I had to make a quick work trip down to San Luis Obispo this week. On the way back, I decided to take the scenic route-- Pacific Coast Highway. It was quite eventful.
I took Highway 101 down. It's semi-scenic, mixed in with farm land. When I got to my hotel, there were three '32 Roadsters parked in front of the lobby.
For dinner, I decided to check out nearby Avila Beach. You may recall that in the 1990s, Unocal destroyed the small coastal town with a massive oil spill. I went to Mersea, which was near the end of a pier. The meal was excellent. The old man sitting next to me at the bar hitting on the young bartender was not so excellent.
There is still a little bit of seafood processing done on the pier.
The next morning, while I was checking out, I bumped into the owners of the three roadsters. I asked them what they thought of Plymouth Prowlers. They said that people are free to like whatever car they like, but a Prowler would not be invited to a '32 Roadster show.
This red example does not have a single part from the original 1932 model car. It has 700+ horsepower. 75 fellow Roadster are expected at the hotel that day for a meetup.
Instead of driving back up 101, I took Pacific Coast Highway. I stopped to see these sea elephants near Hearst Castle. The California sea elephants were hunted to extinction. A few animals from Mexico showed up here in the 1990s and the population fortunately exploded. It was cool to watch them with a bunch of amazed European tourists.
Near Big Sur, I grabbed lunch. The seafood platter was all frozen and out of a bag, and expensive. The gas wasn't cheap either. I saw a Bentayga and couldn't imagine how much a fill up would cost. At least the view was nice.
There were a few construction zones where everyone had to stop for long periods of time, and this is what the roadside looked like.
It's looking likely that I'll be getting the Alfa this summer. So this may be my last road trip with the Acura. At 90,000 miles, it drives like new.
Once I got back to civilization in Carmel, I came upon a broken down 240Z Scarab. The clutch had gone kaput. I offered the driver a ride but a tow truck was already on its way. I had never heard of a Scarab before. They have V8s. It looked like this:
I don't listen to or watch these guys but I heard them on a recent episode of The Smoking Tire. I remember them from the Phaeton versus Quattroporte series. I really like the way Todd presents and explains cars. Do any of you follow these guys?
Who knew that the QX30 was based off of the Mercedes GLA? To save costs, the QX has the Mercedes' platform, engine, transmission, door handles, gauge cluster, etc.
Earlier this year, I learned about the existence of this vast car collection from Jalopnik. It's in the middle of nowhere-- Christiansburg, Virginia, near the Appalachian Mountains. Fortunately, my wife grew up 3 hours 15 minutes from the middle of nowhere, in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond is infamous for being the capital of the Confederate States of America. Her 20th high school reunion was last weekend, so...two birds, one stone.
On Friday, I rented a second car and went to Christiansburg. Note: Car companies' computer systems cannot handle one person renting two cars simultaneously. I had breakfast along the way in Charlottesville, the scene of the recent white supremacist rally.
I pulled up to this non-descript warehouse in an industrial district.
Mr. Duncan is a successful businessman with around a dozen car dealerships, including a Honda store. This mannequin holding tiny Bibles greeted me in the lobby. Mr. Duncan's right-hand man Jerry gave me the tour.
The layout consists of a large warehouse, two annexes, and a yard. There are cars everywhere. Virtually every make and model is represented, except Italian cars. They are mostly ordinary cars that our parents and neighbors owned. Like this Oldsmobile. My mom had this and it was the first car I got to steer. I was around eleven and my step-dad let me scoot over on the bench seat and steer it on a windy road. I thought I would take a couple of photos of cars that interested me, but I promptly gave up after this Oldsmobile. There are so many cars!
With American makes, the collection had many unloved/mocked cars, like this Prowler and Maserati-Chrysler.
This fleet of Japanese trucks reminded me of the Toyota Museum in California, except there were more Toyotas here!
Here is a Japanese hearse, based off of the Crown, which is often used as taxi cabs.
More unloved Americana-- Reatta, Allante, Crossfire.
This is the only car that stumped me. Is this a Mazda Cosmo or some kind of RX? Note the huge speakers behind the back seat.
AMCs.
A Camaro next to three Soarers. I noticed the roof panels were ajar and yep, they're all Aerocabins. I had never seen one in real life, let alone three.
El Camino SS.
Centuries. Lots of them. When Jerry introduced himself, he asked: Are you here to just look at the cars or to test drive them too? I had never contemplated test driving them, but why not?!
Most of the cars, probably 3/4 of them, are for sale. The best Centuries are not for sale.
Now we enter Annex No 1, which was dimly lit. This might be a Rolls-Royce hearse, or just a weird station wagon.
This W126 hearse, with the dim lighting, was downright creepy.
This 7-Series has 6,000 miles.
The width and depth of this collection knows no bounds.
This XR4Ti unfortunately did not have the bi-wing rear spoiler.
I note that a Celica in this condition is rarer than the NSX next to it.
The second annex consists of Figaros, Seras, Beats, and mini fire trucks. There are 125 Figaros in the collection. Mr. Duncan has contacts in Japan who pick out the best examples at auctions. There are not many left in Japan. Most are in Britain, the Netherlands, and this second annex.
There were a few Cappuccinos too. Look how small it is compared to the Honda City cabrio.
When I was visiting, a gentleman from North Carolina bought a Beat. He bought the second best example in the inventory. The best example was recently purchased by a Honda engineer in Ohio.
I knew the red car was an Acura/Honda Vigor, but I did not recognize the other sedan. Turns out it's just a first generation Acura/Honda Legend with a Japanese face.
There were over 100 Japanese 4x4s, from Pajeros to Land Cruisers to Delicas to Samurais.
I took a picture of these Cimas because this is what my aunt and uncle owned just before the Japanese Bubble burst in the 1990s.
I have not seen an Isuzu Stylus in over a decade. I knew a guy who owned one. He was a manager at a Chevy's Mexican restaurant and once told me the funniest dirty joke. He is a priest now.
An Isuzu Bighorn/Trooper, with handling by Lotus.
Mind boggling.
And then I saw this, an Impulse Turbo. It's a little newer, faster, and handles better than my 1983, but it's definitely an Impulse!
I took a photo of this Starion only because it says MMC up front (Mitsubishi Motors Corporation). Even though this came from Japan recently, it had an AC/DC sticker on the rear.
Suzuki Mighty Boy.
Another nostalgic car. I wanted this Trans Am so badly when I turned 16.
Test drive time. This was a 1991 Century with 100,000 kilometers. The driver's seat did not go back very far, presumably for the comfort of the rear passenger. I barely had enough legroom. Half the switches were in Japanese so I was a bit flustered. What was also discombobulating was the steering wheel location. Everything was reversed, from the column shifter to the turn signal stalk. It was also weird to look at the fender mounted mirrors.
I got to drive approximately six miles of a country road. The ride was soft and pillowy, reminiscent of a Citroen DS. I felt that the perfect speed in this car was 70 kph.
Next up, the Impulse/Piazza. It was a little difficult to start up the car. It stalled a couple of times. But once it warmed up, it was fine. I loved and missed the weirdo switchgear so I took some photos. The ride was meh. It was not a great driving car. This may be why it never had the following that other Japanese sports compacts had.
I really have to thank Gary Duncan and his assistant Jerry. This was definitely one of the most memorable automotive days of my life. Here is Duncan Imports' website.
