Anyone in the Mid-West or East Coast up for lunch?

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

If all goes well, I'll be heading to Annapolis to pick up a new daily driver next week. I forget where everybody lives but if there's anyone between here (Texas) and there (Maryland), we might be able to hook up for a bite to eat or something on the return trip. It's about 1500 miles and I know we'll be passing through Baltimore, Indianapolis and Kansas City.

Just thought it would be nice to actually meet some of you so let me know if you're interested.

John B.


PS - If anyone knows of a fun or interesting attraction in any of those cities (a car collection perhaps), please let me know.

[Andrew Way]

[i]It's about 1500 miles


:eek: :eek: :eek:

I'd think twice about driving 150 miles for a car!

[mogul_x]

John,

When exactly would you be making your trip? Baltimore's about 110 miles from me, so I could make a day trip out of it if it were on a Saturday. I'm not close enough to head down on a weekday without taking a day off from work.

There's lots of stuff to do in Baltimore's inner harbor, but nothing car-related is springing immediately to mind.

What are you driving all this way to pick up? That trip will probably take the better part of a week to complete, but I guess it's cheaper than having the car shipped?

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

Oh - it's not such a bad trip.

I drove from Kokomo (North of Indanapolis) back to Texas non-stop when I picked up my Saab a few years ago. It was a pretty interesting trip since the car hadn't been driven in 6 years (but was started weekly). The only major incident was when the brake pads fell out of the front right caliper (which had seized open). This didn't affect the car much as only the hand brake was working anyway (on one side at least). It did make enough noise for me to stop and jack the car up though. Not sure I'd be brave enough to try the drive in a car like that again.

This time it's a Honda CRX I'm after - I've always liked the CRX. (I had considered trying a Lancia Beta Coupe but decided the Honda would make a better daily driver. ) The reason for the trip is that there are no good ones for sale anywhere near here. Well, that and I just want to get out of town for a while. I expect it will take 2-3 days to get back depending on how long we want to drive each day (my dad is going with me this time). The total driving time is about 25 hours. I'm not 100% sure what day we're leaving yet. We had talked about flying up Wednsday with the intention of getting back Friday evening. It would be great to meet though - maybe we can arrange for a small detour or something.

John B.

[mogul_x]

Wow - you're going that far out of the way for a CRX?:eek: That's a lot of time and miles for a used car.

But who am I to criticize? I paid to have a Lancia Scorpion shipped 3000 miles from California last year.

I hope the CRX is in really good shape. Cars are rather rust prone here in the Northeast. Especially the Japanese stuff. Keep me informed of your plans, though. I'd like to get together if at all possible.

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

I'll be pretty miffed if it's not in the condition I've been told it is. Of course I would just book a flight home at that point. The current owner seems to be a real enthusiast though and has been forthcomming about several small problems with the car. I don't think hed neglect to mention that. I wasn't just shopping for any CRX though - I wanted a particular mileage, year, model, dohc engine, lsd gearbox, etc. This particular car has everything I wanted except for good 15" wheels and not being my favorite color. Those are easy enough to fix though. Over time I plan to build it up a little (300+ hp turbocharged B18C1 maybe :D ) so that I essentially have a S1600 rally car to run around town in. That should hold me until 2011 when I can legally import a 25 year old Delta Integrale anyway.

When I bought my first CRX, the owner was selling it to buy a miata. I then traded the CRX in to buy my own miata. Now I'm selling the miata to buy a CRX. The guy selling me his CRX is planning to buy... you guessed it... a miata. Kinda strange don't you think.

John B.

[tryphon]

I don't think you can legaly import a Delta Integrale in the US. At least not now. Maybe one day when they'll be oldtimers but by then most of them will have rusted away or will have been chipped to death...

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

There are no restrictions on importing cars more than 25 years old to the USA. Personally I'd like to import a nice red 1986 Integrale that's been 'rebodied' as a 1991 Evo 1 ;). Got to wait 6 more years though.

John B.

[mogul_x]

John,

Since you're interested in Integrales, did you look into the one on Ebay a few months back? Some guy in Connecticut has a '91, registered and running on Connecticut plates, but there's no title. Not surprising, since the car probably sneaked past customs somehow. He listed it on Ebay twice, and it failed to sell both times. Opening bid was almost 9 grand, and I don't think he got any takers.

Here's a link to the last ad on E-bay for it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2439107010&category=6292

Item desription's still there, and all the pictures. You might try e-mailing the guy and seeing if it's still available - assuming titling requirements in Texas are very lax....

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

Yeah I saw that one.

It wasn't an evo though. Seems like it was an 89 model - can't remember for sure. Don't know how he got it here but it sounded way grey-market to me. On top of being an impound/confiscation waiting to happen, he wanted way too much money for it - especially with the bumper damage. Oh, and where would you get it insured, tagged, etc?

Just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen to me.

Cool car though - maybe he can get a title for it in a few years when it's legal to drive here.

John B.


PS - That's right - it was a 91. That was the year they made some of the base models and some Evo 1s.

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

Hey Scott,

I just sent you an email regarding my trip to the NE. Thought I'd post a note here in case (like me) you check the forums more often than your email. ;)

John B.