Dan Crouch Blog

Our Visit to the 2010 Portland Auto Show

Dan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:45:21 +0000

Nearly two weeks ago now, Shana and I made a day of the Portland Auto Show. We used to go every year to fantasize about new cars, but have missed the event in recent years. It's fun to check out everything up close and personal without the hassle of a salesman crawling down you neck.

We started our day by hitting up the S2ki Forum Hillsboro Honda meetup for S2000 owners. I only got a couple of quick pictures but it was fun to finally meet some forum members I had met online numerous times but never connected with in person. Great job getting 30 cars to come out in the middle of winter Ira! Check out all the pictures on S2ki.

We were fairly rushed at the meet because we had an appointment after that to check out a used Infinity QX4 for the missus. Looked promising in the pictures, but was a little too rough for us. We're actually having a pretty tough time finding a suitable car for Shana because we're so used to enthusiast vehicle shopping, which usually results in clean and documented cars to shop for. We were thinking of going with a more dependable Japanese variant, but they're just not cared for like the European rides we're used to looking at. Now we're thinking of going back to European shopping in the form of a Land Rover Discovery. We're back in Portland this weekend, so we'll probably stop and look a few then.

Then it was on to check into our downtown Portland hotel, Hotel Lucia. What a beautiful place and fantastic service! Not to mention it was in the center of everything we had planned and easy Max trip to the Convention Center for the show. Can't wait to stay there again!

After freshening up, it was on to the Portland Auto Show. Tickets were reasonably priced at $10 and at the ticket window we were reminded that many major manufacturers were not there due to cutbacks and slow sales. This was a bummer as BMW, Saab, Mercedes, and many others were definitely cars we were looking forward to jumping into.

{warning: really crappy images ahead. I've been too busy to post-process these but wanted to put up what I had.}

Ron Tonkin brought out a few new cars and a couple older ones from his collection. These were all front and center outside the main conference areas:

MotoCorsa was also in attendance with the latest Lotus and Ducati offerings. The black Sport 1000 was exactly like the demo bike I rode a couple years back.

Then it was on to the Audi and Porsche areas. I have to admit, I wanted to check out the Panamera because it looks so bad in pictures. It didn't disappoint, it's ugly and HUGE! First the blasphemy that is the Cayenne and now this abomination. So sad that a more true to spirit business model couldn't have been used to get them into the 21st century.

The local SCCA chapter also had a nice area set up. There were several car corral areas that usually aren't present, likely due to so many manufacturers pulling out this year.

And here are few more random snaps. You'll notice how crowded Saturday afternoon was. I think every Dad in town got babysitting duty as there were lots of kids running around. Reminds me that we prefer going on Thursday mid-day when it's super quiet!

After the show we met up with our good friends Danno, his wife Angie, and our close friend Julie who also happened to be in Portland that day. We had a fantastic dinner at Mother's Bistro just a few blocks from the hotel. What a meal! Plan on leftovers no matter how big your appetite is!

And by chance, another friend of ours was in town for a whirlwind 48 hour tour, my close friend Ed. He lives in Atlanta now, but amazingly we've managed to meet up several times in the past few years. We met for a nightcap at Pazzo and then stumbled upstairs to crash after a very long day.

We're heading back up to Portland for a wedding at Edgefield this weekend. That makes about 4 trips up there in 5 weeks. Maybe we should get a condo!

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My Buddies From RoadtoChumpCar.com are Headed to Willow Springs Tomorrow

Dan — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:25:02 +0000

Gabe and Leo are packing as we speak to head down to Willow Springs for the next ChumpCar World Series event. The name for the series may not be terribly flattering, but the guys take the racing seriously and the budget minded series makes the reality of racing, well, real! Gabe and Leo are building their own car for competition over at The Road To Chumpcar, but in the meantime, they are helping out with the Toyota MR2 team of Free Range Racing. Here are some pics from the last event that Leo drove for them at Infineon:

I'll be following them on Twitter this weekend and wish them both the best. Good luck guys!

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The Paul Frere Article That Turned Me On To Alpina

Dan — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:19:27 +0000

I've been meaning to make this post for a while. I spotted this scanned article on VWVortex over the holidays and it's been on my to-post list since then.

