Dan Crouch Blog

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!

dc

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.

dc

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!

dc

I know my personal blog has really been neglected this summer, but I've been very busy consulting. And when I'm not helping out moto-clients with web services consulting, I'm working with a great team to really dial up the Rare Sportbikes For Sale site. Check out some of the sweet rides this week alone: MC28 NSR250 SE, CBR250R Hurricane, Huge Teaser for some OW01's, VF1000R, Bimota YB9, and well you get the idea.

If you're in a shopping mood, I'd subscribe as the best deals are always had in the fall and early winter.

dc

Back from another great track day with the Cascade Sports Car Club. This club is always well organized with good instructors. Turned out to be a nice late summer day with the temps touching the low 90's, which provided fantastic grip!

I'm really feeling very comfortable in the S2000 and despite all the internet folklore of the AP1 being tail-happy, I'm pleased to report that this is another rumor we can put to bed. Sure if you lift off and yank the controls in the middle of a turn 9 at 100mph, you kind of deserve what you get. But I had two gotcha moments and both were easily caught with smooth controls. This isn't to say I'm a genius driver, but rather, it's a really well balanced car and very forgiving with gentle hands.

Here are some pics from the pits that my buddy Gabe took:

I hear he has video too, so I'm hoping to get my hands on that and will post if I can.

Sadly this was probably my last track day of the season, but one of the most memorable days out in recent memory for sure. Big shout out to Gabe who convinced me to attend at a late date!

dc

Check out this fantastic lap ridden and narrated by Steve Hislop aboard an RC45 in 1994:

I love how he talks about that first section and how he normally hits 170mph through there on a flying lap! This is such a strong reminder that I need to visit this event in person sometime soon... I mean how much longer can such a bad ass and dangerous event continue to run like this?!

dc

source: Hell for Leather

By the way, have you been by Rare SportBikes For Sale recently? It's been great having a co-author and we've found some beauts this summer. Stop by and say hi!

The VFR750 and 750SS attack the Willamette Valley again, but this time the VFR is being piloted by Blake in a very generous loaner agreement with Paul. What can I say, the man is the shit for extending such an offer!

We took the back roads on Thursday for a killer ride up to Portland to visit with our SEO and PPC Vendor, Anvil Media Inc., on official OSU business. The weather on the way up was spectacular and we were treated to the best the valley has to offer while passing up all the various crops Oregon is known for: grass seed, wheat, filberts, strawberries, hops, grapes, green beans, corn, and many other types of organic produce. A ride like this reminds me why we live where we do!

Here are a couple pics from the Wheatland Ferry where we crossed the Willamette, and the current Anvil Media headquarters:

Here is the Google Map of our route up and pictures from the trip:

To follow up our trip, we assaulted Mary's Peak on Saturday morning via back roads again of course! Highway 20 leading to the peak has recently been repaved at the base of the mountain and the road to the summit is still one of the best hillclimbs out there in terms of corners per mile and scenic views. Here are the pics from the Peak:

Many thanks to Paul for loaning out the bike to Blake, the best in SEO and Social Media for hosting us: Anvil Media, and rural Oregon for best and most scenic roads anywhere!

dc

As previously mentioned, I've started a new blog on Honda S2000 ownership. It's such a wonderful car and it's easy to find things to write about. Plus, a new author is now helping out with his experiences. Turns out Gabe bought a Silverstone S2000 about the same time I did! He brings a lot of autocross experience to the blog and has a lot of tuning information to share. Our goal is to document our experiences as new owners that might serve as a casual Honda S2000 buyer's guide.

Here are a couple of links I think you'll enjoy:

My Silverstone S2000 Wallpaper:

Honda S2000 Autocross Report:

My First Autocross with the S2000 and Video:

I hope you'll consider stopping by. Let me know if there is anything specifically I could add to make the site or content better. Thanks!

dc

Forgive me: I'm guilty of cheating on this blog with a number of other blogs. But before we get too far ahead, let's get caught up on some great looking German Cars and Rare Sport Bikes that have been listed for sale over the past several weeks.

Beautiful 1983 BMW e21 320i For Sale in Oregon - Paul went so far as to say he was almost considering buying this car himself, but was instead inspired to continue the work on his own classic BMW after seeing Richard’s car! Considering he’s only asking $3200, someone should snap this up cheap!

1983 Alpina B9 #312 For Sale in Florida - The $14.5k buy-it-now option seems like a pretty good deal. There are very few real Alpina’s in this country anyway, and this one still has almost all of it’s original details. While I’m not an experienced collector, I have to imagine that 5-10 years from now, this car will have appreciated considerably. Then again, with over 100k miles and an approachable entry price, maybe it would be better to enjoy immediately. Can you imagine the response at your next BMW club day when you roll up in this?!

