"Green Mountain Car Guy" (williamleedy)
12/11/2015 at 17:35 • Filed to: None
10
0|
"Green Mountain Car Guy" (williamleedy)
12/11/2015 at 17:35 • Filed to: None | 10
| 0 |
A couple months ago, with one of my oldest and closest friends in the passenger seat, I left my house in Vermont with the intention of catching a flight home from Miami eight days later. Despite the best efforts of his doctors and going through as much chemotherapy as his body can handle, my friend is going to lose a battle with cancer. He diagnosed back in May as terminal and at the age of 35 he was told he would have about a year left. The objective of the journey was to check off as many of his east coast bucket list items possible.
Pictured: Oooo, Camaro.
A few weeks ago I posted a 5-part travelogue of our entire adventure so that I could share everything we accomplished with all of the people that made it possible. For the rest of the Oppo crowd and those that can’t spend an hour and a half sitting on the can reading, this is the lite version. For those who would like to bask in the sweet glory of our entire adventure, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
I have made the drive from Vermont to Florida (and vise-versa) before, but, I never took more than 3 days to do it and never crammed so much into the trip. I’ve been hooked on driving since I first got behind the wheel and am most at home on the road, exploring. Even though he is as big a car nut as i am and has a massive matchbox car collection, Shawn has never done anything like this.
Instead of the day-by-day account of our travels like before, i will split everything into topics.
The Roads:
While there was an unfortunately large amount of interstate driving and going with the flow of traffic to make up time, we did get to stretch the legs of our Camaro rental car a few times between Washington D.C. and Georgia. The many views found on Skyline Drive were breathtaking. Although, after about the 10th panoramic shot they all started to blend together. We took a few breaks here and there to learn about the area - but mostly we enjoyed the gorgeous weather with the top down. The curves of the road are pretty gradual and once at the top of the mountain the elevation changes are pretty easy as well. Traffic was pretty light for a beautiful August weekday, but that meant there were no crowds on the rock walls to ruin the pictures. That also meant that a secluded parking lot could be used to test whether or not our rental car had a limited slip differential. It didn’t.
Pictured: Shawn’s masterful balance displayed at one of our first stops on Skyline Drive.
However, if you are coming to this area - I’m not sure I would bother with Skyline Drive. It costs $20 to use and the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway is more exciting. It has the same views, a higher speed limit and more corners. Granted you don’t really want to be caught speeding since it’s federal land. Although, the area around it is still Virginia where you don’t want to be caught speeding anyway. I heard a story once about a guy that sped here. It didn’t go well. If you find yourself on the Blue Ridge in a car with any semblance of good handling, take a brief detour when you reach Rt. 56 and head westward. It’s only a few miles long, but, it’s just an awesome string of switchbacks getting you down off the mountain. Best of all, the 55mph speed limit is pretty difficult to break, even with 300hp on tap.
Pictured: Mary’s Tunnel on Skyline Drive.
Pictured: Route 56, Virginia. West from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
If you like twisty roads though, you simply must head a little further south. Somewhere around Deal’s Gap. Seriously, if you enjoy twisty roads, this place is your Jerusalem. I wonder if we could declare the whole area a new state, relocate all the residents and then charge a toll to enter instead of taxes. Staggered rally stage all the roads. We were only in the area for a couple hours and barely scratched the surface, but the place feels like a Mecca for driving roads. While here, and just so that we could say we did it, we took on the Tail of the Dragon. The only downside was that, in a Camaro, it felt like we had to suck in our guts and hold our breath any time someone was coming the other way. The car is very wide while the road is very much the opposite of that. Fortunately, I managed to keep it in line and pointed in the correct direction of travel. It handled this insane road extremely well considering it’s girth. Even the brakes and the automatic transmission kept up with my demands without losing their cool. Shawn took over the wheel when we came back to the East, which I’m pretty sure was the most in fear for my life as I’ve been in a long time. I won’t be complaining about a car having stability control for awhile!!
Pictured: The Tail of the Dragon - or at least a portion of it.
