (and video) about the LS were great. The article discusses how most often it’s the type of OWNER responsible for achieving high-mile status, rather than the type of car. Take care of your vehicle and it’ll take care of you!

A couple friends and I took a trip to Bartlett Lake, northeast of Phoenix, yesterday with the ILX.

A little dirt road didn’t scare me away.

Perfect weather now that we’ve dipped out of triple-digit temperatures. Welcome, fall.

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend too!

16 Comments »

Utah Weekend Trip & NALM 2015 Announcement

Posted in ILX, NALM, Road Trip, Utah on March 9, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 532,664

Odometer (ILX): 115,833

Trip Distance: 847 Miles

Most people wouldn’t consider it worthwhile to drive nearly 900 miles for a < 24-hour stay at a destination. But, I guess I’m not “most people.” I took off on Saturday morning and headed for my hometown in southwest Utah to spend a little bit of quality time with my family there. I’ll spare a lengthy road trip recap because I’ve blogged about the route dozens of times in the past, but I did manage to get a few pictures that might be worth sharing.

Here’s the Virgin River Gorge section of Interstate 15. For about 10 miles, it winds along the base of a canyon next to the Virgin River. Here’s what makes this very short stretch of road unique, though. It’s located in Arizona, yet it connects a town in Nevada (Mesquite) with a town in Utah (St. George).

St. George is home to about 77,000 people – at least as of a recent 2013 census.

My brother Bentley and his wife Kyann were very welcoming at their home.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was driving my brother’s fully restored 1968 Chevy II Nova SS. It’s powered by an LS3 V8 motor and it has a T56 6-speed manual transmission. The car was dyno-tested a couple of months ago at 416 horsepower at the wheels (so, a little more than double what I’m used to driving daily). I fell in love with this car by the time I had driven it to the end of his street. The burbling sound of a V8 and the endless torque made me want to get a little naughty and light up the tires. I managed to behave myself.

With my nephew Beckam

Interior of the Nova. The gauges, steering wheel, and radio you see here are all aftermarket. There’s not much on this car – aside from the body itself – that’s original to the car’s 1968 model year specifications.

Made a couple special visits, including a shopping trip with my 3-year-old niece.

Also did a little route planning with grandpa. He gave me some tips for a drive to Idaho that I’ll be taking with my dad later this year. Stay tuned for more on that in the coming months!

Sunday morning’s return drive to Arizona via Highway 89A through Fredonia, Arizona. The Ship Rock Motel looks to have been abandoned many years ago. At one point I believe some of the rooms had been converted into apartments but as of today it appears the entire facility is pretty much condemned.

As the road crested to 7,900 feet in elevation at Jacob Lake, there was snow on the sides of the highway.

It was a perfect chance to crack open that moonroof and watch the pine trees fly by.

Arriving Jacob Lake. This is the junction with Highway 67 which serves as the gateway to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. I’ll be visiting that area again in late May for a rim-to-rim Grand Canyon hike.

Don’t even think about using a phone on some of the roads in that area. “No Service” is the only way to roll.

And that reminds me why that piece of road made me so happy.

No outside worries
Light traffic
Nice road conditions
Great curves
Perfect weather
Drink in the cupholder
Driving barefoot and rowing a manual gearbox
“Designer Skyline” by Owl City playing on the iPod

Just the open road, some good music, and a chance to clear the head. My next stop was in Marble Canyon along the Vermillion Cliffs. I happened to spy a 1991-92 Legend L sedan there.

A few pictures along the road in that area.

Endless hiking opportunities.

Waiting for a gust of wind to topple this fist-shaped rock onto my car.

Hope you enjoyed the pics. One more announcement while I’m posting this today: For its 11th Annual Event, NALM is going back to where it all started way back in 2005: The Lone Star State.

The Houston-based ground team has won the bid and has been selected to host this year’s National Acura Legend Meet.

So, it looks like I’ll be going to Houston from September 24th through 27th to attend this special event. The planners have a great itinerary planned including a track day at MSR Houston, a dealership open house at John Eagle Acura, and a car show at Mayday Garage. Here’s a look at where the event has been held in prior years.

2005: Dallas, TX
2006: Tulsa, OK
2007: Las Vegas, NV
2008: Chattanooga, TN
2009: Branson, MO
2010: Salt Lake City, UT
2011: Morristown, NJ
2012: Milwaukee, WI
2013: Asheville, NC
2014: Southern California
2015: Houston, TX

Over and out!