1985 Honda VFR400 NC24 - First things first, this is not an 85. According to this Wikipedia article, the NC24 wasn’t introduced until 1987, and this bike definitely sports all the important features of the later NC24 model. But when I first saw the listing as an 85, it made me wonder if the 25 year rule works the same way it does for classic cars in the U.S. - no import or registration issues with models not previously imported. Anyone know for sure? Also, was there a Rothmans edition of the NC24? It’s a cool bike for $3500 either way though!

Irish Green Porsches for St. Patrick's Day - As you can probably gather by now, I think the 912 is definitely the better value; especially at $15k! Of course a 912 is not a substitute for a 911. But it’s also not to be dismissed as anything less than a fantastic sports car. Add the fact that this one has an expensive rebuilt motor assembled with such focus and dedication, you can tell that this car is at least 85% of the experience of a 911 of the same era.

Two Very Low Mileage M3’s, $60,000 Each! - Not to play that overused ‘economy’ angle yet again, but these seem like high prices to me in today’s market. On the other hand the owners clearly know the rarity of their cars and are counting on educated and wealthy buyers. Who knows when we’ll see examples like these for sale again.

1986 GSX-R 750R Limited (GSXR750 RG) - Don’t you just love homologation specials?! The very best of everything and no expense spared. And when they’re nearly 25 years old and never raced, AND hardly even ridden, they’re truly a rare find. This one is currently at $12k (appears reserve has been met) with about 4 days to go.

1988 BMW e30 M3 in Diamondschwartz - The owner even has a picture of him doing a compression test on the motor. Assuming the car needs a few things here and there and you had to drop two or three grand into it right away; could be a a really nice car in a pretty desirable color.

Lovely and Original Alpine White 1991 BMW e30 M3 For Sale with 64k miles - You know me, I’m a sucker for low miles. Make sure the maintenance has been tended to with a thorough pre-purchase inspection by a qualified BMW technician. This car is already over $17k, reserve not met. With 3 days to go, make your predictions!

1993 Honda CBR400RR For Sale in San Fran Area - It has the all important title, but with that kind of mileage is $5k too high? Leave a comment with your experience.

Porsche 996 Prices are Dropping - It’s no secret the 996 is not one of my favorite Porsche 911’s. That said, I’m a big fan of the Boxster of the same generation; and when the the 996 and Boxster suddenly share the same price point, well let’s be serious, which would you really rather have? My thoughts exactly.

1985 Yamaha RZ500 with Clean U.S. Title - Wouldn’t hurt to have a description on this listing, especially with the high opening bid of $12,500. This one is a bit higher than other RZ500’s listed on this blog, but the pictures sure do look good! 4 days left, bid now!

Not 1, Not 2, But 3 Wes Cooley Replica GS1000S Suzuki’s For Sale! - $4900 doesn’t really seem that bad for such a cool and historic bike. I got up close and personal with a GS1000S at the Barber Motorsports Park Museum earlier this year, and it was a standout for sure!

Stay tune for some more sweet news about where I've been hanging out other than on dancrouchblog.com...

dc

After years of lusting after an S2000, I finally have one. I rule! In all seriousness, it was a tough call between this car and a Boxster. Regulars know that I've been on the lookout and waiting for the right time since I sold my M3. I was pretty certain I wanted Boxster as I had convinced myself it was more special. But all the examples that have come up for sale near me, that were in my price range, were all 97-99 models for the most part, and most had higher miles than I was comfortable with. There was also that little voice that kept telling me that I'd have to have a 2000+ in the 'S' variety -- which in almost all cases was out of my range or would require a dedicated trip to source.

So I hit crazedlist.org for S2000's on a whim and I was shocked to see how much the values had fallen for these cars. 18 months ago, most clean and cared for examples were nearly $20k. Now the market is plentiful with lots of variety in the 13-15k range. Which is when I spotted my 01 in Medford. Only a 4 hour drive away, I just needed to find time to get down there! This proved difficult as I spotted the car before leaving on a trip to Georgia to see our man Ed for his birthday. Then I returned to catch up on work and my brother made a surprise trip out for two weeks. During that trip we made several trips to Portland and a long weekend in Seattle. Nearly 4 weeks later, the car was shockingly still available for sale! So we made another long weekend of it and drove the car. The previous owner is realtor and grandmother who only put 4k miles on the car in a little over a two years of ownership. And the owner before that must have hardly driven the car either as the car sits today with less than 35k miles on the clock! Combine that with the factory fitted hardtop and zero modifications, I knew we were going to buy.

And then we test drove the car. If you've been skeptical about this car from what you've heard or read, forget about it and find one to drive. This is a real sports car and Honda did an amazing job with this package. I keep describing it as focused and the best value out there right now. The motor is flat out amazing and perfectly matched in this balanced package. Plus we got 27mpg on the way home, with several spirited runs up the rev range!

As you can tell I'm smitten with the purchase and ready to drop the top this spring! I'll have the occasional update related to the S2000 on this blog, but I have also started a new S2000 blog that will detail the experience of ownership, the best of the aftermarket, and buying tips for those now in the market.

Click the pics for full size links.

dc