My Dad was always a Road & Track reader when I was growing up, and he used to bring home his latest issue after a business trip for me to read. I vividly remember this March 1991 issue because soon after I read it, I went down to Trump's Hobbies in town and placed a special order for the . I painted it black on black because I have no skills building models and it turned out awesome! I wish I had a picture.

Paul Frere was a fantastic writer and an accomplished race car driver. He was well respected in his field and here are some of his quotes from the article:

[...] but the 535i-based B10 Biturbo is surely the most impressive of them all: a comfortable 4-door that blends Rolls-Royce silence with Testarossa performance, with road manner to match.

The B10 reached a maximum speed of 181 mph. At such speeds, the car feels entirely stable, with no suggestion of the front end getting light or any tendency to wander.

Thanks to the low inertia of the two small turbo chargers and to the electronic wastegate control, response is nearly immediate n al most any circumstance.

Ever since reading that article I've wanted to have a real Alpina. I'm going to have to keep an even closer eye on the classifieds having reread that article again! Please feel free to leave a comment with your Alpina experiences!

Here are a few e34 Alpina videos for you to snack on tonight:

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Joe’s De Tomaso Pantera to be Auctioned Tomorrow at Barrett-Jackson

Dan — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:37:54 +0000

If you're watching the live coverage of the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction tomorrow, make sure to keep an eye out for Joe's 1974 Pantera L, lot #944. It's scheduled early-mid afternoon.

Good luck Joe!

Update 1.22.10 - The Pantera is the current Haggerty Fantasy bid car!

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Good Looking Datsun 1200 Race Car For Sale on the Cheap

Dan — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:47:45 +0000

Paul and I are going to prep the Rabbit for sale soon. It's been a fantastic introduction to track days, auto-x, and hillclimbs, but it's time to move on to new endeavors.

That said, if I was going to be looking to get back in, I'd be looking for a used race car that was already built. And this little Datsun 1200 looks like a perfect way to get to the next level: amateur road racing. Making the step from track days to actual road racing is an expensive proposition, especially if the car you plan to campaign isn't prepped already. Think cage, fuel cell, fire suppression... not to mention the gear! Might as well start with a budget car that's ready to go considering. Hell, the DCOE's and Minilites have to be worth half of the asking!

If you're curious about budget racing, check out a new site I've set up for some friends that are going ChumpCar Racing: RoadToChumpCar.com Sounds like Leo and Gabe are guest driving a car late in January at Willow Springs. I'm really excited for them and looking forward to following their progress. Good luck guys!

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Brilliantly Edited Subaru 555 Rally Video

Dan — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:32:43 +0000

via Cold Track Days

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A Few Pictures from the Seattle Motorcycle Show

Dan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:49:17 +0000

Just back from the Seattle motorcycle show. I'll get a full gallery together soon, but for now enjoy these 1680px wallpapers!

I put together some thoughts over at RareSportBikesForSale.com as well. Good night all,

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What I’m Listening To: The Doors Morrison Hotel

Dan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:08:43 +0000

I threw the Doors on at a recent poker party and have found myself coming back to Morrison Hotel pretty frequently. In particular Peace Frog and You Make Me Real. Check 'em out and enjoy!

And just so you know I haven't totally lost my mind, I've also been listening to this lovely Italian melody:

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Honda RS125 Onboard Video

Dan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:59:50 +0000

As stated in the previous post, I'm totally jealous of the recent acquisition Alex made with his Honda RS125 track bike. Here's an excellent illustration of why the lightweight 2 stroke can make bikes with 3-4x the displacement look like amateur hour:

The super fast change in direction and razor sharp lines in this video make me an absolute believer in the bike Alex got, even if it's not quite the same model. But I'm eager to learn more about these and will report back when I know more.

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Photoshop Fun with a Honda RS125

Dan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:04:19 +0000

My buddy Alex who is a contributing author on Rare Sport Bikes For Sale is about to pick a Honda RS125 for track days. What a great early Christmas present to yourself! He sent over this picture of the bike to show off his latest acquisition. I started staring at in Photoshop and ended up with these two versions of the image. The first one is more photo-realistic and the other has a filter applied for a more stylized look. I'm leaning towards the latter. Probably end up wallpapering one of my garage walls with a huge print out.

Congrats on the new bike Alex! Can't wait to see it in action!

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