What a wild week I have had.
Recently I have found my (almost) dream car. A clean, relatively low miles, Spa Yellow Pearl NA2 Targa, and sold my Formula Red 1991.
Story time:
When I got engaged to my now wife, we rented a yellow NSX for the weekend. This is what started me on the hunt for an NSX; even as beat up rental cars are concerned, my wife and I still fell in love with the car. That was almost 9 years ago, and I have been on the hunt since then to find a nice example. Finally, four years ago, I found a nice Formula Red NA1 from a gentleman only about 300 miles away from me. In the last 4 years, I brought that car from "pretty good" to "damn nice". I finally had the car to my liking and with all the major maintenance and restoration done to the car, visions of Stoptechs and Superchargers were dancing through my head.
That was until three weeks ago. I was approached by a local NSX Club member who told me they were selling their 1997 Spa Yellow. My wife and I thought about it for a few days when we decided to buy it. That meant my first baby had to go up for sale. I put the car on a NSXPrime, Facebook group, Kijiji (like Craigslist) and finally Autotrader. Within three days of putting it on Autotrader, I was already getting tired of people asking to buy the car for half price (or less) when someone I had never met before sent me a message. It was awesome! Full sentences, actual questions and I could tell this was a real enthusiast I was dealing with. We came to an agreement within 24 hours, and within 24 hours of that, he wired the money to my bank account. With that gesture of good faith, I had to get my detailer in one last time to give the car a final polish.
There was only one thing left. The logistics of moving the car. The buyer lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and I'm near Toronto - a full 1,800km (1,100mi) away from each other, and his wife was actually overdue with her first child. Transport companies were booking for early July, he couldn't leave his wife for a few days - so we came to the only logical conclusion. ROAD TRIP! I called my good buddy and asked if he wanted to go for a trip to the coast. It's a long 18 hours in the car if you have nobody to share your time with.
It just so happens that a friend of mine went to school in Halifax, and is a motoring enthusiast as well. He has done this trip more than a few times, so he told me which route to take to get some breathtaking scenery in and enjoy my final send-off with Mustache (pronounced Moo-tasha).
We left at noon on Friday from Hamilton, Ontario and drove to Lincoln, New Hampshire for the evening. Four hours across I-90 in Central New York was the worst part of the drive - thank God it was at the beginning. From Albany we turned slightly north through the twisty back roads of Vermont and finally arrived at our motel at about 11:00 that evening. We ordered some Chinese food, hit the sack, and due to an engineering issue we woke up at 5:15am. We completed the three S's and were on the road at 5:50am. Because it was dark, we didn't see this when we arrived, but this is what we woke up to.
What came next was the highlight of our trip. The Kancamagus Highway (New Hampshire route 112) is about 36 miles between Lincoln and Conway, NH and is quite simply, one of the most beautiful roads I have ever driven. the road was serene, peaceful, and most importantly - curvy! We stopped at every rest area on the road.
Other than one motorcycle, we only saw one local resident.
Just like that, one of the best roads I have ever driven was over in just over an hour and a half. If you ever want to look into driving this road, and I highly suggest you do, go to this link:
http://www.kancamagushighway.com/
From there we stopped at a greasy spoon in Bridgton ME. For two guys running on little sleep it was awesome. Greasy eggs, sausage patties and strong coffee. Life was good.
Somewhere along the way, I saw the best street sign ever:
How would you like to live there?
The next few hours rolled away on the interstate until we finally reached home, in Shipton, New Brunswick. Even though we were out of the country for less than 24 hours, it was a sight for sore eyes.
The first thing we did when we crossed back into Canada was to find a Tim Hortons for a large Regular and a sandwich. From the border crossing we decided to push it all the way to Halifax. 5 or so hours ticked by with nary a hiccup. The scenery from a major highway was limited, but we did get to see a few nice vantage points around the Bay of Fundy.
We arrived at the purchasers house at almost exactly 7:00 Saturday night, and I got to say goodbye to my first love.
That was the last time I’ll probably ever see her in the flesh.
We got a ride to Downtown Halifax where we were staying for the night, and our hotel just happened to be four houses down from where my buddy’s mom grew up! We had to go take a picture in front of the old house.
Tired and beaten, we made it to our dinner reservations only two short hours late. The wait was definitely worth it. The waiter made my Caesar salad tableside, and it was second only to the main course.
After that, we spent a couple hours in a traditional down-east pub with a local band.
We woke up in the morning, with a slight headache and decided that we would be tourists for the day, and walk around Halifax.
We saw one of the most beautiful towns I have ever visited. Being a port town on the eastern edge of North America, this place is beaming with history (and hills!) around every corner. We visited Citadel Hill, which is a fort that has history back to around 1776.
The old town clock, which is right down the hill from the fort.
And of course the wharf.
That’s where I had breakfast.
The final thing we did before getting our ride to the airport was to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic where they had all sorts of neat stuff including an actual deck chair from the Titanic.
If my wife ever gets me to do something that I feel is a bit useless in the future, I’ll send her this picture of me rearranging an actual (replica) deck chair from the Titanic. How’s that to commitment to a joke!
The original is behind glass and obviously can’t be touched.
We caught our flight, and landed safely at about 6pm local time where my wife, kids and dog were all happy to see us.
Just for kicks, here are a few pictures from when I had both cars in the garage.