10 Comments »

10th Annual National Acura Legend Meet – Part 2

Posted in California, NALM on July 28, 2014 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend coupe): 531,277

Odometer (Legend sedan): 146,014

My favorite comment of the entire second day of NALM was: “Look, it’s the rolling retirement home!” when Kevin’s 1994 sedan “Old War Horse” pulled into the Islands Restaurant parking lot in Thousand Oaks, California. Kevin and Alan had a good laugh about it. They do pride themselves in being among the most distinguished of Legend enthusiasts.

No NALM is complete without a chance to put our cars’ suspensions to the test. Tommy was the ring leader for Saturday’s canyon drive, having traversed the two-laners between in the Santa Monica Mountains many many times in the past. He took the lead in his Canterbury Green Legend sedan as we rode out of the Hampton Inn in Thousand Oaks. My friend Stephen took the copilot seat in the Legend coupe. I hoped for the best with my clutch, knowing full well that it (being the original to the car) was hanging on for dear life. I had no intention of driving aggressively but still wanted to at least keep up with the pack.

Tommy picked a great road: never-ending twists on Mulholland Drive with scenery that delivered awesome views. Not that I was paying much attention to the scenery – my eyes were instead glued to Duane’s Legend GS sedan in front of me. I got a howl or two out of my Michelin tires. Sergey who was following me noted (not surprisingly) a lot of body roll from my car. Soon we reached the crest and began our descent to sea level. Blue skies gave way to an overcast marine layer, but temperatures were comfortable and Stephen and I rolled the windows and sunroof down to enjoy it.

Our destination for lunch was Neptune’s Net, a famous seafood place along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Famous, I say, because it was featured in the movie The Fast and the Furious. We did our best to safely park 25+ Legends along the highway before running across four lanes of traffic and settling into the two tables on the outside patio which Gabe, our ring leader, had graciously reserved for us in advance. The fish tacos were calling my name so that’s what got my vote on the menu. Aside from being completely covered in cilantro which is one food I’m not a fan of, they were delicious. I also sampled some of Ben’s French fries and Stephen’s chicken strips. Fried food seems to be something that Neptune’s does well!

Gabe handed me a walkie talkie and assigned me as one of the shepherds for our next stretch of road. I obediently waited until most of the group had rolled out, then took to the wheel and confirmed that all of the cars in our caravan were accounted for. One unlucky Legend owner was shortly thereafter pulled over for a window tint violation, but otherwise the drive southbound on Pacific Coast Highway went well. A left hand turn on Kanan Road took us back up and over the Santa Monica Mountains and toward Highway 101. We had an appointment at a dyno shop so that some of the Legend owners could evaluate performance of their motors by testing them for horsepower and torque. I had a close call with a concrete parking curb that started to pull my front bumper off after catching an underside splash shield, but survived the incident and it’s hardly detectable that it ever happened.

Once again we braved Los Angeles traffic upon departure. I’ve decided that the 405 and 101 freeways are rarely flowing without incident. Our evening was relaxed, with a dinner reservation at Islands Restaurant just a few miles from the host hotel in Thousand Oaks. The special treat later that night was when Legend owners started throwing their car keys at me and letting me take their cars for test drives. One thing I love about being a part of this car enthusiast community is the level of pride that each owner takes in his or her vehicle. And despite the fact that we all drive the same model of car, I felt like each one had a unique personality and feel. Huge thanks to Duane, Dave, Alex, TJ, James, and Evan for entrusting me behind the wheel of their babies. This is a pic with long-time friend Denny.

On Sunday morning, we made our way to a weekly event in Woodland Hills called Supercar Sunday. When our group of Legends pulled into the mall parking lot around 8:00 a.m., the area was already nearly full of a wide variety of show cars. We got a sneak peek at a new Dodge Challenger Hellcat, got up close and personal with a suicide door 1967 Lincoln Continental with laser-sharp paint work and body panels, and even a couple of 1981 Deloreans. My favorite car, though, was a Sebring Silver 1992 Acura NSX parked up the row a little bit. Super clean with only 65,000 miles on the odometer, I could tell it was well cared for. We weren’t looking over it longer than 2 minutes when the proud owner, Yoav, came up to give us the story on it. He is the editor of Petrolicious and has had a lot of nice cars in his automotive past, but he says the NSX is something special. He took a few moments to gaze upon our lineup of cars and introduce himself to our group. Thanks, Yoav, for your time! Here I am with Ben, and with Yoav’s 1992 NSX.

