St. Patricks day weekend was cause for celebration for many people all over the country but it was also a big weekend for motorsport freaks like us. In addition to Sebring the past weekend also saw the return of Formula One. I decided to kick the weekend off by paying a visit to one of my favorite meets: Cars & Coffee in Irvine.
It was the first time I had been to the meet since the start of the year so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to see an even more eclectic mix of cars than I was used to. There was everything from million-dollar exotics to a few rare classics. I even saw a crazy turbo-diesel zombie apocalypse truck! (more on that in a later post).
However, I would have to say the meet’s biggest attention getter was a genuine Bugatti Veyron brought by Symbolic Motor Cars of San Diego. As jaded as I am these days even I am still impressed with a Veyron sighting. I have only been in the presence of Bugatti’s hyper-car four times and only two of which (counting the weekend) were “wild” sightings.
All in all it was a great trip. If you haven’t been to Cars & Coffee I would highly recommend checking it out. If you’re saying to yourself: “Hey jerk, I don’t live in Southern California!” I would say “don’t interrupt me while I’m talking!” See, the cool thing about Cars & Coffee is that it is something of an organization now so there are meets in several places all across America; even in Europe! Just head to CarsAndCoffeeOnline.com to find the closest meet to you.
I was starting to get some serious car show withdrawal so you can imagine my excitement when it came time for Motion Auto Show to come back to our home town of Long Beach and fill our convention center with rows and rows of top notch rides. One of the reasons I really like the Motion Auto Show is because the producers of the show Pro-Motion and the shows architect Mike Morita go out of their way to create an experience that is a lot like the car shows we were used to from the early days of the scene and so far they have always gotten it right! I also commend Pro-Motion and Morita-san for pre-screening all the cars that register for the show. Back in the day I hated spending my cash on a car show ticket only to find the show full of cars that were damn near stock!
Between the cars, the dance contest, models, and vendors the attendees of this years Motion Auto Show in Long Beach definitely got their money’s worth. If you didn’t get a chance to make it out to the show this year I highly reccomend going next year. In the meantime check out some pictures below and see our full gallery on our Facebook page.
I am a huge Marvel Studios fan-boy and I have been itching for a reason to post about the upcoming Avengers movie here. Luckily Acura has just given me one! Acura is the official vehicle of S.H.I.E.L.D. the Government agency responsible for forming the Avengers team. To help promote the Avengers movie (releasing May 4th) Acura and the Avengers have launched the ShieldOps.com microsite.
On the site players can pick one of three S.H.I.E.L.D. Acura vehicles and play through a series of challenges. That in and of itself sounds like a fun way to spend some time but the deal is sweetend with a possibility to win cool S.H.I.E.L.D. swag depending on how well you do in the game.
Some of the prizes include: movie tickets to the Avengers, a S.H.I.E.L.D. ATAC tactical pen flashlight, a 1:43 scale version of the Acura NSX convertible supercar that Tony Stark drives in the movie, a laser projected virtual keyboard, and the big whammy: one person will be flown to New York and get treated to a day on the town “Tony Stark style” complete with a helicopter tour of the city.
The grand prize sounds like an awesome time but personally I really want to win that 1:43 scale NSX!
Head to ShieldOps.com to try your hand. Good luck agents!
It had been quite a while since my last visit to Cars & Coffee and I felt like I owed it to you guys to go back. It just took a few months to psych myself up to wake up at 4am to make the drive from Long Beach to the magical rich-man’s playground known as Newport Beach, CA but I finally did it! This past weekend there were less exotic cars and more classic and muscle cars which is cool if that is what you are into. The meet was not totally devoid of super cars an exotics though. There were a few Lamborghinis, a few Italia 458s, and there was even a McLaren MP4-12C in attendance. Also as always, there was an ocean of Porsches to behold and appreciate. Check out a few pictures below then see the rest in our Facebook gallery. Enjoy!
This is our second year doing our annual “Ad Bowl” and instead of analyzing every single ad like some others might be doing we are just going to let you know what our top three and later on we will let you know our bottom three. As the title of the post suggests we are starting with our “Fresh Three” first so scroll down below and lets get started! Hike!
It is hard for a commercial featuring two of America’s funniest people and one of the most anticipated sports cars ever to not make the top three. First Acura stole Iron Man and the Avengers from Audi, now it seems they broke the serious hold that Porsche had on Seinfeld. That kind of juice combined with the humor and our first hint at the new NSX’s exhaust note earns them a solid bronze from us.
Awesome: Chevrolet “Happy Grad” (2012 Camaro Convertible)
This commercial has just about everything. It is fast, funny, and extremely memorable. Although it is hard to officially give Chevrolet/GM the credit for this one as this ad was actually the winner of a contest held by GM in which armature filmmakers submitted their own home-made commercials in hopes that they would be picked to air during the big game. Rumor has it that the winning selection was conceptualized, shot, edited, and submitted all in a day. We have a feeling that the crew behind this one will have a bright future ahead of them.
FRESH!!!: ”Halftime In America”
If you watched this commercial before reading this then you should now have a tear in your eye and saluting the nearest American flag like we were. Usually we are not a fan of the “human interest” take that some car companies try to do during Super Bowl time but this commercial was so well done, so excellently timed, and so poignant, not to mention the fact that it also features Clint “Make My Day If You Feel Lucky” F**king-Eastwood means that not making this our number one would be un-American! Congratulations Chrysler you are the clear winners this year in our eyes.