Pictured: Where the Tail begins.
The People:
There were a few people we met that were awesome. Evan and Daniel at Miller Motorcars in Greenwich, CT went so far over and above what we imagined we couldn’t believe it. We hung out with them, laughed and drooled a lot while they showed us around and I’m pretty sure they got a big kick out of seeing us continually slack jawed at the incredible things they had on site. Our excitement made them more excited, which made us more excited - it was an awesome couple hours that would make the rest of the trip hard to top! Their sincerity and friendliness were very genuine and I look forward to keeping in touch with them and meeting them again!
We also made a dinner date in Philadelphia with Sir Doug DeMuro. Getting in touch with him the way I did was a long shot, but, at just the right moment, he responded! The whole thing was too short notice for us to be able to make a plan that included the Hummer or the Skyline since they are stored elsewhere and even though he is not fond of wearing pants, Doug is a busy guy. But, we still met with him near his home and had an awesome dinner out. Nobody had a philly cheesesteak. Like the guys at Miller, Doug is a genuinely great person and is just as funny in real life as his writing would suggest. For me at least, meeting him and sitting down to talk was amazing as I’ve admired his work since he came on the scene. More than that, though, it felt like sitting down for dinner with a friend we’d known for ages. So much so that it didn’t even cross my mind to get a picture with him! It was as easy and relaxed as I’ve ever been when meeting someone new. We’ve stayed in touch here and there since and I’m sure it won’t be the last time we get together.
On the other end of the spectrum, I have a nominee for an Emmy in the category of “WTF?”. While in Miami, an older lady walked slowly past us and then stopped, stared at Shawn in the passenger seat of the car and then walked over to us. Now, in preparation for what she was about to say, let me set the scene a little better. We’re guys, 35 years old, in a dark red convertible Camaro. We aren’t athletic or even ruggedly handsome. I’m in a standard issue T-shirt and shorts with a baseball cap on. Shawn is in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and a golfer’s cap. With that mental picture firmly burned into your minds, we come to the fun part. We’ve had people compliment the car several times as they crossed the streets or drove it in/out of the parking garages, so we had our wittiest responses ready to go. Here she comes, and from her mouth comes exactly what you are thinking. “Are you fucking Madonna, or what?” Wait, what?? She stopped us in our tracks. Despite meticulous planning, I didn’t have a response for that. Unfortunately, all Shawn could mutter was “Umm, no.” I can’t begin to fathom what she meant by that and sadly, unless she happens to be an Opposite Lock reader, I likely never will.
The Cities:
Shawn and I have spent very little time in any large cities. I’ve been to Washington D.C. before, but, not for more than a couple hours and Shawn and I have both spent time in Boston, Montreal and have seen the NYC skyline (but never actually went into Manhattan). So, the places we went on this trip were, ummm, a trip for us country bumpkins. However, in thinking about it afterwards, we ate these cities up in the wrong order. Philadelphia is big and congested, Miami is big and congested, Washington D.C. is congested. But the tall buildings and chaos are exciting to people for whom their state’s largest building is about 12 stories. Since we also don’t have to live with it on a daily basis, we were able to shrug off the time spent in traffic as the price we’ll pay to take it all in. There was only one problem. There was one thing that let all of these cities down a little bit: We went to NYC first . New York City, specifically Manhattan, is an insane place. It’s way bigger and way more congested than anywhere else we went to the point where it very much overshadowed the others. The absurdity of the roads, the people, the architecture, the blend of old and new, more people, the cars, the taxis, a few more people, the huge buildings set beside small buildings (which would be huge buildings in Vermont), more people, the lights, the sounds, the people. Did I mention people? But, despite the people and the congestion and the tattered old roads, we enjoyed it immensely. We pretty much drove around with the top down and our next craned upwards. I feel like we would’ve missed so much had we not been in a convertible.
Pictured: Manhattan Skyline.
Pictured: People. Ohh, and Times Square.
Pictured: The view from the top of the Empire State Building.