Also, if you’d like to see the entire album of photos, click below:
http://imgur.com/a/WHKjo
Recently I have found my (almost) dream car. A clean, relatively low miles, Spa Yellow Pearl NA2 Targa, and sold my Formula Red 1991.
Story time:
When I got engaged to my now wife, we rented a yellow NSX for the weekend. This is what started me on the hunt for an NSX; even as beat up rental cars are concerned, my wife and I still fell in love with the car. That was almost 9 years ago, and I have been on the hunt since then to find a nice example. Finally, four years ago, I found a nice Formula Red NA1 from a gentleman only about 300 miles away from me. In the last 4 years, I brought that car from "pretty good" to "damn nice". I finally had the car to my liking and with all the major maintenance and restoration done to the car, visions of Stoptechs and Superchargers were dancing through my head.
That was until three weeks ago. I was approached by a local NSX Club member who told me they were selling their 1997 Spa Yellow. My wife and I thought about it for a few days when we decided to buy it. That meant my first baby had to go up for sale. I put the car on a NSXPrime, Facebook group, Kijiji (like Craigslist) and finally Autotrader. Within three days of putting it on Autotrader, I was already getting tired of people asking to buy the car for half price (or less) when someone I had never met before sent me a message. It was awesome! Full sentences, actual questions and I could tell this was a real enthusiast I was dealing with. We came to an agreement within 24 hours, and within 24 hours of that, he wired the money to my bank account. With that gesture of good faith, I had to get my detailer in one last time to give the car a final polish.
There was only one thing left. The logistics of moving the car. The buyer lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and I'm near Toronto - a full 1,800km (1,100mi) away from each other, and his wife was actually overdue with her first child. Transport companies were booking for early July, he couldn't leave his wife for a few days - so we came to the only logical conclusion. ROAD TRIP! I called my good buddy and asked if he wanted to go for a trip to the coast. It's a long 18 hours in the car if you have nobody to share your time with.
It just so happens that a friend of mine went to school in Halifax, and is a motoring enthusiast as well. He has done this trip more than a few times, so he told me which route to take to get some breathtaking scenery in and enjoy my final send-off with Mustache (pronounced Moo-tasha).
We left at noon on Friday from Hamilton, Ontario and drove to Lincoln, New Hampshire for the evening. Four hours across I-90 in Central New York was the worst part of the drive - thank God it was at the beginning. From Albany we turned slightly north through the twisty back roads of Vermont and finally arrived at our motel at about 11:00 that evening. We ordered some Chinese food, hit the sack, and due to an engineering issue we woke up at 5:15am. We completed the three S's and were on the road at 5:50am. Because it was dark, we didn't see this when we arrived, but this is what we woke up to.
What came next was the highlight of our trip. The Kancamagus Highway (New Hampshire route 112) is about 36 miles between Lincoln and Conway, NH and is quite simply, one of the most beautiful roads I have ever driven. the road was serene, peaceful, and most importantly - curvy! We stopped at every rest area on the road.
Other than one motorcycle, we only saw one local resident.
Just like that, one of the best roads I have ever driven was over in just over an hour and a half. If you ever want to look into driving this road, and I highly suggest you do, go to this link:
http://www.kancamagushighway.com/
From there we stopped at a greasy spoon in Bridgton ME. For two guys running on little sleep it was awesome. Greasy eggs, sausage patties and strong coffee. Life was good.
Somewhere along the way, I saw the best street sign ever:
How would you like to live there?
The next few hours rolled away on the interstate until we finally reached home, in Shipton, New Brunswick. Even though we were out of the country for less than 24 hours, it was a sight for sore eyes.
The first thing we did when we crossed back into Canada was to find a Tim Hortons for a large Regular and a sandwich. From the border crossing we decided to push it all the way to Halifax. 5 or so hours ticked by with nary a hiccup. The scenery from a major highway was limited, but we did get to see a few nice vantage points around the Bay of Fundy.
We arrived at the purchasers house at almost exactly 7:00 Saturday night, and I got to say goodbye to my first love.
That was the last time I’ll probably ever see her in the flesh.
We got a ride to Downtown Halifax where we were staying for the night, and our hotel just happened to be four houses down from where my buddy’s mom grew up! We had to go take a picture in front of the old house.
Tired and beaten, we made it to our dinner reservations only two short hours late. The wait was definitely worth it. The waiter made my Caesar salad tableside, and it was second only to the main course.
After that, we spent a couple hours in a traditional down-east pub with a local band.
We woke up in the morning, with a slight headache and decided that we would be tourists for the day, and walk around Halifax.
We saw one of the most beautiful towns I have ever visited. Being a port town on the eastern edge of North America, this place is beaming with history (and hills!) around every corner. We visited Citadel Hill, which is a fort that has history back to around 1776.
The old town clock, which is right down the hill from the fort.
And of course the wharf.
That’s where I had breakfast.
The final thing we did before getting our ride to the airport was to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic where they had all sorts of neat stuff including an actual deck chair from the Titanic.
If my wife ever gets me to do something that I feel is a bit useless in the future, I’ll send her this picture of me rearranging an actual (replica) deck chair from the Titanic. How’s that to commitment to a joke!
The original is behind glass and obviously can’t be touched.
We caught our flight, and landed safely at about 6pm local time where my wife, kids and dog were all happy to see us.
Just for kicks, here are a few pictures from when I had both cars in the garage.
Also, if you’d like to see the entire album of photos, click below:
http://imgur.com/a/WHKjo
I'm amazed at how quick everything transpired myself.