I have been saying for a long time that Skunk2 is one of the most legit aftermarket brands out there, especially when it comes to Honda/Acura so when every they drop something new I consider it news worthy. This time the guys at Skunk2 have announced that their Pro-Series coilovers are now available for the ’02-’06 Acura RSX and the ’01-’05 Honda Civic. The Pro-Series coilovers stand out at Skunk2 because they are mono-tube and have double adjustable ride height. The Pro-C coilovers also feature 12 way adjustable valving and in the case of the RSX and Civic come with 12kg/mm springs. This is quality stuff people! A set of Pro-C’s will set you back a little over $1,300 bucks which is not bad considering the quality you get.
Yesterday in Detroit, the CEO of Honda Motors Co. Takanobu Ito gave us the official world debut of the Acura NSX concept and set the internet on fire. I have been waiting for this for a long time so when it finally happend I was expecting to feel totally estatic. Instead I had, mixed feelings. Why? Well my favorite thing about the previous generation NSX is that like a Porsche, its shape and design are timeless. There is a very short list of cars made in the early 90s which are still capiable of turning heads today and the previous generation NSX is on that list. However this new concept while beautiful does not look to me like something that will still stand out on the road 20 years from now the way its predecessor does. Again this concept is a very good looking car but I am a bit dissapointed that it does not have the timeless wow factor that I was hoping it would have. I think this is one of those instances where retro-styling may have been a good thing.
Like the previous generation NSX the new concept sports a mid-mounted V6 engine which may be a dissapointment to those who were counting on the rumors that the next NSX would sport a V10. It was also revealed that the concept is a hybrid and sports three electric engines but power figures were not given for any of the concept’s motors so we are left guessing in that respect. Ito-san did reveal that the production version of the next NSX will come within the next three years and it will be built in…Ohio! You read correctly. Japan’s next supercar will be built in the good ol’ US of A! Suck it economic downturn!
Looks aside I think that the next NSX will deliever some serious performance and a great driving experience. If Honda knows anything it is how to make driving fun so I am expecting great things from the next NSX. To see pictures and the official reveal for yourself scroll down and enjoy.
If you are as much of a Marvel Studios fanboy as I am you are going to love this. Recently Acura decided to help “avenge” the planet by becoming the official vehicle of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division AKA S.H.I.E.L.D. the covert government agency responsible for “assembling” the Avengers. When you are a partner with a division of government tasked with such a monumental duty you have to make sure your equipment is up to task. As such Acura (together with Stark Industries) produced a “Tactical Package” based on the TL sedan platform. While it may look subtle (save for the roof mounted sound cannon AKA “Hulk Buster”) this TL plays host to a myriad of top secret technologies like a 9-speed “HYPER-Shift” transmission and “Reflex-response steering column with target guidance feedback.” The S.H.I.E.L.D. is motivated by a palladium-powered 32-valve titanium forged block V6 engine. While the horsepower and torque figures of such an engine are classified S.H.I.E.L.D. is comfortable revealing that the package does provide 234mpg city and 304 highway.
You can see more of the high-tech spec sheet by clicking on the thumbnails below.
If all of that technology sounds attractive to you, then the S.H.I.E.L.D. TL can be yours for a mere $227,085. Actually, it couldn’t. You see only S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with L2 clearance are allowed to operate this vehicle. Although maybe if you ask nicely you can get Tony Stark to build one for you.
Even though you can’t buy it, you can still check out the S.H.I.E.L.D. TL for yourself up close in the Acura exhibit at the LA Auto Show. Otherwise you will have to wait until the Avengers movie hits theaters in May 2012.
There have been many car show series that have come and gone but the one name that has always had the respect of the import car enthusiasts is “Showoff”. Import Showoff has been around since the mid-90s and while they aren’t quite the force they used to be the name will still bring out the core enthusiasts. The annual Nisei Week Showoff in Little Tokyo is the one show many of us still anticipate with real enthusiasim. Why does the Nisei Showoff stand out? On the surface it doesn’t seem like much. The Nisei Showoff is usually small (ranges from 100-200 cars) but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in quality and atmosphere. Nisei Week Showoff is the show that all the cars the kids jock on the forums go to. So as you can imagine we were stoked to make the trip out to Little Tokyo again for Showoff this year.
While the car count was slightly lower this year compared to last year, Ken Miyoshi and Mainstream Productions certainly did not dissapoint when it came to the quality and variety of cars on hand. There was everything from old school Mazdas and F2o powered classic Celicas to a Lexus LF-A! There was even some European flavor with a few Porsches and a Lamborghini Murcielago parked next to a Gallardo. There were a few classics that we never seen before thus cannot really describe to you but feel free to look through the pictures below and the full photo set in our Facebook gallery to see if you can recgonize everything we shot!
It’s been a long time since I posted any Honda/Acura stuff so I thought the best place to start would be with Password:JDM. I’ve always loved their plates and this DC2 Integra carbon fiber cooling plate is no exception. The sweet part about this cooling plate is that its dry carbon instead of wet-lay so you dont have the added weight of a thick clear coat. This particular piece is made for USDM front ends but if you made the switch to a JDM front end they have cooling place specific for that application also.
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