The Other Things:
Sprinkled into the mix we stopped at the Intrepid Air and Space Museum in NYC, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in D.C., the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and several others.. Between them we saw two space shuttles, an A-12 (predecessor to the SR-71), all the famous WWII fighter planes (P51, PZero, etc..), and a large collection of other various jets, rockets, satellites, helicopters and planes from all over the world. We also took some time to see some of the beauty that nature gives us as well! The caverns in the hills of Virginia and the amazing panoramic views of the Blue Ridge contrasted nicely with the huge and flat Everglades with it’s green grass and brown water - best experienced in an aluminum tub with a V8 powered fan strapped to it!
Pictured: Skyline Caverns
Pictured: Still Skyline Caverns
Pictured: Dark Hollow Falls, along Skyline Drive.
Pictured: Lockheed A-12 Oxcart, Intrepid Museum, NYC.
Pictured: Atlantis Space Shuttle, Kennedy Space Center, FL.
The Cars:
Well, I had to save the best for last, right? The cars! Ohh, sweet baby Jeebus, the cars! It wasn’t so much the cars we came by on the road, but what we came across at the dealerships and museums we graced with our presence. We did this in the wrong order too, so, I’ll start with what we saw in Miami and work my way backwards. Around Miami, we visited the Ferrari/Maserati dealer as well as the Lambo guys. The Lamborghini dealer had a white and blue Lambo, I mean Veyron, on the showroom floor! They also had a Porsche Carrera GT and a 918 Spyder sitting inside the showroom and a Maybach outside at the end of a line of Bentleys and Rollers. The Ferrari guys had another Veyron and a Carrera GT. More exciting though was the ability to get a picture with three generations of monster Ferrari’s. The F40, and F50 and an F60 are all parked next to each other. Not a bad $7m shot! We also visited the Dezer Collection while we were in town. This is a crazy place. The first room after you enter is stark white and only has a handful of cars in it. The rest is so jam packed that you’re almost tripping over the cars, the props, the paraphernalia. The full collection takes up two buildings. One is just random cars from many walks of life. The other is full of movie cars, some from the Fast and Furious movies, an Ecto 1, some Batmobiles, and many others. The whole place is pale in comparison to what has to be the largest collection of Bond stuff ever. Cars and props from each movie fill a huge room and anything that’s ever shown up on eBay with the word James Bond in the description can be found around here somewhere - right up to Oddjob’s hat.
Pictured: F40, F50, F60 at Ferrari-Maserati of Fort Lauderdale, FL
Pictured: The Ferrari Showroom at Ferrari-Maserati of Fort Lauderdale, FL
Pictured: Porsche 918 Spyder and other nice things at Prestige Motors, Miami, FL.
Pictured: Bugatti Veyron: Pretty sure that’s a Lambo, dude edition at Prestige Motors, Miami, FL.
Pictured: I think I’d quite like to try that one….Dezer Collection, Miami, FL.
Pictured: Danger to Manifold, Dezer Collection, Miami, FL.
Pictured: No, Mr. Bond. I Expect you to drive. Dezer Collection, Miami, FL.
Next we have to go all the way back to day 2, where we visited another museum. It’s called the Simeone Museum and was recommended to us by Doug as a way to bridge the time gap between our arrival in Philly and when he would be available. There are a ton of classic and antique cars here. However, all of them look like they get started up and driven regularly - and according to their website, that’s not unusual! All the race cars of your ancestors are here from the Mercer Raceabout and the Stutz Bearcat to a blower Bentley and a ton of Alfa Romeos. Cars of the 50’s and 60’s show up all over too like a 300SL gullwing, a Corvette Gran Sport, 2 Ford GT’s, Aston Martin DBR1, and a couple Maserati’s. The piece de resistance would have to be the Ferrari’s on , even though there is only a handful of them. It starts with a 1954 Ferrari 375MM which is quickly followed by a 1958 Testa Rossa (in red, of course). Even more incredible though, is the 1959 Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta. Not a bad list, huh? Well, here’s the icing on the cake: 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. One of only 36 and worth an unfathomable amount of money, it sits there, looking gorgeous in a perfect shade of blue with some lovely white stripes.