Gabe took the floor back at the Hampton and conducted an awards ceremony. Alex Alperovich swept 3 categories in his Milano Red 1994 LS coupe: Most Potential, Longest Drive, and “Sleeper.” His trophy collection is expanding quickly! Gabe raffled off a number of Legend-related prices. When he pulled two jugs of Honda “Type 2” coolant out of a box and put them on the counter, the collective crowd said, “Oooooooh!” Everyone wanted those. Duane from Folsom, CA was the lucky winner in that case.

Chris and I were rip-raring to hit the highway and head east, so we grabbed some Del Taco and did just that. I got used to seeing my Legend GS sedan in my rearview mirror for the next 7 hours or so. The big surprise was about 90 minutes into the drive when I received a text message with, “You just passed us!” One of the NALM attendees was driving along (in a non-Legend) on Freeway 210 and had spotted Chris and me driving along. Sure enough, I later received a picture he’d taken of us. Talk about timing!

Our drive through the I-10 desert was uneventful aside from some raindrops in Palm Springs and some haze climbing out of the Indio valley to Chiriaco Summit. It was great to get home! Many, many thanks to the NALM ground team (Gabe, Tommy, Graeme, and whoever else may have played a role) for their efforts in pulling off a great event.

Awards Summary:

Best Sleeper, Most Potential, Longest Drive: Alperovich (Alex )
Lowest Mileage: ArizonaLegend (Chuck)
Highest Mileage: Tyson
Cleanest USDM: SteveC (Steve)
Cleanest JDM: Sergey (not on forum)
Lowest Ride: Juan (not on forum)
Honorable Mention: Tyson
Best in Show G1: Mikeo (Mike)
Best in Show G2: Davecfprez (Dave)
Best in Show RL: 1BadKA9RL (Eric)

Here are the rest of my pictures. There will, soon I’m sure, be photos posted here on the forums too.

Video! Footage is courtesy of Chris.

Two “canyon run” videos from Sergey who was following me.

My Legend sedan, Ben’s 1992 LS coupe, and Alan with his 1994 LS coupe.

Dave’s award-winning (“Best JDM”) 1994 GS sedan 6-speed with only 98,000 miles.

Alan’s coupe again. Just love that paint color.

Saturday morning’s rollout to the canyon cruise.

Arrival at Neptune’s Net in Malibu.

Chowing down on some of the west coast’s best seafood.

Alex and Chris decided to climb down to the beach and get wet in the Pacific.

Looking back at Neptune’s.

Ben taking a picture of me, taking a picture of him.

Group overlooking the Pacific.

Heading out again – this time, off to the performance/dyno shop in Van Nuys.

This photo captured by Sergey’s brother along Pacific Coast Highway.

Getting dyno tested!

Group of onlookers.

Sunday morning’s view out room 245 of the Hampton Inn. A glorious sight indeed.

Traditional “trunk liner” signing with Kevin from Duluth, GA. Each of the last 3 years, I’ve left a special inscription in silver Sharpie on the fabric that covers the underside of his trunk lid. It’s a tradition we will continue to carry on.

Thanks, Kevin, for the privilege!

Chris getting a feel for the coupe.

Southeast Acura Legend guys: Alex (FL), Alan, (FL), Tyson, Evan (TN), and Kevin (GA).

Me with Alex. Showing off my two awards from the ceremony.

Headed home on I-10 with Chris in our twin Legends. This shot taken during a fuel-up near Palm Springs.

A hot entry into the Arizona state line from Blythe, CA. Welcome home!

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10th Annual National Acura Legend Meet – Part 1

Posted in California, NALM on July 25, 2014 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend sedan): 145,443

Odometer (Legend coupe): 530,701

I can’t believe I’ve been going to NALM for 10 years now! Each time I come to this event it’s a giant family reunion.

Along with a few other long-distance travelers, I made a 430-mile drive across the hot desert from Phoenix and arrived in Thousand Oaks, California around 6:45 p.m. on Thursday evening, just in time for the meet & green and kick-off activities. Master of Ceremonies Gabe Teran had developed a Legend-specific trivia game for the 30 or so participants in attendance. Our brains were racked as he asked for specifications like horsepower and torque figures and year-over-year model changes. I admit that even I, after having owned 9 Legends, could not answer many of his detailed inquiries!