Pictured: Pron for $ayCog. Simeone Museum, Philadelphia, PA.
Pictured: Stutz Bearcat. Rar. Simeone Museum, Philadelphia, PA.
Pictured: 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C, Simeone Museum, Philadelphia, PA.
Pictured: 1975 Alfa Romeo 33 TT 12 at the Simeone Museum, Philadelphia, PA.
Pictured: 1958 Ferrari Testarossa, Simeone Museum, Philadelphia, PA.
Pictured: 1962 Ferrari 250GTO at the Simeone Museum, Philadelphia, PA.
Pictured: 1962 Ferrari 250GTO at the Simeone Museum, Philadelphia, PA.
Our first stop on our first day was one of the best experiences of the whole journey. We stopped by Miller Motorcars. I had asked prior to our departure if they would be okay with us visiting and they said, “sure, come on down!” What they had in store for us was incredible. The Ferrari and Maserati showroom was nice and we poked around the showroom and watched them move a couple cars around until the guys were able to meet with us. Once we met Dan and Evan, they took us into the service area where an Enzo was being prepped for delivery and a second Enzo was being serviced. There was an F430 without its engine (probably just needed an oil change…) and two F40’s as well! Just what they had in the service bays alone was probably worth $10m!! On the McLaren side, things got even better. The Veyron they had on the showroom floor was unlocked and we were allowed to sit our very not-dignified-enough butts in the seats. I do remember the simplicity of the interior design and equipment being a very stark contrast to anything you’d find in a Kia parking lot today. It doesn’t even have push-button start! There is a slight difference in the quality of materials used though. They then took us downstairs to see a car that wasn’t even on my radar as something to look for. A Pagani Huayra. If the outside is supposed to look crazy with it’s 4-spotted headlights, carbon fiber, and side mirrors that look like they’re on antennae, then the inside is just plain berzerk. The exterior design is very striking and I do like it alot. However, with the exception of the exposed gear linkage, the interior for me is just too over the top. Although, don’t get me wrong, I can very much appreciate the amazing craftsmanship and attention to detail that is the hallmark of these cars. Our time at Miller ended with Evan taking each of us for a ride around the block in a McLaren 12C...I’m guessing we looked like giddy 8 year olds. If I wanted one before, tunnel blasting in one has not dissuaded me of that desire! We may have been a little dehydrated from all the drooling we did here, but, it was absolutely worth every second we spent there and was one of the biggest highlights of the whole trip!
Pictured: Ferrari Enzo getting ready for a new home at Miller Motorcars, Greenwich, CT.
Pictured: Ferrari F40 at Miller Motorcars, Greenwich, CT.
Pictured: Bugatti Veyron (one of three we saw!) at Miller Motorcars, Greenwich, CT.
Pictured: Pagani Huayra wing mirror at Miller Motorcars, Greenwich, CT.
Pictured: The insane interior of the Pagani Huayra at Miller Motorcars, Greenwich, CT.
Pictured: Who doesn’t like a purple exhaust? Especially with that name printed on it! At Miller Motorcars, Greenwich, CT.
Pictured: Pagani Huayra at Miller Motorcars, Greenwich, CT.
The End:
This was a hell of an adventure and we are excited to hopefully make a couple more while Shawn is still up for it! Next time will hopefully be a trip to the Southwest and we’ll add two more people to the chaos.
If you are interested in donating toward our next journey, please follow !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
If you would like to browse all the pictures I took, I have them split up by day here:
Day 1 - Miller Motorcars and NYC
Day 2 - Intrepid Museum, Simeone, and Philly
Day 4 - Caverns, Skyline and Blue Ridge
Day 7 - Miami, Airboat, Ferrari/Maserati, The Collection
Day 8 - Miami, Lamborghini, Dezer Collection
Thank you very very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned this winter for the next outing!