It was a comfortable 72 degrees in the parking lot when we were outside shooting the breeze later in the evening. Such a refreshing break from the oven that is my home.

Here are a few photos from that day’s westward drive on Interstate 10. Thanks to TJ for capturing this one of Chris (in my sedan), me (in my coupe) and Alex on the road.

It’s a trip to watch my own car come up in the sideview mirror.

Lunch at Carl’s Junior in Quartzsite, just about 19 miles before crossing into California. Chuck’s car, at far left, is a 1993 LS coupe 6-speed with only 31,000 miles on it.

Fueling up in Palm Desert, CA. At one point on the trip, the 4 of us compared gas mileage and discovered that my GS sedan got the best of the group. Here are the quantities of gasoline each of our cars took to drive the same distance (roughly 130 miles).

Chris – 4.2 gallons
Alex – 4.77 gallons
Tyson – 4.72 gallons
Chuck – 4.8 gallons

Alex stopped to get a picture at the border to CA. He drove his car about 2,600 miles to get to this event.

Chris and I with an enthusiastic thumbs up after enduring some HEAVY delays on freeways 210, 134, and 101 approaching Thousand Oaks. Kicking at a clutch pedal gets kind of old when you’re rolling in stop and go traffic!

Today, Friday, was where the fun really got started. After feeding on breakfast from Hampton Inn, I headed out solo toward the American Honda main office in Torrance. Traffic on the 405 freeway was, not surprisingly, flowing at a crawl or not at all. I pulled up behind a Silver Moon Acura ILX at one point and it ended up being a couple of guys from Acura’s advertising agency, Mullen. Sure enough, they parked right near me at the visitor lot at the Honda office.

A Crimson Garnet ILX 6-speed was sitting on display in the lobby.

I had a nice visit with Vince Manganiello from Acura Public Relations.

Sadly, during my visit I received a parking violation from Corporate Security for backing my car in! Apparently that’s not allowed. Lesson learned. The best part was that the officer filled in “2000” as the year of my car. Hey, I guess it looks 6 years newer than it is!

Next, it was time to cruise .8 miles down the road to the private Honda Collection Hall: A facility where Honda has stashed away one-off and early production vehicles that are notable in the history of the Honda/Acura brands. The gang of Legend drivers had already arrived – when I pulled into the parking lot, the Legends lined the parking lot as far as the eye could see. Dave Heath who oversees the Auto Shows & Exhibits for Honda was kind enough to give our group some great background. Then, he turned us loose to explore the facility and check out the cars. Special vehicles of note were a yellow Integra Type R with only a few thousand miles on it, and the first ever 1994 Honda Accord built.

We pulled our Legends around to the back of the building for a photoshoot at a loading dock. By 2:30 p.m., we were ready to roll out en masse and return to our host hotel in Thousand Oaks. Traffic was the pits, as expected, but everyone made the 55 or so mile drive back safely (though it took almost two hours).

Here are some stats about the cars:

28 Legends, representative of first, second, third, and fourth generations
14 second generation Legend coupes
9 second generation Legend sedans
13 manual transmission cars
2 original owner cars: Ben with a 1992 LS coupe and Steve with a 1995 L sedan

Grab bag of pics to follow! Hope those of you who weren’t able to attend in person will enjoy these.

Chris’ arrival at the hotel.

Chris Martin, Tyson, Vince Manganiello

Chuck’s shirt reads “You’re Looking at a Legend.”

1986 Legend sedan on display

Thumbs up!

Catered lunch

Acura RLX on display outside. The RLX is Legend’s successor. I got the chance to drive & review one last year.

Dave, Tyson, Penny, and Ben

Checking out the Phoenix Red 1991 Legend coupe. It had only 300 miles on it!

Dave getting comfortable in the 1991 NSX. Looks good on you, Dave!

Dave also wins the award for coolest – er, hottest – engine bay. He has airbrushed flames!

Photoshoot from behind the museum.

I couldn’t even fit all the cars in the camera viewfinder!!

I got to ride in the backseat of my own car on the way to tonight’s dinner at Toppers Pizza. I like being chauffeured around!

Dinner group 1

Dinner group 2

It’s been a phenomenal day with friends! Stay tuned — tomorrow we’re taking a drive up the canyons!

17 Comments »

NALM 2014: Next stop, Los Angeles

Posted in NALM on July 23, 2014 by tysonhugie

This evening, my neighbors were peeking out their front room windows, nodding in confirmation. “He’s crazy.”

What they saw in my driveway was a group of 10 Acura Legends.

The attendees for tonight’s pizza party at my place came from places far and wide: Two from Florida, even.

Tomorrow, most of us will head westbound to Los Angeles, California for a multi-day event centered around our car club.

Here are a few other pics from the evening.

Even in the shade, with a straw hat, lounge chair, and box fan on the highest setting, Alan was sweating. The Phoenix area hit a record 114 degrees today.

Mirel’s black 1993 LS 6-speed coupe with only 119,000 miles on it stole the show with its glossy paint job.

Stay tuned for more later this week!

8 Comments »

Pre-NALM Maintenance

Posted in Arizona, Maintenance, NALM on July 14, 2014 by tysonhugie

Odometer (ILX): 88,482

Odometer (Legend coupe): 530,082

Odometer (Legend sedan): 144,615

I heard a crackle of thunder on Sunday afternoon from inside the house, and I thought my ears were playing tricks on me. I’d been outside earlier in the day and it was absolutely cloudless at the time. Then the sound came around again, and I decided to investigate.

What I found when I looked out the windows was a torrential summertime “monsoon” downpour. First thought: “Crap, I left the ILX moonroof partially ajar and windows vented!” Second thought: “WHERE IS MY CAR KEY?” as I frantically looked on the kitchen table and then ran to the desk in my bedroom where the key was sitting. I bolted outside shoeless and rolled up the windows, then sought cover and recorded this video.

The past week has been busy for getting the cars up to date on service needs. I am preparing, along with 27 other registered participants from across the country, for a road trip to this year’s National Acura Legend Meet which kicks off in 10 days in Los Angeles, California. Here is a thread on the Legend forums where people are talking about their preparatory activities.

Legend coupe:

Replace steering rack & pinion (remanufactured) – first time this has been done
Replace passenger side inner axle boot – second time this has been done
Replace spark plugs – third set including the originals; went with NGK
Perform alignment – multiple occurrences of this

Legend sedan:

Change oil & filter with 5W30
Replace burned out 3rd brake light bulb
Perform full inspection – all looks good!
Recharge a/c (pending this Wednesday)

NSX (not going to NALM, but still getting some attention):

Change oil & filter with Castrol GTX 10W30
Recharge a/c

ILX (not going to NALM, but still getting some attention:

Change oil & filter with 0W20
Rotate tires

The sedan’s oil had last been changed on January 4th, just 209 miles prior.

Ready to rock and roll.

Desert Mist Metallic: Paint code YR-506M.

Where to this coming weekend? Well, I’m expecting company and we’ll depart in the ILX on Friday afternoon to a national park in California. That’s all I’m going to divulge for now, but stay tuned because this is going to be a hot ride in some hot Acuras. Have a great week!

5 Comments »

NALM Registration for July 24-27 Event in Los Angeles

Posted in NALM on June 25, 2014 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 529,904

Odometer (ILX): 85,018

My friend Jeff sent me the below picture via text message. He works for the province of Alberta and wanted to show me just how far north his team was stationed today, in the town of Grande Prairie. The sign states “Alaska” with an arrow.

My first thought was, “That looks so familiar!”

Sure enough, after a little digging, I discovered that I took a picture of the exact same sign 8 years ago. It was May 2006 and my dad & I were on our way to Fairbanks, Alaska and passing through. Our weather wasn’t nearly as nice.

It really is a small world!

Just a quick plug to those of you who may reside within a day’s drive of Los Angeles – or perhaps a couple of you crazies who would be willing to drive even longer than that: Registration for this year’s 10th Annual National Acura Legend Meet is now open. The event will be headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California and held July 24th through 27th.

This will be the 10th time I’ve driven to NALM since its first event in 2005 in Dallas, Texas. I’ve enjoyed the program each and every year, and I’ve continued to build quality friendships with others who share similar interests.

My home in the Phoenix area will be a staging area of sorts for at least 3 Legendary road trippers who are coming through from the eastern United States. Even more exciting for me is that I’ll be able to have both my Legend coupe and my Legend sedan in attendance, thanks to my friend Chris from Baltimore who will fly out and make the 6-hour drive via I-10 from Phoenix with me.

This year’s NALM will include a special kick-off ceremony at Honda’s private museum at the company’s headquarters in Torrance. Must see!

A detailed itinerary is pending but here’s the basic layout of events.